Joyeuse Noëlle

So. Here’s the thing. Given a cursory glance and applying today’s worldview to the song, yes, you’re right, it absolutely *sounds* like a rape anthem. 

BUT! Let’s look closer! 

“Hey what’s in this drink” was a stock joke at the time, and the punchline was invariably that there’s actually pretty much nothing in the drink, not even a significant amount of alcohol.

See, this woman is staying late, unchaperoned, at a dude’s house. In the 1940’s, that’s the kind of thing Good Girls aren’t supposed to do — and she wants people to think she’s a good girl. The woman in the song says outright, multiple times, that what other people will think of her staying is what she’s really concerned about: “the neighbors might think,” “my maiden aunt’s mind is vicious,” “there’s bound to be talk tomorrow.” But she’s having a really good time, and she wants to stay, and so she is excusing her uncharacteristically bold behavior (either to the guy or to herself) by blaming it on the drink — unaware that the drink is actually really weak, maybe not even alcoholic at all. That’s the joke. That is the standard joke that’s going on when a woman in media from the early-to-mid 20th century says “hey, what’s in this drink?” It is not a joke about how she’s drunk and about to be raped. It’s a joke about how she’s perfectly sober and about to have awesome consensual sex and use the drink for plausible deniability because she’s living in a society where women aren’t supposed to have sexual agency.

Basically, the song only makes sense in the context of a society in which women are expected to reject men’s advances whether they actually want to or not, and therefore it’s normal and expected for a lady’s gentleman companion to pressure her despite her protests, because he knows she would have to say that whether or not she meant it, and if she really wants to stay she won’t be able to justify doing so unless he offers her an excuse other than “I’m staying because I want to.” (That’s the main theme of the man’s lines in the song, suggesting excuses she can use when people ask later why she spent the night at his house: it was so cold out, there were no cabs available, he simply insisted because he was concerned about my safety in such awful weather, it was perfectly innocent and definitely not about sex at all!) In this particular case, he’s pretty clearly right, because the woman has a voice, and she’s using it to give all the culturally-understood signals that she actually does want to stay but can’t say so. She states explicitly that she’s resisting because she’s supposed to, not because she wants to: “I ought to say no no no…” She states explicitly that she’s just putting up a token resistance so she’ll be able to claim later that she did what’s expected of a decent woman in this situation: “at least I’m gonna say that I tried.” And at the end of the song they’re singing together, in harmony, because they’re both on the same page and they have been all along.

a) you don’t get to insist that the original context is the only context. If the only context that matters is 1944, then leave the song in 1944. If the song is performed in 2017, you have to contextualize it in 2017.

It is difficult for me to imagine “queer” being a slur in the modern day. It certainly used to be, and nobody denies that. Maybe someone, somewhere has used it derogatorily in the last ten years. But “queer” has been adopted and reclaimed for longer than most of Tumblr has been alive. The well-known slogan “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it” celebrates its 27th birthday this year.

So why did “queer is a slur” suddenly resurface on Tumblr, within the last two years? The answer is both simple and distressing: 

TERFs.

“Queer is a slur” is TERF rhetoric, period. It’s easily traced back to C*thy Br*nn*n and her ilk, and they’re deliberately, actively targeting young LGBTQ+ people in order to radicalize them against anyone who’s LGBTQ+ but not Lesbian or Gay. It works like this:

TERFs start the meme that “queer” is a slur. “It’s important to use the actual words instead of terms of abuse” is a common addition.

People who have actually been using “queer” as a community- and self-descriptor for literal decades say, “No, it’s not, cut that out.” People of every description say this, but trans and bi/pan/ace/aro/etc. people stand out, because…

TERFs (usually in disguise) are supportive. “We just don’t want you to get hurt! Now look, they’re attacking you for wanting to just be called a lesbian.”

Young lesbian and gay people see the rest of the umbrella “tearing their throat out” and decide maybe they’re more trouble than they’re worth, and their friends who are backing them up say, “you know, they’re probably just mentally ill…”

New TERFs are born.

It is bullshit, and the worst part is that it’s working.

“Queer” is not a slur. You’ve been lied to and manipulated by people who want to turn you against your community.

And it genuinely does not add anything of value to the discussion, beyond being an extremely cheap intimidation tactic.

1) I am a trans woman. Your post indicates that you think I’m not, so let’s clear that up.

2) The only people I called TERFs are TERFs. People who are being manipulated by TERFs are victims of TERFs, not TERFs themselves.

3) I’m not “throwing TERF accusations into literally every discussion regarding LGBT issues”. There’s a well-documented path of transmission between TERF bloggers and Tumblr opinion on the specific topic of “queer is a slur”. 

3a) Again, this does not make young Tumblr users TERFs. It makes them victims.

It is difficult for me to imagine “queer” being a slur in the modern day. It certainly used to be, and nobody denies that. Maybe someone, somewhere has used it derogatorily in the last ten years. But “queer” has been adopted and reclaimed for longer than most of Tumblr has been alive. The well-known slogan “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it” celebrates its 27th birthday this year.

So why did “queer is a slur” suddenly resurface on Tumblr, within the last two years? The answer is both simple and distressing: 

TERFs.

“Queer is a slur” is TERF rhetoric, period. It’s easily traced back to C*thy Br*nn*n and her ilk, and they’re deliberately, actively targeting young LGBTQ+ people in order to radicalize them against anyone who’s LGBTQ+ but not Lesbian or Gay. It works like this:

TERFs start the meme that “queer” is a slur. “It’s important to use the actual words instead of terms of abuse” is a common addition.

People who have actually been using “queer” as a community- and self-descriptor for literal decades say, “No, it’s not, cut that out.” People of every description say this, but trans and bi/pan/ace/aro/etc. people stand out, because…

TERFs (usually in disguise) are supportive. “We just don’t want you to get hurt! Now look, they’re attacking you for wanting to just be called a lesbian.”

Young lesbian and gay people see the rest of the umbrella “tearing their throat out” and decide maybe they’re more trouble than they’re worth, and their friends who are backing them up say, “you know, they’re probably just mentally ill…”

New TERFs are born.

It is bullshit, and the worst part is that it’s working.

“Queer” is not a slur. You’ve been lied to and manipulated by people who want to turn you against your community.

It is difficult for me to imagine “queer” being a slur in the modern day. It certainly used to be, and nobody denies that. Maybe someone, somewhere has used it derogatorily in the last ten years. But “queer” has been adopted and reclaimed for longer than most of Tumblr has been alive. The well-known slogan “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it” celebrates its 27th birthday this year.

So why did “queer is a slur” suddenly resurface on Tumblr, within the last two years? The answer is both simple and distressing: 

TERFs.

“Queer is a slur” is TERF rhetoric, period. It’s easily traced back to C*thy Br*nn*n and her ilk, and they’re deliberately, actively targeting young LGBTQ+ people in order to radicalize them against anyone who’s LGBTQ+ but not Lesbian or Gay. It works like this:

TERFs start the meme that “queer” is a slur. “It’s important to use the actual words instead of terms of abuse” is a common addition.

People who have actually been using “queer” as a community- and self-descriptor for literal decades say, “No, it’s not, cut that out.” People of every description say this, but trans and bi/pan/ace/aro/etc. people stand out, because…

TERFs (usually in disguise) are supportive. “We just don’t want you to get hurt! Now look, they’re attacking you for wanting to just be called a lesbian.”

Young lesbian and gay people see the rest of the umbrella “tearing their throat out” and decide maybe they’re more trouble than they’re worth, and their friends who are backing them up say, “you know, they’re probably just mentally ill…”

New TERFs are born.

It is bullshit, and the worst part is that it’s working.

“Queer” is not a slur. You’ve been lied to and manipulated by people who want to turn you against your community.

But I think you’ve missed my point. “Queer is a slur” is a meme - in the original sense, not the “image macro” sense. It has a definite origin - we can literally go back and find the blogs that started it, and yes, they’re TERFs - and a predictable epidemiological pattern of "infection” and adoption. It is not a mistake or a coincidence that “queer is a slur” spreads on Tumblr and among younger LGBTQ+ people. The specific meme started with TERFs and is intended to target you.

The young LGBTQ+ people now spreading the meme are its victims, not its perpetrators.

Understand what I’m saying:

It sucks that you have received abuse using “queer” as a pejorative. Nobody should have to go through that.

Despite that, “queer” was reclaimed by the community long ago. When you say “if u wanna reclaim it for urself” you are, unknowingly or not, ignoring and erasing decades of history and millions of lived experiences.

Not everybody who spreads the “queer is a slur” meme is a TERF, and I don’t think I ever said that, BUT

The meme was started by TERFs as a way to radicalize young gay and lesbian people against bi, pan, trans, etc. people.

It is difficult for me to imagine “queer” being a slur in the modern day. It certainly used to be, and nobody denies that. Maybe someone, somewhere has used it derogatorily in the last ten years. But “queer” has been adopted and reclaimed for longer than most of Tumblr has been alive. The well-known slogan “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it” celebrates its 27th birthday this year.

So why did “queer is a slur” suddenly resurface on Tumblr, within the last two years? The answer is both simple and distressing: 

TERFs.

“Queer is a slur” is TERF rhetoric, period. It’s easily traced back to C*thy Br*nn*n and her ilk, and they’re deliberately, actively targeting young LGBTQ+ people in order to radicalize them against anyone who’s LGBTQ+ but not Lesbian or Gay. It works like this:

TERFs start the meme that “queer” is a slur. “It’s important to use the actual words instead of terms of abuse” is a common addition.

People who have actually been using “queer” as a community- and self-descriptor for literal decades say, “No, it’s not, cut that out.” People of every description say this, but trans and bi/pan/ace/aro/etc. people stand out, because...

TERFs (usually in disguise) are supportive. “We just don’t want you to get hurt! Now look, they’re attacking you for wanting to just be called a lesbian.”

Young lesbian and gay people see the rest of the umbrella “tearing their throat out” and decide maybe they’re more trouble than they’re worth, and their friends who are backing them up say, “you know, they’re probably just mentally ill...”

New TERFs are born.

It is bullshit, and the worst part is that it’s working.

“Queer” is not a slur. You’ve been lied to and manipulated by people who want to turn you against your community.

Latin graffiti in Pompeii (CIL IV.8792)

life fast die young, Romans

(via likeavirgil)

#HAPPY ANNIVERSARY OF THE TIME THAT ROMAN GUY MADE BREAD

(via audible-smiles)

4/19 bake it

(via inquisitorpsyduck)

Is bread a euphemism for something in ancient Latin?

(via airyairyquitecontrary)

The origin of Roman Meal.

(via bububorg)

@joyeuse-noelle @fadeaccompli Is bread a euphemism in ancient Latin?

(via cythraul)

The best I can give you is “maybe”.

There’s some circumstantial evidence that it is, but I can’t find anyone saying it outright. The graffito in question is in a gladiators’ barracks (a lot of people online seem to think it’s in a bathroom stall, but I’m not sure that’s true), and nearby (on the wall of a house) is another inscription:

Gaius Sabinus says a fond hello to Statius.  Traveler, you eat bread in Pompeii but you go to Nuceria to drink.  At Nuceria, the drinking is better.

(Nuceria was a city upriver of Pompeii, and on which Pompeii and other local cities depended for trade.)

Further, the later historian Paulus Diaconus (Paul the Deacon) writes about bakers setting up prostitution booths around their grist mills, and specifically about prostitutes being called “spelt-mill girls”.