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<channel>
	<title>Queery</title>
	<atom:link href="http://queery.oia.co.za/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://queery.oia.co.za</link>
	<description>Questioning the (not so) obvious</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:20:07 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
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	<item>
		<title>Dear Cardinal Napier</title>
		<link>http://queery.oia.co.za/2013/04/dear-cardinal-napier/</link>
		<comments>http://queery.oia.co.za/2013/04/dear-cardinal-napier/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:20:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Melanie Judge]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Queery]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://queery.oia.co.za/?p=223</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In an interview with the M&#38;G (12-18 April) you stated, “I can’t be accused of homophobia because I don’t know any homosexuals”. For someone who doesn’t know any “homosexuals” you’ve spent a considerable amount of time concerning yourself with lesbians and gays’ lives &#8211; more specifically, our rights to equal benefit and protection under law. If you don’t know us, and then by implication there aren’t any of is in your Church, it seems queer that you would assume such an active position in denying our right to rights. During public hearings on the Civil Union Bill, you were at pains to submit to Parliament that “homosexual acts are… intrinsically evil….. [M]an-made laws cannot legitimize what is against the natural moral law. Civil law cannot make what is wrong right.” From this it is clear that the Catholic Church entrenches a version of social relations and human sexuality based on male supremacy, the subordination of women, and the abjection of homosexuality. Its power, and yours by extension, is therefore premised on a system of gender and sexual inequalities presented as ‘natural’ and ‘normal’. Perhaps your investment in the lives of sinful Others is driven by an interest in protecting the [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://queery.oia.co.za/2013/04/dear-cardinal-napier/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The special duty of heterosexual privilege</title>
		<link>http://queery.oia.co.za/2013/01/the-special-duty-of-heterosexual-privilege/</link>
		<comments>http://queery.oia.co.za/2013/01/the-special-duty-of-heterosexual-privilege/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:57:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Melanie Judge]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Queery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heterosexual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mulholland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[same sex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sunday Times]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://queery.oia.co.za/?p=213</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Stephen Mulholland, in his article ‘Same-sex parents have special duty to their children’ (Sunday Times, 6 January), seems to be in a pickle as to whether same-sex parenting is to be socially accepted. On the one hand he is in support of the rights and freedoms of gays and lesbians and recognises the historical roots of Christianity’s highly contested negation of homosexuality. Yet on the other, and in direct contradiction to his own assertion that same-sex couples make &#8220;caring and responsible parents&#8221;, he claims that “being brought up in a same-sex family is against the natural order of things” and is “neither the norm nor desirable”. Mulholland’s ambivalence reflects homophobia’s cornerstone, namely the desire to cling onto heterosexual privilege and its special, superior social status &#8211; most crudely justified by invoking the role of two particular body parts in human reproduction. The relatively new notion of the “daddy and mommy” dynasty has very little to do with genitalia really. There is nothing natural about the construction of the hetero-normative nuclear family and its associated gender roles and hierarchies. It is a product of 200 or so years of history. For people to make and have babies without engaging in heterosexual copulation [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://queery.oia.co.za/2013/01/the-special-duty-of-heterosexual-privilege/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>ANC MP takes a swipe at civil society</title>
		<link>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/12/anc-mp-takes-a-swipe-at-civil-society/</link>
		<comments>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/12/anc-mp-takes-a-swipe-at-civil-society/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Dec 2012 06:34:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Melanie Judge]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Queery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ANC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ben Turok]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[civl society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human rights]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://queery.oia.co.za/?p=205</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week saw the launch of the book Striking the Rights Chord: Perspectives on Advancement from Human Rights Organisations in South Africa. Published by Inyathelo: The South African Institute for Advancement, and edited by myself and Sean Jones, it is a candid anthology of views and experiences from some of South Africa’s leading human rights activists and organisations, such as the Legal Resources Centre and the Black Sash, engaging with pressing contextual and sustainability issues in the civil society sector. At the launch, in my capacity as co-editor, I highlighted aspects that impact on civil society organisations’ prospects for future sustainability. These include, amongst others, the growing gap between wealth and privilege on the one hand, and social and economic exclusions on the other; current threats to democratic principles and institutions; the contraction of international funding support to civil society; the State’s failure to adequately fund non-governmental organisations; and the lacklustre approach of local donors and philanthropists to support human rights causes. I stressed that many organisations are battling to survive at a time when the advancement of Constitutional principles and social justice is in the balance. I cautioned that a national preoccupation with the machinations of political elites obscures [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/12/anc-mp-takes-a-swipe-at-civil-society/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Turning the gaze on violence against LGBTI people</title>
		<link>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/07/turning-the-gaze-on-violence-against-lgbti-people/</link>
		<comments>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/07/turning-the-gaze-on-violence-against-lgbti-people/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:47:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Melanie Judge]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Queery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[homophobia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LGBTI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[violence]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://queery.oia.co.za/?p=197</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Victoria John’s report (M&#38;G, 29 June 2012) on the murder of Thapelo Makhutle’s made for shocking reading. The full page spread gave a detailed and gruesome account of his killing, and brought to mind that old media adage – if it bleeds it leads. John&#8217;s report commences with the statement that “most people in the Kuruman area believe it is ungodly and unAfrican to be gay”. On reading the article it is apparent that this bold statement, posing as fact, is drawn solely from the account of an individual, contemplating what one might find “if one walked around the streets of Kuruman”. Basic journalistic ethics requires that such a sweeping assertion be properly substantiated. If not, such a statement risks reproducing the normalisation of the very homophobic discourses it ostensibly &#8216;reports&#8217; to exist. The media has a particular responsibility to resist this naturalisation of the injured/murdered LGBTI ‘victim’ that everyone loves to hate. In the midst of murder, local contestations around “Africanness”, sexuality and gender are very much alive. Recent resistance to the Traditional Courts Bill and to homophobia by traditional leaders are cases in point. LGBTI people are increasingly claiming political and social space, and women are challenging cultural [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/07/turning-the-gaze-on-violence-against-lgbti-people/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The culture of the chiefs is a set-back for gender and sexual rights</title>
		<link>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/04/the-culture-of-the-chiefs-is-a-set-back-for-gender-and-sexual-rights/</link>
		<comments>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/04/the-culture-of-the-chiefs-is-a-set-back-for-gender-and-sexual-rights/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Apr 2012 06:20:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Melanie Judge]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Queery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual rights. traditional courts bill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tradition]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://queery.oia.co.za/?p=182</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Traditional Courts Bill that is presently being debated in provincial public hearings spells danger for our democracy, and particularly for the exercise of gender and sexual rights in rural areas. The Bill, which establishes a separate legal system for people living in the former Bantustans, will undermine the advances made by women and gays and lesbians in post-apartheid South Africa. In their claim on the monopoly to determine what constitutes ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’, traditional leaders have historically resisted equality rights on the basis of sexuality and gender. In 2006 when the Civil Union Act (which enables same-sex couples to marry) was before parliament, the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) submitted that “the institution of traditional leadership is the sole and authentic voice of the overwhelming majority of the people of South Africa living in traditional communities… [and that] same-sex marriage is against nature, culture (all types of culture), religion and common sense, let alone decency”. In 2012 in its submission to the Constitutional Review Committee of parliament, the National House of Traditional Leaders proposed a constitutional amendment to remove sexual orientation as a ground for non-discrimination from the Bill of Rights. This is in direct contradiction to [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/04/the-culture-of-the-chiefs-is-a-set-back-for-gender-and-sexual-rights/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Attention to violence must challenge masculinity, not entrench it</title>
		<link>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/02/attention-to-violence-must-challenge-masculinity-not-entrench-it/</link>
		<comments>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/02/attention-to-violence-must-challenge-masculinity-not-entrench-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:35:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Melanie Judge]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Queery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gender]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[masculinity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[violence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[women]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://queery.oia.co.za/?p=147</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[David Benatar’s recent opinions on violence against women and men published in the Cape Times reveal a politics that undermines gender equality and entrenches masculinist thinking (download articles here and here). Benatar questions why particular attention is afforded violence against women when more men are the victims of violent crimes. He argues that the emphasis on violence against women represents an assertion of “special rights” for women and accuses those that defend this emphasis of a “special pleading”. Benatar poses the question, “When we are asked repeatedly ‘Why women and children [are victims of violence]?’, we should equally be asked ‘Why men?’ However, he offers no response to his own question. Instead he uses this question as a ploy to launch an attack on initiatives combating violence against women and on the gender equality principles that inform them. Benatar provides no analysis of male homicide statistics, nor does he attempt to contextualise the figures he cites as the basis of his argument. In response to the assertion that gendered power imbalances enable violence, Benatar maintains this to be “unsubstantiated” and “at odd with the facts”. He ridiculously dismisses the fact that domestic violence is predominantly perpetrated by men. Perhaps Benatar avoids [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://queery.oia.co.za/2012/02/attention-to-violence-must-challenge-masculinity-not-entrench-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>HIV moralism and ‘tata ma chance’ testing won’t help women</title>
		<link>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/12/hiv-moralism-and-%e2%80%98tata-ma-chance%e2%80%99-testing-won%e2%80%99t-help-women/</link>
		<comments>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/12/hiv-moralism-and-%e2%80%98tata-ma-chance%e2%80%99-testing-won%e2%80%99t-help-women/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:52:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Melanie Judge]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Queery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AIDS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HIV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stigma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[testing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[women]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zille]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://queery.oia.co.za/?p=130</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Helen Zille’s recent call for the criminalisation of HIV transmission and her launch of a ‘tata ma chance’-style HIV testing campaign in the Western Cape undermines HIV prevention and care strategies, particularly for women. The net effect of criminalising HIV transmission would be to undo gains made in destigmatising HIV. It would promote the moralising of sexuality, specifically of those living with HIV, the majority of whom are women. This is significant precisely because the eradication of HIV stigma is key to the success of present voluntary testing and treatment programmes. Moralising discourses on sex are a breeding ground for blame on the basis of notions of ‘guilty’ or ‘innocent victims’ of HIV, which drives disclosure underground.  Already marginalised groups (such as foreign immigrants, gay men, sex workers and people living with HIV/AIDS) will bear the brunt of this blame. Criminalising HIV positive people will not promote open disclosure. It will most likely exacerbate fears of rejection, stigma and the violent consequences that often accompany the disclosure of one’s HIV status. Here, women will face a greater risk as they are more likely to know their status, being a group that attends health clinics more frequently than men. If a [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/12/hiv-moralism-and-%e2%80%98tata-ma-chance%e2%80%99-testing-won%e2%80%99t-help-women/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>When prejudice is peddled as ‘tradition’</title>
		<link>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/10/when-prejudice-is-peddled-as-%e2%80%98tradition%e2%80%99/</link>
		<comments>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/10/when-prejudice-is-peddled-as-%e2%80%98tradition%e2%80%99/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:53:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[gillespieza]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Queery]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://queery.oia.co.za/?p=115</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is a long tradition of institutionalised prejudice and inequality in South Africa related to class, race, gender and sexuality. The power structures required to keep prejudice in place are still a prominent feature of the post-apartheid landscape. Certain institutions of &#8216;tradition&#8217; and &#8216;culture&#8217;, like that of some religions, continue to perpetuate discriminatory social systems and practices. One such institution is the National House of Traditional Leaders (NHTL). In its recent submission to the Constitutional Review Committee of parliament, the NHTL unashamedly proposed that Section 9 of the Constitution, the Equality Clause, be amended to remove sexual orientation as a ground for non-discrimination. Section 9 (3) and 9 (4) of the Bill of Rights prohibits both individuals and the state, respectively, from discriminating against persons on the basis of sexual orientation. The NHTL&#8217;s submission to parliament is that gays and lesbians no longer be afforded constitutional protections from unfair discrimination. This is a reactionary manoeuvre and reflects the continued intention of the NHTL to chip away at principles and institutions aimed at dismantling historical prejudice and discrimination. In 2005, ahead of the then imminent legislation to enable same-sex couples to marry, the NHTL stated the following at its annual conference: [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/10/when-prejudice-is-peddled-as-%e2%80%98tradition%e2%80%99/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Mogoeng vs Sluts and Others</title>
		<link>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/08/mogoeng-vs-sluts-and-others-2/</link>
		<comments>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/08/mogoeng-vs-sluts-and-others-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Aug 2011 07:38:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Melanie Judge]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Queery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[constitution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[judgments]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lesbian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mogoeng]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Slutwalks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[women]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://queery.oia.co.za/?p=74</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Joining the dots between Judge Mogoeng, Slutwalkers and gay and lesbian people feels oddly uncomfortable. This discomfort has to do with what waits in the wings at the Constitutional Court should Mogoeng be appointed as Chief Justice. Some of Mogoeng&#8217;s past judgments and present associations are alarming to anyone committed to the ongoing struggles towards dignity, equality, and freedom for women and LGBT people. As active citizens we have a responsibility to ensure proper legal and social scrutiny of Mogoeng&#8217;s suitability to hold an office which is a key custodian of the Constitution. In 2002, Mogoeng found that a man&#8217;s &#8220;girlfriend&#8221; had &#8220;provoked&#8221; him to tie her to the back of a car and drag her along a gravel road. This &#8220;provocation&#8221; was found by Mogoeng to be a mitigating factor in the accused&#8217;s actions, along with the fact that the woman did not suffer &#8220;serious injuries&#8221;. On the basis of this argument Mogoeng found that the initial two-year sentence was &#8220;too heavy, according to any standards&#8221;. Whose standards was Mogoeng upholding here? Certainly not the standard of &#8220;sluts&#8221;, aka women who claim their rights to bodily and sexual autonomy. After a Canadian police officer reprimanded women to avoid dressing [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/08/mogoeng-vs-sluts-and-others-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What little girls/boys are made of</title>
		<link>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/07/what-little-girlsboys-are-made-of/</link>
		<comments>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/07/what-little-girlsboys-are-made-of/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:10:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Melanie Judge]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Queery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[binary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Caster Semenya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gender codes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex assignment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://queery.oia.co.za/?p=43</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[According to the nursery rhyme… Frogs and snails, And puppy-dogs&#8217; tails; That&#8217;s what little boys are made of. Sugar and spice, And all that&#8217;s nice; That&#8217;s what little girls are made of. And you can guess who gets to wear pink, and who blue. There have been a number of reports lately of parents who are attempting to raise their children in ways that disrupt the normative classifications of sex and gender. One such case involves a Canadian couple who has elected not to publicly make known their child&#8217;s sex. They are dressing the child, known as Storm, in a gender-neutral fashion in the hope that s/he will one day make their own decision about their gender identity. A Swedish couple a few years back adopted the same stance, explaining it as follows: &#8220;We want Pop (not the child&#8217;s real name) to grow up more freely and avoid being forced into a specific gender mould from the outset… It&#8217;s cruel to bring a child into the world with a blue or pink stamp on their forehead.&#8221; Psychologist Judith Ancer, in an article in the Sunday Times titled &#8220;A boy named Sue?&#8221;, appears uncomfortable with these parenting choices, stating that &#8220;children [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://queery.oia.co.za/2011/07/what-little-girlsboys-are-made-of/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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