You might have seen the news last week of Isaac Keatinge, who was brutally bashed in Newtown for wearing a dress.
Isaac is a friend of mine. When I saw his post on Facebook about it, I was incredibly shaken.
The response has been huge, and fairly positive. That’s probably partly due to the fact that Isaac himself was so incredibly sweet about the whole thing, writing on Facebook in the caption under his brutalised and bloodied face that it’s “a gentle reminder of how lucky we are to live in a country where gay bashing is rare”, and urging others to “take care”.
While most media outlets and police have been careful with their words, it’s important that we be clear: this was a hate crime, a homophobic assault, in which my friend was singled out because of his appearance and the connotations that appearance generates.
Isaac is right: gay bashing in Australia is rare. But as Lane Sainty pointed out on Buzzfeed, LGBT harassment is frighteningly common. We arm ourselves with a safeguard every time we go out. Prior to last week, I thought my guard was a kind of paranoia, and assured myself, “This won’t happen, not to me, not in Newtown,” but now, my paranoia seems entirely legitimate.
Sometimes I think I live in a bubble. And I do, to some extent. The Inner West is a queer bubble where everyone supports marriage equality, no-one bats an eyelid when you walk down the street holding hands with your partner, no-one is turned down employment for who they fuck. When I leave the bubble, it’s hard to know what popular opinion is – can I hold my partner’s hand? Can I book this accommodation for me and my partner? Can I write my LGBT-based experience on my CV?
For sure, my bubble is expanding. In most places, the answer to all of those questions is yes. But as a bubble expands, it’s more susceptible to breakage. I just didn’t expect the bubble to burst right on my doorstep. We thought we were safe in Newtown.
While we can’t necessarily know for sure, there’s every chance the men who bashed Isaac were in Newtown because the lockout laws had forced them there. While the government is adamant that the lockout laws haven’t driven the violence elsewhere, anecdotal evidence at least indicates the culture of King Street has changed on the weekends.
Statistical evidence might not be able to prove that the lockouts have driven the violence elsewhere, but it’s really not that left of field to suggest they haven’t curbed violence, because all research indicates the lockouts are a band-aid. It might stop the bleeding, but it hasn’t done anything to fix the cause.
The lockout laws have done nothing to change the hypermasculinity our culture has bred. It is the hypermasculinity that leads men to feel threatened by other men who don’t display their masculinity as vibrantly, and those who display some femininity. It is the hypermasculinity that leads men to feel threatened by lesbians, who get along perfectly well without them or their penises, thank you very much.
Until we fix this culture of masculinity that demonises or belittles femininity, we won’t fix the violence that breeds in our society when you add alcohol to it.
[Main photo: Keep Sydney Open rally by Ashley Mar]
This Week:
On Saturday April 23, there are two protests to show your support of the LGBT community. At 12:30pm in the city, there’s a protest outside the ACL conference, opposing its views on Safe Schools, marriage equality, transgender rights, and its general shittiness. Later, at 3pm in Victoria Park, Reclaim The Streets is doing a Keep Newtown Weird And Safe protest following Isaac’s bashing. The march will move up to King Street in an effort to reclaim the street from the weekend crowd.
Then on Sunday April 24, the House Of Mince and The Presets bring you Last Exitat The Red Rattler. As well as The Presets doing a DJ set, the event features Massimiliano Pagliara, Zero Percent, Mike Callander, DJ Kiti, Annabelle Gaspar, Jon Watts, Gemma, Steve Sonius and Forrest Ensemble. If that lineup sounds appetising, it’s also sold out, so you better get on your knees if you want to go.
Finally, Studio Kink is doing a weekend of intensive classes, with a performance evening on Sunday April 24. The performance evening will be featuring rope displays, as the intensive weekend is all about rope techniques.
