A heady mix: homosexuality and net videos

This piece is basically a collection of ten YouTube videos; twelve actually, because one of them is in three parts. They show the different ways by which people are using internet video clips to communicate. I just want to pose the question: How do Singaporeans compare? Would you agree with a statement like this:

For all the investment in internet hardware and internet skills, Singaporeans display quite limited creativity when it comes to using the medium to communicate. The problem may not be in the hardware, or in the lack of technical skills. The problem may be that Singaporeans have nothing to say. And this is because we have created a culture of not thinking for ourselves, not wanting to speak up, not doing anything for ourselves. We tend merely to wait for the "relevant authorities" to do things for us (or tell us what to think), and if we speak up at all, it is to criticise them for not solving problems the way we wish.

I hope we have proof that the above statement has no truth; I'd be embarrassed if it had. I hope to challenge readers to find videos on the internet made by Singaporeans that are similar to each one of these examples of the different ways of using the new medium.

For coherence, I have chosen videos that touch on homosexuality in some way. And yet, look how different they all are from each other. They're not necessarily of quality, but what I was looking for was how each points to a way of using the internet.

1. Adam and Eve and Steve
The quality's not great, but there's something charmingly subversive about it

2. Gay Shanghai
Next is an episode of Danwei TV hosted by Adam Schokora and Yutian, giving a quick tour of the gay (and lesbian) scene in Shanghai. Ignore the last few minutes, which feature a rock band (which doesn't look or sound gay to me) and which, in my honest opinion, is just a loud racket.

3. Gay in Mumbai 
The video-maker jdrw5 met a male sex worker in Voodoo, a Mumbai bar that is gay on Saturdays and did an interview with him. This contrasts with Danwei TV above, which is quite polished, but it shows how one person armed with nothing more than a camera and a microphone (and a bit of editing software) can do something similar and equally interesting.

4. Living lives: Coming out in high school
This one is very different from the above; it's fictional drama. OK, it's a bit corny, but it gets to the point: "I won't be in a relationship with someone that's not comfortable with being himself to the entire world."

5. God, evolution and homosexuality  
In complete contrast to the above, this next video is just one guy sitting in his room talking to the camera. Do note, however, he is speaking in response to another person's video.

His opinion on the third point (nature/nurture) is poorly founded. An opinion much better grounded on known facts is that by "b68861" in his comment:

I am being taught the most current information about the importance of both environment AND genetics on development. The current belief by most respectable scientists is that genes predispose people to a range of potential temperaments (on a spectrum of sorts). Environment is what determines where individuals then become placed on that range. For example, if 1 is completely homosexual and 10 is completely straight, genes may allow a person to lay between the numbers 4 and 7 (and based upon...environment, he/she will become more one way or the other). Nowadays it isn't nature vs. nurture, but nature and nurture. I have explained the basic conclusions made by current neuroscience researchers to the best of my ability. If you want to know more I suggest researching the subject further. I do know, however, that based upon both scientists' ability to create homosexual animals in the lab and the behavior studies done on humans (twin studies), there's evidence supporting a genetic component.

6. Manly man - This is another "talk to the camera" video, featuring just one, again presumably straight, guy, and his dog. gOat talks about the meaning (or lack of) of so-called indicators of masculinity.

7. Locker room etiquette - the message is similar to the above, but done with humour.

8. I am homosexual (three parts)
A lesbian and a gay man are invited to give talks to a class at Beijing's Forestry University. This is an edited record of the event, in three parts. Did you know that even Urumqi in Xinjiang has a "gay street"?

The above segment continues in Part 2 and Part 3. Unfortunately, the soundtrack of Part 3 has been disabled by Youtube (perhaps a copyright violation of background music?) but since the speakers have all been subtitled in Chinese and English, you'll still know what they said.

One thing readers might have noticed is how both the speakers from Tongyu and Aibai referred to the difficulty of sustaining a relationship when the other party is in the closet, a point similar to that made in clip no.4 above. Indeed, gay individuals have a harder time maintaining long term relationships than heterosexuals, not because there is anything inherently incapable of gay individuals themselves, but because social homophobia puts strains on those relationships. Yet, we find no end of homophobes pointing to a pattern of short-lived relationships as "proof" that there is something wrong with homosexuality.

9. Cool gay anime
The following is a completely different genre. It is a slide show of gay- and lesbian-themed anime set to music.

10. J Law and Kirio
Another slide show, this time made by a Beijing couple of themselves. This is a kind of online photo album, very stylishly done; an example of how two gay guys are using new media to make a statement about their love.

They may look very young to Westerners, though to my Chinese eyes, I estimate the younger one is about 16 or 17. (Then I saw a comment below the video that said Kirio was born in 1991, while J Law was born in 1982. Since the video was uploaded December 2008, I was about right.) 

The soundtrack was at first a little disconcerting. It started with the bass and chord progression of Pachelbel's Canon, and then went somewhere else, but all in all, quite nice.

© Yawning Bread 

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