They're Not Gay!

They're Asian!

No where in the world is the relativity of values more dramatically revealed than in Asia. Oft-thought "faggy", "fruity", "gay", or "homosexual" behavior is the norm among men and boys in countries like China and Korea. Men hold hands, chat romantically (about the day's issues, dirty mind!) as they stroll down a street while hugging each other. Twenty year olds wear their hair hyper-metro-style and are much more skinnier and porcelain than Western men. If the teenagers in the photo had started kissing in front of me, I would not have been surprised; but I would have been, because I know for a fact that they are not "homos".



From Wikipedia:

"Gay is an adjective that usually refers to homosexuality in contemporary colloquial usage.

In earlier and in literary usage, the word means "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy". From the 1890s, it had begun to carry a connotation of promiscuity, as in a "gay house" referring to a brothel. It began to be used in reference to homosexuality in particular from the early 20th century"



The Asian men who hug while strolling are best described as "gays" in the literary sense. Their behavior is completely innocent of the categories of anti-thought; they are not "gay", "faggy", "fruity", nor are they "homosexuals". From their perspectives they are merely expressing the natural emotions that arise between two close friends.

While their culture looks fine and dandy from the outside, almost idealistic from a liberationist's outlook, the very thing that makes them innocent to Western categories creates their own brand of anti-thought. In other words, the idea of "gay Koreans" is as foreign a concept as "being friends with a homosexual" is for Western bigots. The communal fraternity that creates their innocent "gayness", a fraternity that hasn't been seen in the West since the advent of capitalism as culture, is the very thing that makes them as homophobic as the most homophobic bonehead living in North America.

Update: I was getting a taxi today and observed two Asian guys sitting on a bench. One guy was laying his head on the other guy's lap. After carefully studying their faces for the brief moments I walked past them, I concluded they were not brothers, but the same as the high school students in the photos: close friends.