News | 3/30/06

"Sissyphobia" is a word that does not enter everyday conversation often; that was exactly why the Queer Student Union brought author Tim Bergling to campus on Tuesday.

"It's a word with really sharp edges; it punches our buttons of our sense of morality," Bergling said. He spoke to a group of over 40 students Tuesday evening in the University Union Chesapeake Room I about his book "Sissyphobia: Gay Men and Effeminate Behavior." One question that he posed rhetorically encapsulated his lecture: "What is it about effeminate men that gets people's panties in a bunch?"

The book began as an article for Genre magazine. He spent many hours in chat rooms soliciting willing individuals to take his surveys by e-mail. He also conducted many interviews based on survey responses he read, and numerous others with "the obligatory biologists and doctors," Bergling stated.

A key component to Bergling's lecture was a discussion of being gay and of effeminate attitudes. He presented his ideas and fielded numerous questions from the audience, which led to an open dialogue. Bergling was impressed with how open and relaxed the atmosphere was. "Having a QSU, you guys are so far ahead [of other colleges]," he said.

Bergling posed two primary questions and explored answers to them: "Where does effeminate behavior come from?" and "Why do we care so much?"

Among his central conclusions was that society ranks women lower than men, a statement that has significant implications for how society treats effeminate men.

"If somebody had a positive feeling of women, they didn't give a shit about effeminate behavior," Bergling said. "But if you're a typical frat boy, those are the guys who have the biggest problem with effeminate behavior."

Some men take offense to effeminate behavior, and "they can attack what they don't like in themselves by attacking someone else," he added.

He explained that this is because they are often projecting their insecurities onto effeminate men. "Only when the misogyny goes away will the homophobia, the sissyphobia, go away," Bergling concluded. But he did concede that "it took me a while to get past my own homophobia." QSU co-president and senior psychology major Heather Vickers was excited about Bergling's presentation.

"I'm glad he came to campus. He was very honest, very frank," she said. Vickers also noted that "some teachers assign QSU events as cultural events" that students are required to attend outside of classes. "We try to bring events that make people think," she said.

Randy Levine, a freshman mass communication and EMF major, attended the lecture for an interpersonal communications class, and agreed with Vickers that it was a quality event.

"Tim Bergling raised excellent questions about sexuality, particularly masculinity, and I thought it was fascinating listening to the students offer their opinions and feedback. This wasn't just a lecture; I walked out of that room feeling like I had just had an experience," Levine said.

"Everyone goes to lecture classes that are mostly boring and pointless," he added, "but this lecture truly opened my eyes to new perspectives, a culture that I knew nothing about."

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