Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Don't Ever Call Me a Sista

Not that I actually mind.

Wait, let me retract that statement. Once in a while, just to poke fun, I certainly don't mind the occasional reference to us flaming faggots as sistas. Or even calling out a 'Hey Girl' when an accredited fellow homo saunters by. But when it's repeatedly ascribed to gay men with the accompanying half-smirk, then I tend to get faintly irritated.

Especially when the boys here are the ones who simply adore calling each other sisters - 大姐- changing the masculine pronouns from a he to a feminine she. Sly doublespeak in their secret sorority to hide their clandestine selves from the otherwise judgemental small town society. Lavender linguistics would call it a source of empowerment dissociating gay men from heterosexual norms and designating them in opposition to heterosexual masculinity.

Me, I just find it ever so irksome.

Patrick : Oh wait, is she coming for auntie's dinner tonight?
Paul : Auntie who?
Patrick : Auntie John la!
Paul : And which girl is invited again?
Patrick : Of course I meant your sister la!
Paul : Sorry, I don't have sisters. 
Patrick : Your sister, Miss Felix la!
Paul : You want to say sister, you better do it with a flourish and a snap. Otherwise he's a man.

Didn't they get enough malicious ribbing in their schooldays to avoid using feminine pronouns on themselves?

Who you calling a girl!

Seriously, what is wrong with using masculine pronouns on ourselves? Even the campiest gay men don't have to be addressed as females all the time. Admit it, my fraternity of gay brothers, aren't we all proud to be men? Though we're living in an increasingly genderless world, I do like having a penis and definitely have no intention to change that anytime soon.

Call me a mister, please. And never ever call my boyfriend a missus. Come on, isn't it about time we came out as kings rather than queens?

3 comments:

Robinn T said...

Haha I'd address myself as a 姐妹 among my girlfriends to make them more comfortable talking stuffs to me. It's like having a bro and sis at the same time.

But between bros, stick to bros. I can switch titles between gangs of diff sexes, but in general, bro please.

savante said...

It's okay once in a while to call 姐妹, tempus. I'm alright with that but my friends do it repeatedly!

Robinn T said...

if its among the guy friends, yea its pretty annoying hahah