You are on page 1of 18

Right On, Girlfriend!

Author(s): Douglas Crimp


Source: Social Text, No. 33 (1992), pp. 2-18
Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/466431 .
Accessed: 18/01/2014 10:26

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Duke University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Text.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
On,Girlfriend!
Right
Douglas
Crimp

At Vito Russo's memorialservicein December 1990, the firstspeakerwas


New YorkCity'smayorDavid Dinkins.It had been reportedin thegay press
thatDinkinspaid a hospitalvisita fewdaysbeforeVitodied,andthatVitohad
mustered thestrength to situp and say,"In 1776,EdmundBurkeoftheBritish
Parliamentsaid about the slaveryclause, 'A politicianowes thepeople not
onlyhis industry buthis judgment,and if he sacrificeshis judgmentto their
opinions,he betraysthem.'"'Those ofus whoare queerand/or AIDS activists
knewverywell whatVitowas alludingto,becauseMayorDinkinshad bythen
alreadysacrificed whatwe tookto be hisjudgmentwhenwe votedforhim.He
failedto make a public issue of therisingtide of violenceagainstgays and
lesbiansbyrefusing to marchwithus in StatenIslandto protestthehomopho-
bically motivatedmurderof a disabled gay man and by beingunwillingto
press forlabeling as bias-relatedthe murderof a gay Latino in a Jackson
Heightscruisingarea.2He appointedWoodrowMyershealthcommissioner
overthevehementobjectionsof AIDS activists;he canceledNew York'spilot
needle-exchange program, initiatedbyMyers'spredecessor butopposedbythe
city'sconservative black leadership; he allowedthousands of homelesspeople
withHIV infection to remainin warehouseshelters, wheretheyarevulnerable
to opportunisticdiseases,especiallyto theterrifying new epidemicof multi-
drug-resistantstrainsof tuberculosis; and he drastically
cutfundingforhealth
servicesevenas thecity'shealthcaresystemfacedcollapsefromunderfinanc-
ing.Still,whenDinkinseulogizedVitoRusso,he quotedwhatVitohad said to
him in the hospitaland, withno apparentsense of irony,professedthathe
wouldalwaysremember it.
As soon as he had deliveredhis shortspeech,themayorand his entourage
leftthememorialservice,accompaniedby a smallchorusof boos. The next
speakerwas Vito'sold friendArnieKantrowitz, whobeganbysayingthat,just
in case we thoughtwe had learnedsomething new aboutVito-that he was a
studentof Americanhistory-we shouldknowthatthe lines he'd quotedto
Dinkinscame fromthe movie versionof the Broadwaymusical 1776. Our
laughterat Arnie'sremarkbrought backtheVitowe knewandloved,thefierce
activistwhowas veryfunnyandveryqueer,a veryfunnyqueerwhoknewand
loved movies,who knewbetterthananybodyhow badlythemoviestreated
queers,butstilllovedthem.Those qualitieswerecapturedyetagainin another

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Douglas Crimp 3

of Arnie's remarks.Reminiscing about Vito's pleasure in showing movies at


home to his friendsand about his unashamed worship of JudyGarland, Arnie
summed up Vito's brand of gay militancy (or perhaps I should say, his gay
brand of militancy): "In Vito's house," Arnie quipped, "either you respected
Judy... or you left."
A verydifferentchord was strucklaterin the service by LarryKramer."The
Vito who was my friendwas differentfromthe one I've heard about today,"
the Hollywood screenwritersaid. "Since I hate old movies, I wasn't in his
home-screening crowd."3 Kramer went on to ask, rhetorically,"Who killed
Vito?" And his answer? "As sure as any virus killed him, we killed him.
Everyone in this room killed him. Twenty-fivemillion people outside this
room killed him. Vito was killed by 25 million gay men and lesbians who for
ten long years of thisplague have refusedto get our act together.Can't you see
that?"
The "can't you see that?" was the refrainof Kramer's speech, which went
on to name names-mostly those of closeted gay men and lesbians in the
entertainmentindustry.The last names mentionedwere those associated with
an AIDS fund-raiser:
There's goingto be a benefitscreeningof a moviecalled Silence of the
Lambs. The villainis a gay man who mass-murders people. AmFAR is
holding the Thanks
benefit. a lot,Mathilde Krim [MathildeKrimis, as is
well-known,the chairpersonof the AmericanFoundationfor AIDS
Research].Thanksa lot,Arthur Krim,forfinancing thefilm[Arthur
Krim,
Mathilde'shusband,is thefounderof OrionPictures].Thanksa lot,Jodie
Foster,forstarring in it [JodieFosteris ... well,we knowwhoJodieFos-
teris .. .].

Some otherpeople at the memorial service disagreed with Larry about who
killed Vito. As several hundred of Vito's friendsand admirers arrived at the
service, we were handed a xeroxed fliersigned "Three Anonymous Queers."
"On the same nightlast month,"it began,
VitoRusso died fromAIDS and JesseHelms was reelectedto anothersix
yearsofpower.. . . I believewithall myheartthatJesseHelmskilledVito
Russo. And I believe withoutquestionthatwhen I was queer-bashed,
thewounds
Helmswas as responsibleformyinjuriesas ifhe had inflicted
withhis own hands.I fullyimaginein a meetingwithHelms,he would
have theblood and fleshof dead dykesand fagsdrippingfromhis hands
and mouth.And I hatehimand I believe he is a threatto myveryexis-
tence and I have every rightto defendmyselfagainst him with any
amountof forceI choose.

The flierclosed with two questions: "If I am ever brave enough to murder
Jesse Helms, will you hand me the gun to carryout the deed? Will you hide me
fromthe law once it is done?"
Most queers will recognize, in these two rhetoricalanswers to the question,

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
4 RightOn, Girlfriend!

Who killedVito?,positionstakenon debatesin contemporary queerpolitics,


debatesabout"outing"and "bashingback."My interest hereis notso muchto
takesides in thesedebatesas to describeboththepoliticalconjuncture within
whichtheytakeplace and some of theculturalinterventions withinthem.I
also wantto attendto theirrelevanceforAIDS activism,themovement which
to some degreebroughtthemto the foreand in whichtheyare sometimes
playedout. It is notcoincidentalthattheysurfacedat Vito Russo's memorial
service,forin manywaysVitowas thequintessential gayactivistturnedAIDS
activist.
Vito's deathwas morethana personalloss to his friendsand admirers.It
was also a greatsymbolicloss to ACT UP. The ThreeAnonymousQueersput
it thisway: "Vitois dead and everythingremainsthesame. I thought I might
go to sleep thenightafterhis deathand wake up to findthecityburnedto the
ground."Such a fantasy, whichrecallsspontaneousriotsin thewake of mur-
deredcivil rightsleadersof the 1960s,arises,I think,notonlybecause Vito
was a cherishedleader,butbecausehe heldouthope in a veryparticular way,
hope thathe voiced in his famousAlbanyspeech fromACT NOW's Nine
Days ofProtestin thespringof 1988.4 The speechbegan,
A friend ofminehasa half-fare
transit
cardwhichhe useson busesand
subways.The otherdaywhenhe showedhis card,thetokenattendant
askedwhathisdisability
was.He said,"I haveAIDS,"andtheattendant
said,"Noyoudon't.IfyouhadAIDS,you'dbe home,dying." I'mhereto
speakouttodayas a PWAwhois notdyingfrom, butforthelastthree
livingwith,
yearsquitesuccessfully AIDS.

Vitoendedthespeechby saying,"Afterwe kicktheshitoutof thisdisease,I


intendto be alive to kicktheshitoutofthissystem,so thatthiswillneverhap-
pen again."
Vito'sdeathpainfully demonstrated to manyAIDS activiststhattherhetoric
of hopewe inventedand dependedupon-a rhetoric of "livingwithAIDS," in
which"AIDS is nota deathsentence,"butrather"a chronicmanageableill-
ness"-was becomingdifficult to sustain.I don't wantto minimizethepossi-
bilitythatanyone'sdeathmightresultin such a loss of hope forsomeone;
moreover,withina two-weekperiodof Vito's death,fourotherhighlyvisible
membersofACT UP New Yorkalso died,a cumulativeloss forus thatwas all
butunbearable.But I thinkmanyof us had a specialinvestment in Vito's sur-
vival,not onlybecause he was so beloved,but because,as a long-term sur-
vivor,as a resolutebelieverin his own survival,and as a highlyvisibleand
articulate
fighter forhis and others'survival,he fullyembodiedthathope.
Vito'sdeathcoincidedwiththewaningnotonlyofouroptimism butalso of
a periodof limitedbut concretesuccesses forthe AIDS activistmovement.
Duringthatperiod-roughly,thefirsttwoand one-halfyearsafterthefound-
ing of ACT UP in thespringof 1987-we had succeededin focusinggreater
publicattention on AIDS, in shifting thediscussionof AIDS fromone domi-

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Douglas Crimp 5

natedbya punitivemoralismto one directedtowardcombatinga publichealth


emergency, and in affectingpolicyin concreteways,particularly drugdevel-
opmentpolicy.
Duringthepasttwo years,however,we have experiencedonlydisappoint-
mentsand setbacks.We have seen almostno new drugsto combatAIDS,
whetherantiviralsor treatments for,or prophylaxesagainst,opportunistic
infections(Ols). The resultsof didanosine(ddl) and dideoxycytidine (ddC)
studieshave been less thanencouraging,and the few potentiallyeffective
treatments forOls are eitherheldup in theFDA's approvalprocessor,when
grantedmarketingapproval,subjectto record-breaking price gouging.We
have had to return to otherbattleswe had thought werebehindus, suchas the
call formandatory testingof healthcare professionals in thewake of hysteria
caused bythepossibletransmission ofHIV froma dentisttohis patients;after
havingworkedtirelesslyto get the voices of people withAIDS heard,the
media and Congressfinallylistenedsympathetically to one, thatof Kimberly
Bergalis,who in factspokenotas a personwithAIDS ("I didn'tdo anything
wrong,"she protested), butas the"victim"ofpeoplewithAIDS ("My lifehas
beentakenaway").5We have seenthelevelingoffor shrinking ofspendingon
AIDS at local,state,andfederallevels,a particularly dishearteningexampleof
which was the passage, withgreatfanfare,of the Ryan WhiteEmergency
CARE billprovidingdisasterreliefto thehardesthitcities,andthen,at budget
time,thefailureto providemostof thefundingforit. At thesame time,case-
loads continueto spiralupward,new HIV infections continuetomultiply, and
theepidemicbecomesmoreentrenched in populationsalreadyburdenedwith
otherpoverty-related problems,populationswithno primaryhealthcare,no
healthinsurance,oftenno housing.
Perhapseven moredemoralizingthanthecumulativeeffectsof theseset-
backs,we are facedwitha new kindof indifference, an indifference thathas
beencalled the"normalization ofAIDS." If,forthefirsteightyearsoftheepi-
demic-the termof RonaldReagan's presidency-indifference tooktheform
of callouslyignoringthecrisis,underGeorgeBush,AIDS has been "normal-
ized" as just one itemon a longlistof supposedlyintractable social problems.
How oftendo we hear the list recited:poverty, crime,drugs,homelessness,
and AIDS? AIDS is no longeran emergency. It's merelya permanent disaster.
One effectof thisnormalization process is the growing credence grantedthe
claimthatAIDS has receiveda disproportionate amountoffederalfunding for
medicalresearch.This claim overlooksthe factthatAIDS is a new disease
syndrome,thatit primarilythreatensthe lives of the young,thatit is not
merelyan illnessbuta bewildering arrayofillnesses,and,mostimportant, that
it is an epidemicstillout of control.The saddestironyis that,now thatour
optimismhas turnedto grimrealism,our old rhetoricis appropriated to abet
theprocessof normalization and defunding. Hence ourambivalenceat Magic
Johnson'spowerfulexampleof "livingwithHIV," since we now knowthat,

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
6 RightOn,Girlfriend!

particularly amongpeopleofcolor,Johnson'sabilityto "fightthevirus,"as he


putsit, will be exceptional,andthatthesensethatAIDS is alreadymanageable
will onlyrelaxefforts to makeit so.
This is a verysketchybackgroundagainstwhichnew tacticshave been
embracedbyqueers.Moreimportant, itis thebackground againstwhichAIDS
activismis beingpainfullytransformed. The interrelation betweenthetwo-
queeractivismand AIDS activism-is complex,shifting, sometimesdivisive.
As a meansofanalyzingthetransformations andthedivisions,I wantto return
to LarryKramer'sfinger-pointing at VitoRusso's memorialservice.
BeforecomingtoJodieFosterand TheSilenceoftheLambs,a shortarche-
ology of "outing."6All queershave extensiveexperiencewiththecloset,no
matterhow muchof a sissy or tomboywe were as children,no matterhow
earlywe declaredoursexualpreferences, no matter how determined we are to
be openlygay or lesbian.The closetis nota function of homosexuality in our
culture,butofcompulsory andpresumptive heterosexuality.I maybe publicly
identified as gay,butin orderforthatidentity to be acknowledged, I have to
declareiton each newoccasion.By "occasion,"I meansomething as simpleas
askinga cab driverto takeme to a barliketheSpike,orkissingmyfriendJeff
goodbyeon a crowdedsubwaywhenhe getsofftwo stopsbeforeme on our
wayhomefromthegym.Fearingformysafety, I mightchoosenotto kissJeff,
thereby hidingbehindourfellowriders'presumption thatwe're straight.7
As partofourexperiencewiththecloset,whichwas formostofus theonly
safeplace to be as adolescents,we also knowwhatit's liketo keep thecloset
doorfirmly shutbypretending notonlyto be heterosexual butalso to be homo-
in
phobic-since many circumstances the mark of one's heterosexuality is the
openexpression ofhatred towardqueers. Thus most of us have theexperience,
usuallyfromouryouth,of oppressingotherqueersin orderto eludethatsame
oppression.Eve KosofskySedgwickwritesin Epistemology oftheClosetthat
"it is entirelywithintheexperienceof gay people to findthata homophobic
figurein powerhas ... a disproportionate likelihoodof beinggay and clos-
eted."8 I'm notso sure.I don'tthinkthereis muchlikelihoodat all thatJesse
Helms or CardinalO'Connor or PatrickBuchanan,forexample,are gay and
closeted.We do have experiencewithhomophobiadictatedby thecloset,but
thatexperienceis as muchofourselvesas of others.Andit is oftentheprojec-
tionof thatexperiencethatmakesus suspiciousof thehomophobicfigurein
power.
Such suspicions,enhancedbyrumors, have sometimesled us to impugnthe
heterosexuality of our oppressors.A celebrated case is thatof formerNew
York City mayorEd Koch. A confirmed bachelor,Koch requireda former
beautyqueen fora "beard"to winhis firstmayoralprimary, sincetheopposi-
tion'ssloganwas "VoteforCuomo,notthehomo."The "homo"wontheelec-
tionand therebygainedcontrolof thecitythatwould soon have thehighest
numberofAIDS cases ofanycityin theworld.Duringthetimewhenattention

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
DouglasCrimp 7

to AIDS impliedattention to a gay disease,Koch paid no attention,and many


interpreted his needto dissociatehimself as a formof the
self-defense, defense
of his closet.The spectacularconclusion,some yearslater,was Koch's open
admissionon a radiotalkshowofhis heterosexuality, which,aftermanyyears
of his insistingthathis sexualitywas nobody'sbusiness,made thefrontpage
of New YorkNewsday.For ACT UP's "TargetCity Hall" demonstration in
March 1989, an affinity grouppasted thatNewsdaycover to placards-and
answereditsbannerheadline,"KOCH: I'M HETEROSEXUAL," with"Yeah,
and I'm CarmenMiranda."The Newsdayheadline also inspireda tongue-
twisterchantfortheday: "Why's New YorkAIDS care ineffectual? Ask Ed
Koch, theheterosexual." "TargetCity Hall" was an outingwith a queersense
ofhumor.
The tendencyto suspecta closetedhomosexualbehinda lack of commit-
mentto fighting AIDS migrated, in thefigureof MichelangeloSignorile,from
ACT UP to Outweek,New York's short-livedgay and lesbian weekly.In
chargeof ACT UP's media committeeduring"TargetCity Hall," and later
Outweek's featureseditor,Signorile also wrote a column called "Gossip
Watch,"a queervariationon mediawatchesthatrestricted itspurviewto gos-
sip columns. Using the bluntinstrument of all-caps,four-letter-word
invective
and theAIDS crisisas an excuse forrighteousindignation, "Gossip Watch"
chastisedgossip columnists-oftenthemselvescloseted homosexuals-for,
amongotherthings,inventingbeardsforclosetedcelebritieswho had done
nothingpubliclyabouttheAIDS crisis.
This circumscribed contextof whatcame to be called "outing"has impor-
tantbearingon theensuingdebate.Signorileappearedinitiallyto wantto say
something abouttheprivilegedpositionofgossipin ourculture'smanagement
of theopen secret.Outingis not (at least not at first)the revelationof that
secret,buttherevelationthatthesecretwas no secretat all. Thatwas thescan-
dal of Outweek's Malcolm Forbes cover story, for which Time and
Newsweek-notOutweek-invented theterm.9 The dominant mediaheapedits
fearand loathinguponSignorile,Outweek,and queersgenerally, notbecause
Forbes'shomosexuality had been revealed,butbecause theirown complicity
in concealingithadbeenrevealed.Forbeswas not"outed,"themedia'shomo-
phobiawas.
Fromthemoment"outing"was named,however,thestraight mediasetthe
termsof debate,and we queersfoolishlyacceptedthosetermsby seekingto
justifyan act of whichwe had notbeen guilty.We resortedthento our two,
mutuallycontradictory excuses: thatour oppressorsare disproportionately
likelyto be gayandclosetedandthatwe needthemas rolemodels.In adopting
ourparadoxicaldefense,we ignoredthewaysin whichbothofthesepositions
are turnedagainstus, especially in the contextof AIDS. AIDS has often
resultedin a peculiarlypublicand unarguablemeansof outing.Day afterday,
as we read the obituarysectionof the New YorkTimes,we are faced with

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8 RightOn,Girlfriend!

incontrovertible proof-in theirsurvivalby "long-timecompanions"(a term


inventedby theTimes)-of thehomosexuality of artists,actors,and dancers;
of fashiondesigners,models,and interior decorators;of doctors,lawyers,and
stockbrokers. The tragicironyis thatithas takenAIDS to proveourStonewall
slogan:"We areeverywhere."'1
ButthetwomostnotoriousoutingsbyAIDS shouldgiveus pause aboutthe
benefits of suchrevelations.
Responsesto thedeathsof Rock Hudsonand Roy
Cohn have a perversesymmetry. Hudson was locked in Hollywood'sfifties
closet,hidingfrom,amongotherthings,a McCarthyism thatequatedcommies
and queers.Cohn was theclosetedMcCarthyite. Hudsonpersonified decency
to a majorityof Americans,and his homosexuality was seen as a betrayal.He
became "thehunkwho lived a lie."" Roy Cohn came belatedlyto represent
indecencyto mostAmericans;his homosexuality was seen as fidelityto his
verybeing.He was theMcCarthyite queer,theevil homosexualwholied about
everything.12The revelationof the secret-the secretthatwas, of course,no
secretin eithercase-became in bothcases therevelationthathomosexuals
are liarsand traitors.
Nothingnew aboutthat.
In thisscenario,whois theoppressorandwhotherolemodel?As I readthe
homophobicpress accounts,Hudson is the oppressor,guiltyof oppressing
himselfand all the innocentfans who believed him,and Cohn is the role
model,absolutelyfaithful to thetruthof homosexuality in his duplicityand
cowardice.Our outingfantasy-thattherevelationof homosexuality would
have a transformative effecton homophobicdiscourse-was only a fantasy
afterall, anda dangerousone at that.As SedgwickcounselsinEpistemology of
the Closet:
Wehavetoomuchcausetoknowhowlimited a leverageanyindividual
canexercise
revelation overcollectivelyscaledandinstitutionallyembod-
ied oppressions.
Acknowledgment of thisdisproportion doesnotmean
thattheconsequences of suchactsas comingoutcan be circumscribed
withinpredeterminedboundaries,as ifbetween"personal" and"political"
realms,nordoesitrequireus to denyhowdisproportionately powerful
anddisruptive suchactscan be. Butthebruteincommensurability has
nonethelessto be acknowledged.In thetheatrical displayof an already
institutionalized
ignorance no transformativepotential is to be looked
for.13

Signorile'sinitialimpulsewas perhaps,then,moreproductive:notto "out"


supposedlyclosetedgaymenandlesbians,butto "out"enforcers ofthecloset;
notto revealthe"secret"ofhomosexuality, butto revealthe"secret"ofhomo-
phobia.Foritis onlythelatterthatis trulya secret,anda trulydirtysecret.As
fortheformer(thespeculationaboutthesexualityof celebrities),gossip is a
privilegedactivityforqueers,too.
Which brings us to Jodie Foster . . . and The Silence of the Lambs. Larry
Kramer,who claimedin his speechthatVitoRusso "was theonlypersonwho
agreedwithme unequivocallyon everythingI said and did,"added,afterhis

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Douglas Crimp 9

ABSOLUTELY
QUEER
WINNER.
OSCAR GRADUATE.
YALE EX-DISNEY
MOPPET.
DYKL

thank-youto JodieFosterforstarringin Silence: "Vito would reallyhave


screamedaboutthatone." But Vitocan speakforhimself.In his introduction
to The CelluloidCloset,entitled"On theClosetMentality,"
Vitowrote:
Thepublicshould. .. be awareofthesexuality ofgayactors justas itis
awareoftheheterosexuality ofthemajority.I do notbelievethatsucha
discussion is nobody's nordo I believethatitis oneofa sexual
business,
andtherefore nature.
private Discussingsuchthings ina bookwithout the
knowledge or consentof thepeoplein questionis, alas, immoral and
libelous.It is immoralbecauseunlesspeoplebytheirownchoicecome
outof thecloset,theannouncement is valueless;it is libelousbecause
suchinformation hasbeenknownto destroy people'slives.Someofus
willchangethatintime.14

The last sentenceis characteristic


of Vito,of his fighting
spirit,his optimism,
and his understanding of whatneededchanging.Amongthethingswe needto
changeis thefactthatcallingsomeonehomosexualis, to thisday,considered
by ourlegal systemto be libelousperse. Maliciousintentdoes nothave to be
proved.
One thingVito would surelyhave disagreedwithLarryaboutis whomto
blameforhis owndeath.Vitopointedhis fingerat queersonlyto tellus how
muchhe lovedus and to praiseourcourage.As forTheSilenceoftheLambs,

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
10 RightOn,Girlfriend!

Vito wouldhave been thebestequippedamongus to showjust how careless


Jonathan Demmewas in his characterization ofserialkillerBuffaloBill, a.k.a.
JameGumb,withhis miniature poodle namedPrecious,his chiffonscarves,
his made-upface,his nipplering,and his murdered boyfriend. Maybe these
featuresdon'thave to add up to a homophobicstereotype withinthecomplex
alignments of sexualityandpathologyrepresented in TheSilenceoftheLambs,
but theymostcertainlydo withinthehistoryof theirdeployment by Holly-
wood,thehistoryVitoRusso wrote.
Up to a point,Demmewas carefulabouthis portrayals in Silence-of both
ClariceStarlingandthemenaroundher.Feministapprovalofthefilmderives,
I think,not only fromthe strengthand intelligenceof Foster's character
Clarice,butalso fromherindependence froman arrayofalternately annoying
or sinisterpatriarchalfigures,althoughjust how independent is a matterof
contention. But Claricedoes rejecteveryattempt to putthemakeon her;her
commitment is to thecapturedwoman.Demme ultimately failed,though,to
followthroughon his film'santipatriarchal logic. He let patriarchy offthe
hookby homosexualizing thepsychopaths-Buffalo Bill, obviously, Han-
but
nibalLecteras well,whosedisturbing appeal can hardlybe divorcedfromhis
camp, effeteintelligence.What straightman would get offa line like "Oh,
Senator,..,. love yoursuit!"?Demme's homophobiais thusa matternotonly
of underwriting the traditionof Hollywood's stereotyping of gay men as
psychopathic killers,but also of his displacement of the most horrifying con-
of
sequences patriarchy onto men who are far from straight.
In ThomasHarris'snovel,JameGumbis nothomosexual-theboyfriend
he murderedwas not his, but HannibalLecter's patient's.On the contrary,
Gumbis explicitlyreferred to in thebookas a fagbasher.'5He was refusedthe
sex changeoperationhe applied forat JohnsHopkinsnot only because he
failedtherequisitepsychologicaltests,butalso becausehe had a policerecord
fortwoassaultson gaymen.One has to wonderwhyDemmedecidedto leave
out thisinformation in a filmthatotherwisefollowsthenovelveryprecisely.
Wouldthefactthatthekillerwas a homophobehavebrought yetanothermur-
derousconsequenceof patriarchy too close to home?
The displacementof patriarchy's mostseriousconsequencescan also be
seen in the film'sillustration of anothermode of feministanalysis,one that
moves beyondpositive-versus-negative imagesto theenforcement of sexual
difference through psychicprocessesprovokedin thespectatorby cinematic
codes. Laura Mulveymightwell have written theclimacticscene.16Deprived
of agencybybeingtheobjectratherthanthesubjectofvision,ClariceStarling
is stalkedbythevoyeuristic gaze ofthespectator, who,unseenin thedarkness,
just like the serial killer,sees her throughinfraredglasses wornby Jame
Gumb.Thereis no questionwherespectatorial identification oughtto lie, and
how itoughtto be gendered:whatthekillermale's gaze sees is all thecamera
shows,and theimageofthewomanis trappedbythecinematicapparatus, rep-

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Douglas Crimp 11

resentedin theprosthetic device thekillerwears.But somethingunexpected


happens.The tensionof thescene is broken,notby Clarice's gunshots,butby
an often-remarked male spectator'sshoutin thedark:"Shootthefuckingfag-
got!" Homophobiabreaksthepowerof cinema,"proper"interpellation fails,
and onlythenis Claricerestoredto agency.
The filmis thusperhapsfeminist, thoughinsufficiently, andcertainly homo-
phobic,quitesufficiently. Acknowledging thesetwodifferent positionsshould
notbe impossible;althoughtheyare interdependent in thefilm'smappingof
them,theydo not have to be mutuallyexclusivein our readingof the film.
WhatmakesthedebateaboutThe SilenceoftheLambs troubling, however,is
itspolarizationalonggenderlines.Women,includinglesbians,have tendedto
defendthefilm,whilegay menusuallydecryit.And JodieFostergetscaught
in themiddle.As B. RubyRich,an "out" lesbian,putit in the VillageVoice,
"Male and femaledesires,fears,andpleasuresin thecinemahave rarelycoin-
cided,so it shouldcome as no surprisethatdykeand faggotreactionsto this
movieare likelyto divergeas well." 7 For gay men,Fosterlendsherprestige
to thefilm'shomophobicportrayal; forwomen,includinglesbians,she lends
her skill to a feministone. For gay men,Fosteris a closetedoppressor;for
lesbians,she's a rolemodel.
The divisionis a doubleone, forit entails,on theone hand,theidentity of
Fosterand,on theother,theconceptionofidentity itself.Castigating Fosteras
oppressorbothpresumesher (closeted) lesbian identityand presumesthat
identityprecedesand determines politicalenactment. PraisingFosteras role
model,by contrast, acceptsherfeminism as itselfconstitutive of heridentity.
Rich insists,"I'm notwillingto give up theimmensesatisfactions ofa heroine
withwhomwomencan identify. Not willingto reduceall theintricate compo-
?nentsof thismoviedownto thepass/failscoreof one character. Please excuse
me ifmyattention is focusednoton thekiller,buton thewomenhe kills."And
her defenseconcludes,"Guess I'm just a girl."Whichis to say thatin this
debate,Rich's identification,herpolitics,emphasizegenderidentity oversex-
ual identity.As we knowfromherwriting, in debateswithinfeminism Richis
perfectly of the
capable reversing emphasis. Rich's identityis not fixed,does
not determineher politicalidentifications; ratherher politicalidentification
momentarily fixesheridentity:"Guess I'm just a girl."But whereis theles-
bianin thispicture?Hasn'tshe againbeenrendered invisible?Andwhat,ifnot
outing,will makehervisible?
JeanCarlomusto'svideoL Is fortheWayYouLook providesone answer.In
thecentralsectionof thetape,ninewomen,speakingsinglyor in groups,tell
the storyof an eveningat the Lower East Side performance space P.S. 122
whenlesbiancomedian Reno was performing. What made the occasion worth
talkingaboutwas thatsomeonespecial was in theaudience.FirstZoe tellsus
thathalfwaythroughReno's performance, Nancy leaned over to say,"Fran
Liebowitzis overthere.... We'reboth,youknow,we bothkindahave a thing

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
12 RightOn,Girlfriend!

forFran " Nancythensays she had morefunwatchingFranlaughingat


...
Reno thanshe did laughingat Reno herself,afterwhichCynthia,sittingwith
her friendBea, describesa commotionon the stairwayas the audiencewas
leaving."Finally,"Cynthiasays,"thecrowdparteda littlebit and . ." (the
filmcuts back to Nancy mid-sentence)". . . and all I see is this giant hair. It's
almostlikeitcould'vebeenhairon a stickpassingby,thisplatinum hugething
on thislittleblackspandex."In case we haven'tyetfigured outwhatthecom-
motionis about, Zoe adds anotherclue: "I turnedaround,and I saw her
breasts,I saw thiscleavage,I saw thisendowment, and,oh myGod, I saw the
hair,and it was ... Dolly Parton."It turnsoutthatHilarywas there,too,and
thoughEmily,Polly,andGerriweren't,thenewshas traveled,and,afterjoking
aroundaboutit,theydecideto say theywerethere,and thatDolly had a crew
cutlikeNancy's,and thatshe was makingoutwithFran.
This sequenceof L Is for theWayYouLook (whichwas initiallytitledThe
InvisibleWoman)is, as Carlomustotoldme,notreallyaboutDolly Parton;it's
aboutgossip.Dolly Partonmaybe thesubjectof thegossip,butthesubjectiv-
ityrepresented in thevideo is thatof thelesbianswho gossip amongthem-
selvesaboutDolly.Whatmatters is theirvisibility.
Dolly is theabsencearound
whicha representation oflesbianismis constituted. Butthisis no simplestruc-
turalistlesson aboutrepresentation foundedon absence;ratherit is meantto
tell us something abouttheidentifications we makeand thecommunities we
formthrough theseidentifications.
I don't mean to suggestthatthe focusof gossip on Dolly Partondoesn't
matterat all. Of course it mattersthatDolly's lesbianismhas long been
rumoredand thatherattendanceat a lesbianperformance in thecompanyof
anotherwell-knowncloseted lesbian seems to confirmthe rumors.But the
emphasis on signifiersof Dolly's femininemasquerade-huge hair,huge
cleavage, tinyspandexminiskirt-bya groupof womenwhose masquerade
differsso significantly fromhers implicatestheiridentifications and their
desirein difference. None of thelesbiansvisiblein L Is for theWayYouLook
looks femmelike Dolly; comparedwithherabsentimage,theyare in facta
pretty butchbunch.
Identification is, of course,identification withan other,whichmeansthat
identity is never identical to itself.This alienation of identity fromtheselfit
constructs, which is a constant replay of a primarypsychicself-alienation,
does notmean simplythatanyproclamation of identitywill be onlypartial,
thatit will be exceededby otheraspectsof identity, butratherthatidentity is
always a relation,neversimplya positivity. As Teresa de Lauretisput it so
conciselyin her essay on lesbian spectatorship in Sheila McLaughlin'sShe
MustBe Seeing Things,"It takestwo women,notone, to make a lesbian."'8
And ifidentity is relational,thenperhapswe can beginto rethink identitypol-
itics as a politicsof relationalidentitiesformedthroughpoliticalidentifica-
tionsthatconstantly remakethoseidentities. As Zoe says in L Is for theWay

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Douglas Crimp 13

You Look, "We decided to milk this for all it was worth,in termsof a female
bonding experience."
Again in Epistemology of the Closet, Sedgwick writes:
I taketheprecious,devaluedartsof gossip,immemorially associatedin
Europeanthoughtwithservants,witheffeminate and gay men,withall
women,to have to do noteven so muchwiththetransmission of neces-
sarynews as withtherefinement of necessaryskillsformaking,testing,
and usingunrationalized and provisionalhypothesesaboutwhatkindsof
people thereareto be foundin one's world.... I don'tassumethatall gay
menor all womenare veryskilledat thenon-taxonomic workrepresented
by gossip,butitdoes makesenseto supposethatourdistinctive needsare
peculiarlydisservedby itsdevaluation.19

The most fundamentalneed gossip has served for queers is that of the con-
struction-and reconstruction-of our identities.Most of us can rememberthe
firsttime we heard someone called a queer, or a fag or a dyke, and-that some-
one not being ourselves-nevertheless responding, within,"So that's what I
am." Because the name-calling is most oftena derogation,our identifications
are also self-derogations.We painstakinglyemerge fromthese self-derogations
throughnew identifications,a process thatoftendepends on gossip among our-
selves: "Really, he's gay? She's a dyke?" "Jodie's a dyke? Then maybe I'm
fabulous, too." From this,we go on to deduce the role-model defense. "If little
tomboys growing up today knew about Jodie, they'd be spared the self-dero-
gation." But the deduction misses two crucial points: first,what Sedgwick
means by "an already institutionalizedignorance," and second, our conception
of identity.
Little tomboys won't be told about an openly lesbian actress, whose career
will in any case probably be cut short the moment she comes out. As Vito
Russo famouslyquipped about coming out, "The truthwill set you free ... but
firstit will make you miserable." The eradication of the homophobia thatcon-
structs the celebrity's closet does not depend on the individual celebrity's
avowal, the limitationsof which we have seen again and again: Did the exem-
plary midshipman's confession of his homosexuality change the rules at
Annapolis or the Pentagon? Did the Olympic medal winner's foundingof the
Gay Olympics persuade the U.S. Olympics Committee or the Supreme Court
to let us use thatrubric? No, the eradication of homophobia-of this already
institutionalizedignorance-depends on our collective political struggle,on
our identitypolitics.
Identitypolitics has most oftenbeen understood,and is now denigrated,as
essentialist (denigrated in certain quarters,in fact, as essentially essentialist;
this is what Diana Fuss recognizes as the essentialism of anti-essentialism).20
We were gay, and upon our gayness we built a political movement.But is this
really what happened? Wasn't it an emergingpolitical movementthatenabled
the enunciation of a gay-rather than homosexual or homophile-identity?

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
14 RightOn,Girlfriend!

And wasn'tthatpoliticalmovementformedthrough withother


identifications
politicalmovements-BlackPowerandfeminism, mostparticularly?Remem-
ber,theGay LiberationFront,namedin identification withthirdworldlibera-
tionstruggles, came apartovertwo issues: whether to supporttheBlack Pan-
thersand whetherwomenwould have an equal voice. It was our inabilityto
formallianceswiththosemovements, identificationswithwhichwe secured
ourownidentities, to acknowledgethoseverysamedif-
as well as ourinability
ferencesofrace and genderwithinourownranks,thatcausedthegay and les-
bianmovements to shift,
on theone hand,to an essentialistseparatismand,on
theother,to a liberalpoliticsof minority rights.The AIDS crisisbroughtus
face to face withtheconsequencesof bothourseparatismand ourliberalism.
And it is in this new political conjuncturethatthe word queer has been
reclaimedto designatenewpoliticalidentities.
The setbacks for the AIDS activistmovementthatI mentionedabove
avoidedone ofthemostdifficult ofthem:troubleswithinthemovement itself.
Ourpoliticalunityhas beenbadlyshakenbyourconstantly knowl-
increasing
edge of boththebreadthand depthof thecrisis-breadth,in thesense of the
manydifferent kindsof people affectedby HIV disease; and depth,in the
sense of theextentof social changethatwill be requiredto improveall these
differentpeople's chancesof survival.It is impossibleto describefullyeither
thescope of thecrisisor thefactionalism ithas caused.But considerjust this:
whereasat firstthestructure of ACT UP in New Yorkconsistedof six com-
mittees-Actions,Coordinating, Fund-Raising, Issues,Media,andOutreach-
by 1991, when our internal difficulties
emerged most damagingly, we hadfour-
teen committees,twenty-one workinggroups, and ten caucuses-forty-five
differentsubgroupsin all. Apartfroma fewremaining committees thatarestill
essentiallyorganizational and severalworkinggroupscenteredon actions-in-
progress,thesevariouscommittees, workinggroups,and caucusesare mostly
orientedeithertowardspecificissues-Addicts Rights,Alternative and Holis-
tic Treatment,Insuranceand Access, Health-CareAction,Medicaid Task
Force, Needle Exchange,PediatricCaucus, Police Violence,PrisonIssues,
PWA Housing,Treatmentand Data, YELL (YouthEducationLifeline)-or
towardidentities-AsianandPacificIslanders,Black AIDS Mobilization, For-
eignNationals,Latina/o AIDS Lesbian
Activists, Caucus, PISD (People with
ImmuneSystemDisorders),and Women'sAction.This level of specialization
does notnecessarilyresultin factionalism; itmerelysuggestssomething ofthe
complexityof issues raisedby theepidemicand of themakeupof theAIDS
activistmovement. Butconflictdoes exist,and muchof itconcernscompeting
identitiesand contradictoryidentificationsacross identities.There are conflicts
betweenmen and women,betweenlesbians and straightwomen,between
whitepeopleand peopleofcolor,betweenthosewhoare HIV-positiveorhave
AIDS and thosewho are HIV-negative.Thereare also conflicts
betweenthose

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Douglas Crimp 15

whothinkwe shoulddevoteall ourenergiesto militant directactionand those


who favormeetingwithgovernment officialsand pharmaceuticalcompany
executivesas well; betweenthose who want to concentrateon a narrowly
definedAIDS agendaand thosewhofeelwe mustconfront thewidersystemic
ills thatAIDS exacerbates;betweenthosewhosee ACT UP as thevanguardin
thestruggle againstAIDS and thosewhosee directactionas onlyone ofmany
formsof AIDS activism,whichalso includesadvocacy,fund-raising, legal
action,and providingservices.Negotiating theseconflictsis painfuland per-
ilous; ithas evenresultedin splitsordissolutionsofACT UP chaptersin some
cities.
These conflicts are notnew to ACT UP, buttheirintensity is. Earlierin our
history, they were a
mitigatedby queer hegemony. Most of us were gay and
lesbian,and ACT UP meantforus notonlyfighting AIDS, butfighting AIDS
as queers,fighting and
homophobia, rejuvenating a moribund queer activism.
In New York,we metat the Lesbian and Gay Community ServicesCenter;
youhad to confront yourhomophobiajustto crossthethreshold. Our meetings
and actions,our factsheetsand chants,our T-shirtsand placards,our videos
and even our acronyms---everything about us was queer. We camped a lot,
laughed a lot, kissed each other,partiedtogether.ACT UP fund-raisers at
nightclubs were the hot ticketin queer social life.
But thathegemonydidn'tlast.Attackson queersescalated,bothofficially,
withthecongressional assaulton government supportofourculture,andunof-
ficially,on the streets. As queers became more and morevisible,moreand
moreof us weregettingbashed.Overburdened bythebattlesAIDS requiredit
to takeon, ACT UP couldn'tfightthehomophobiaanymore.That,too,was a
full-time struggle,a struggletakenon by thenewlyformedQueer Nation.I
don'twantto oversimplify thiscapsulehistory. QueerNationdidn'ttakeeither
thequeersor thequeernessout of ACT UP. But it made it possible,at least
symbolically, forus to shiftour attention to thenonqueer,or themore-than-
queer,problems of AIDS.
It was thenthatnew politicalidentifications began to be made,as I said,
acrossidentities. I have alreadymentioned a numberof identities-in-conflict in
ACT UP: menand women,whitesandpeopleofcolor,and so forth. In spiteof
thelinguisticnecessityof specifying identitieswithpositiveterms,I wantto
makeclearthatI am notspeakingof identity as nonrelational. Because of the
complexitiesof themovement, thereis no predicting whatidentifications will
be made and whichside of an argument anyonemighttake.A white,middle-
class, HIV-negativelesbian mightforman identification witha poor black
motherwithAIDS, and through thatidentification might inclinedto work
be
on pediatrichealthcareissues;or,outragedby attention to theneedsofbabies
at theexpenseof theneedsof thewomenwho bearthem,she mightdecide to
fightagainstclinicaltrialswhose sole purposeis to examinetheeffectsof an

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
16 RightOn,Girlfriend!

antiviraldrug on perinataltransmissionand thus ignores effectson the


mother'sbody.She mightforman identification witha gay male friendwith
AIDS and workforfastertestingof new treatments foropportunistic infec-
tions,but then,throughher understanding thather friendwould be able to
affordsuchtreatments whileotherswouldnot,she mightshiftherattention to
healthcare access issues.An HIV-positivegayLatinomightfighthomophobia
in the Latin community and racismin ACT UP; he mightspeak Spanishat
Latina/oAIDS Activistmeetingsand Englisheverywhere else.
Political identifications remaking identities
are, of course, productiveof
collectivepoliticalstruggle, butonlyiftheyresultin a broadening of alliances
ratherthanan exacerbation ofantagonisms. Andthelatteroftenseemsto result
when,fromwithina development towarda politicsof alliancebased on rela-
tionalidentities, old antagonisms based on fixedidentities reemerge.Activist
politicsthenfaces the impasseof rankingoppressions,moralism,and self-
righteousness. This is the currentplightof AIDS activism,but it is not the
wholestory.
DuringtheverytimethatACT UP's internalantagonisms beganto tearus
apart,we won a crucialvictory. Arrestedfortakingto the streetsofNew York
to distribute-openly andillegally-clean IV needlesto injectingdrugusers,a
groupof ACT UP queers stoodtrial,eloquentlyargueda necessitydefense,
and won a landmarkrulingthatcalled intoquestionthe state'slaws against
possession of hypodermicneedles and eventuallyforcedMayorDinkinsto
relenton hisoppositionto needleexchange.AIDS activistsarestill-I'm sorry
and angryto have to say-mostly a bunchof queers. But whatdoes queer
meannow?Who,forexample,werethosequeersin thecourtroom, on trialfor
attempting to save the lives of drugaddicts?They were perhapsqueerswhose
sexualpracticesresultedin HIV infection, orplacedthemat highriskofinfec-
tion,or made themmembersof gay communities devastatedby theepidemic,
and forany of thesereasonstheywerebroughtto AIDS activism.But once
engaged in the struggleto end the crisis,these queers' identitieswere no
longerthesame.It's notthat"queer"doesn'tanylongerencompasstheirsex-
ual practices;itdoes, butit also entailsa relationbetweenthosepracticesand
othercircumstances thatmake verydifferent people vulnerablebothto HIV
infectionandto thestigma,discrimination, andneglectthathavecharacterized
thesocietaland governmental responseto theconstituencies mostaffectedby
theAIDS epidemic.
ABSOLUTELY QUEER: thatwas theanonymousgroupOUTpost's head-
line claim aboutJodieFosteron theposterthatappearedaroundNew York
aboutthetimeThe SilenceoftheLambswas released."JodieFoster,"thecap-
tionbeneathherphotograph read,"Oscar winner.Yale graduate.Ex-Disney
Moppet.Dyke." Well yes, .. . but queer? Absolutelyqueer? Throughwhat
identification? Interviewed aboutqueerprotestsat the 1992 AcademyAwards

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Douglas Crimp 17

ceremony, whereshe wonhersecondbest-actress Oscar forherperformance in


The Silence of theLambs,Fosterdeclared,"Protesting is constitutional.
You
can learnfromit.Anything beyondthatfallsintothecategoryof beingundig-
nified."21Confronted withsuch a statement, I'm forcedto agree withLarry
Kramer:"Vitowouldreallyhave screamedaboutthatone." For Vito's was a
feistierkindof dignity,
notJodie'sidea of dignitybutJudy's,a survivor'sdig-
nity.If we reallywantto honorVito's memory-as a filmscholarand movie
buff,as a queer,an activist,and a friend-we shouldn'tforgetthathe loved
Judy,and thathis identification
withhermade himqueer,nother.

Notes
1. Arnie Kantrowitz,"Milestones: Vito Russo," Outweek73 (21 November 1990), 37.
2. Several monthslater,however,Dinkins took a courageous stand against antigayand
antilesbianprejudice by marchingwiththe Irish Gay and Lesbian Organization(IGLO) in
New York's St. Patrick'sDay parade. He did thisin orderto brokera compromisebetween
IGLO and the AncientOrderof Hibernians,the parade organizerswho had refusedIGLO's
application to participate.The resultwas thatDinkins was subjected to torrentsof abuse
fromthe crowd and a cold shoulderfromCardinal O'Connor, whichled the mayorto com-
pare his experienceto civil rightsmarchesin the South in the 1960s. See Duncan Osborne,
"The Cardinal,the Mayor,and the Balance of Power," Outweek92 (3 April 1990), 30-37.
3. LarryKramer,"Who Killed Vito Russo?" Outweek86 (20 February1990), 26.
4. See Douglas Crimp,with Adam Rolston,AIDS Demo Graphics (Seattle: Bay Press,
1990), 53-69.
5. Quoted in theNew YorkTimes,27 September1991, A12.
6. For a detailed account of outing,includinghistoricalbackgroundand analysis of the
contemporary debates as well as an appendixof essential articlesfromthe media, see Larry
Gross, The ContestedCloset: The Politics and Ethics of Outing(Minneapolis: Universityof
MinnesotaPress, forthcoming1993).
7. It's not thatJeffand I are so butch as to be unreadable as gay; indeed manypeople
mightpresumethatwe are gay,but our not behaving"overtly"allows themto act precisely
as if the operativepresumptionis thateveryoneis straightunless openly declaring them-
selves not to be.
8. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Epistemologyof the Closet (Berkeley and Los Angeles:
Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1990), 81.
9. William Henry III, "Forcing Gays Out of the Closet," Time, 29 January1990, 67;
David Gelman,"'Outing': An UnexpectedAssault on Sexual Privacy,"Newsweek,30 April
1990, 66.
10. This was not always the case. It took intense pressure from queers and AIDS
activiststo force the Times to list survivinglovers of gay men. Even now, the Times only
mentionsa "companion" in the course of an obituarystory,not as one of the survivors,who
are stilllimitedto blood relativesand legal spouses.
11. See RichardMeyer,"Rock Hudson's Body," in Diana Fuss, ed., Inside/Out:Lesbian
Theories,Gay Theories (New York and London: Routledge, 1991), 259-88.
12. See, forexample, RobertSherrill,"King Cohn," The Nation, 21 May 1988, 719-25.
Beginningwiththesentence,"Cohn was a particularlynastyhomosexual," Sherrillrecounts
stories of Cohn's extremepromiscuityand his supposed relations with otherduplicitous
right-winghomosexuals, then ends his account with the followingparagraph:"Typically
disloyal, Cohn gave no supportto homosexuals who were tryingto win public acceptance.
He called them'fags,' did all he could to make theirlives miserable,lecturedagainstthem,
berated politicians for any display of tolerance toward homosexuals and urged laws to
restricttheirfreedom.To his death he denied thathe was homosexual,but the Dorian Gray

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
18 RightOn, Girlfriend!

scene of his dyingof AIDS said it all: 'Roy ... lay in bed, unheeding,his fleshcracking
open, sores on his body,his facultieswaning' and with a one-inch 'slit-likewound above
[his] anus.'" The finalquotations,indicativeforSherrillnot of disease but of homosexual-
ity(or perhapsthe two are not to be differentiated),are uncredited,but are takenfromone
of the two books underreview in the article,Citizen Cohn by Nicholas von Hoffman.
13. Sedgwick, Epistemology,78.
14. Vito Russo, The Celluloid Closet: Homosexualityin theMovies (New York: Harper
& Row, 1987), xi.
15. In thenovel, Dr. Danielson of JohnsHopkins reportsto JackCrawford:"The Harris-
burg police were after[Gumb] for two assaults on homosexual men. The last one nearly
died" (Thomas Harris,The Silence of theLambs [New York: St. Martin's,1989], 312). And
Crawfordreportsto Clarice Starlingabout Gumb: "He's a fag-basher"(322). This is not to
say thatHarris's portrayalof Gumb is freeof homophobicstereotyping. Most of thedetails
of Gumb's characterizationin the filmare takendirectlyfromthenovel. Demme added one
(the nipple ring)and omittedone (Gumb's obsession withhis mother).But it is importantto
add thatstereotyping functionsdifferentlyin the two mediumsand thattheirrespectivehis-
toriesof homophobicportrayalsdiffereven moresignificantly.
16. I have in mind,of course, Laura Mulvey's classic and often-reprinted essay "Visual
Pleasure and NarrativeCinema" (1975), now in her collected essays, Visual and Other
Pleasures (Bloomingtonand Indianapolis: Indiana UniversityPress, 1989), 14-26.
17. B. Ruby Rich, contribution to "Writerson theLamb: SortingOut the Sexual Politics
of a ControversialFilm," Village Voice,5 March 1991, 59. This series of shortpieces on the
filmwas partiallyin responseto questions raised about the film'shomophobicstereotyping
and the threatof "outing"JodieFosterby Michelangelo Signorile in Outweek.
18. Teresa de Lauretis, "Film and the Visible," in How Do I Look? Queer Film and
Video, ed. Bad Object Choices (Seattle: Bay Press, 1991), 232.
19. Sedgwick, Epistemology,23.
20. See Diana Fuss, Essentially Speaking: Feminism, Nature, and Difference(New
York: Routledge, 1989).
21. See JohnGallagher, "Protest Threats Raise Visibility at Academy Awards," The
Advocate, 5 May 1992, 15. In thissame issue of The Advocate, the "etcetera"column con-
tains a photoof JodieFosterwhose captionreads, "A first-rate actresswitha third-ratecon-
sciousness we hope is straight"(88).

This content downloaded from 128.151.244.46 on Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:26:18 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

You might also like