Vampiric Identities

In this weeks readings, we are introduced to a range of ideas and theories that I found to be very interrelated. The readings for the Case essay were especially intriguing.  The way in which she uses the mythos of the vampire for an analogy to the lesbian experience. There were three main ways in which this metaphor functions. The first, which she opens the essay with, is that of referring to the hurling of the term queer as an insult. She equates this to a physical wound that is the mark of interaction with a vampire. Thereby, both the vampire and the "queer" are created by a wound. Most interesting to me, was that she also made the connection that this wound, on both sides of the analogy, was the locus of the desire associated with it. This seems to be the most insightful idea in this portion of the comparison.

The next association came in the practice of the discontinuation of life as well as the contamination of blood. To skim, typical vampire mythology has them dying and returning in a post-life state with specific ramifications, notably here the need to consume living blood. The basis of Case's argument was in what she described as the unnatural quality that sterile homosexual sex had long been demonized with. Because of this inability for the act to procreate, homosexual sex is devoid of the right to life, whereby heterosexual sex has the right to life in the creation of it. The main problems that I had with these arguments came from the fact that homosexual sex is an un-live practice. It does still involve living people. However, I suppose the distinction can be made that it does not directly pass life on. And then again, this can be countered by stating that this is an antiquated view and that there are methods of procreation available for most circumstances. There is also the distinct notion that a vast array of problems can limit the birth capacity of heterosexual couples as well.

The problem of the contamination of the blood by "queers" is a wholly social construct that has basis more in propaganda and xenophobia than fact, especially in case of the AIDS epidemic and how it was blamed at the start on the gay population.

The final comparison was more in tune directly with the lesbian experience. This view was equated to the invisibility of the vampire as well as a lesbian's alleged need to appear normal. While the vampire hides in darkness, it is the lesbian's invisibility that is even more pernicious, inherent in the concept of passing. I found this the most disturbing as it entails the negation of the self. Yet, it is in this that perhaps the best vampire reference can be found. The vampire is the death of one's previous self and the negation of it through something new and destructive.