Gender Betrayal

Vazquez waits to disclose the fact that Mickey and Brian are heterosexual to make a rhetorical argument. Vazquez waits because as you are reading it is easy to write the story off as ‘another’ story of homophobic violence but because she almost tricks the reader Vazquez makes a stronger appeal to our emotions. If they were gay, then the situation couldn’t happen to ‘me’ or ‘you’, but since they are straight the story has an ‘it could happen to you tone. I do not believe the issue of antigay violence changes in any way when we recognize that sometimes its victims are heterosexual because they were still perceived as gay thus the violence is still homophobic. I think our argument in class focused on what was homophobic and what wasn’t but I understood Vazquez’s argument to have a different meaning. I think Vazquez’s most important point is that in American culture we are not allowed to stray from our respective genders. Whether you are gay, straight, or bi you are not accepted if you dress outside of what your gender is ‘supposed’ to wear. My stepmom wears skirts when she is in the courtroom even though I know she prefers to wear pants. Why wear a skirt? Because in central Indiana you are more likely to appeal to a male judge if you dress in a more matronly/womanly fashion.