While Brandon B’s presentation, No Homo: Prejudice and Homophobia within the Gay Community, talks specifically to the gay community, his premise can easily be extended to the general population. Has the seemingly endless stream of possible partners and opportunities generated by internet made us less in touch with our compassionate side and hardened our hearts? How do we bring emotion, respect and kindness back to our online interactions? How do we keep our hearts and heads open?
No Homo: Prejudice and Homophobia within the Gay Community
“No Femmes, Blacks, or Asians.” Most would recoil at that sentence in whole or in part. Go to any online gay dating or hook up site though and you’ll see this or similar tags being tossed around. The men who announce this “personal preference” don’t see it as sexist, racist, or homophobic in the least bit. These people aren’t paying attention.
The internet has had both positive and negative effects on gay culture. For the kid who lives in the middle of Nowhere USA, he now sees that there are others like him. But what have years of repression combined with a sudden flood gate of endless sexual opportunities online created within the community? Shine a light on this and discuss how the influx of technology has separated emotion and compassion from our interactions, and how we have devolved with “the machines” both sexually and socially to be like machines — lacking tact, sympathy, and respect.
Brandon B
Brandon B. is an aspiring sex educator, writer, and performer living in Brooklyn, New York. He conducts workshops out of various venues including the famous Pleasure Chest in the West Village where he is the manager. After failing to locate any gay sex blogs that talked about “sexy safer-sex,” in 2009 he created TheINQUEERY.com, a sex toy and product review site specifically for gay men. In 2010, he began reading erotic pieces from his personal mini-art zine at various venues including a 12-month residency at The Bowery Poetry Club for the burlesque, queer, performance art show Auralfixia. In 2011, he was a model for the New York Sex Blogger Calendar and will be a presenter at the Momentum conference in Washington DC. Expanding upon the success of The INQUEERY Brandon sets out to begin an exclusive new blog for Darling House titled “PLAN B,” documenting his personal journey — not only a sex educator, writer, and performer — but also revealing a behind the scenes look at his life as he attempts to mold himself into a public sex symbol.
No Homo: Prejudice and Homophobia within the Gay Community will be presented on Saturday, April 2nd, from 10:30AM to 11:40AM.
