AIN’T NO SHAME IN MY NAME

A LINGUISTIC RECLAMATION.

SERIES STATEMENT :

“Hate speech intended to disable its target simultaneously enables its very existence; its injurious power is the same fuel that feeds its counter-appropriation. Laying claim to the forbidden, the word as weapon is taken up and taken back by those it seeks to shackle.”

- Robin Brontsema, linguist.

SHAME (noun) Humiliation, mortification, ignominy, loss of face, indignity, abashment, discomfort. ANTONYMS - PRIDE

For Queer folk, shame is a particular form of psychological warfare. After all, shame built “The Closet” to conceal countless hidden identities. Shame protected the myth of honor during Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. And now, shame is playing itself out in our school systems by multitudes of Don’t Say Gay bills. This legislation is forcing teachers and students into a game of hide and seek; the end goal being a form of state-sanctioned erasure cleverly disguised as education. History has taught us that bigoted legislation creates a permissive pathway to violence. It’s no accident hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community are continuing to spike at an alarming rate. It’s against this increasingly troubling backdrop that I created a series as a linguistic reclamation of slurs used against my community.

In linguistics, reclamation is defined as the cultural process by which a group reclaims words that were previously used to shame or disparage that group (Wikipedia). Linguist, Robin Brontsema states, “At the heart of linguistic reclamation is the right of self-definition, of forging and naming one’s own existence…and gaining control over the way one is described, and hence, one’s self-image, self-control and self-understanding.” I remember being in the audience when playwright, Eve Ensler used the stage to reclaim the word, CUNT in “The Vagina Monologues.” I witnessed the derogatory term transformed into an anthem of undeniable empowerment. This series echoes that influence. I’ve chosen authoritative typeface to simultaneously reflect and question authority itself: If I can’t say gay, I’ll scream DYKE. If I can’t say gay, I’ll sing HOMO. If I can’t say gay, I’ll dance the night away to FAGTASTIC!

AIN’T NO SHAME IN MY NAME is an evolving and ongoing exploration of inverting shame into Pride.