Cheerleading entertains but does queerleading offend? By Jen Gladden CJ, I don’t want to dignify your ridiculous wespeak with a response, but in the interest of the greater Wesleyan community, something has to be said. I am a proud member of the Queerleaders, and the explicitly sexual nature of our performance is exactly what made it such an effective success. Do you find it “disgusting” when regular cheerleaders flash their skirts and shake their breasts in the name of football? I doubt it. Maybe you should stop sputtering for a minute, take a deep breath, and think about what’s behind that horror you express. If it really has “nothing to do with sexual preference” then why is it that you felt the need to state that you “do not at all agree with the lifestyle choice that these supposed ‘women’ have made?” You have clearly expended a lot of energy mustering up that hatred, but have you thought at all about why cheerleading is “entertaining” and queerleading is “offensive?” I can deal with the fact, horrifying as it is to me, that “heterosexual” assholes like you go around fucking women... why does it bother you so much that I (that’s right, one of those “supposed ‘women’”) effectively do the same? Furthermore, how exactly is my sexuality “disrespecting” you and your happy little nuclear family? Heterosexual sex is shoved in my face countless times every day, everywhere I go...there is no escaping it. Queer sex, however, is forced into the shadows. But as hard as you try to deny the existence of queer sex, I won’t stop having it. The embarrassment and silence that you wish upon us “disgusting” queers is entirely oppressive, but it is not going to stop us. As I read your wespeak today, I laughed. That’s right, your furious loathing amuses me. It horrified you so much that we would dare bring our sexuality onto the sacred ground of the football field, that it “ruined the game” for you. I didn’t know you cared so much! You want me to “shut the fuck up” about my sexuality? I wouldn’t dream of it, not while pricks like you continue to get so riled up about it. You can continue to boast how you have “excelled” here at Wesleyan while informing me that “[I am] a disgrace,” and I will continue striving to inspire you, while fighting for my “stupid right” to express myself. Gladden is a member of the class of 2004.

editorial letters “rageragerageragerage ” Marcus ‘thanks’ MacDonald The art of transcending reason  Posters display culture not sexism Some athletes misrepresented  Administration must state policies on chalkings Cheerleading entertains but does queerleading offend? Hate transparent in Wespeaks Newsflash: C.J. misses the point Where else were the queers at Homecoming? Winning Candidate Works With Campus Greens Drilling for oil in Alaska: learn history’s lesson Meat-eaters can be converted You’re wrong, Miller Vegan “convert” responds The birth of a vegan The birth of a vegetarian Three offered courses are not acceptable Contextualize with care

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