I just wanted to express how in doing a course relating to the Classics, I often feel uncomfortable in translation. In certain poems where vulgar slurs are used relating to gay sex, we are encouraged to use the equivalent modern day slurs to give an accurate translation. It feels so wrong.
Hi! Thanks so much for raising this :)
I can definitely sympathise and see why this might make you uncomfortable. This year one of our tutors set us an essay on Strauss’s opera 'Salome', which culminates in what’s essentially a super-misogynistic 20-minute strip tease. We hadn’t been given any warning about what we were going to be studying and it made me quite uncomfortable to listen to it!
If this kind of text is making you feel uncomfortable and you’re having to confront these texts on a regular basis, then the best thing I can advise is to talk to your tutor about it. Is there any way of avoiding this kind of text? If you don’t feel comfortable talking to your tutor, then perhaps you could think about going to see the deans. You can email them at deans@oriel.ox.ac.uk, or you can drop in during deans’ hours in the Macgregor room (8.15-8.45 on Mondays; 1.30-2.00 on Fridays).
I would say this: I don’t think that acknowledging the existence of gay slurs is intrinsically homophobic or offensive toward LGBTQ+ people in any way :) In fact, it’s very important in the fight against homophobia/queerphobia to acknowledge that horrific things have been said and done in the past and are still being said and done. When studying historical artefacts from the past, it’s important to remember that we’re seeing these things with our twenty-first century take on morality – things were viewed totally differently in the past. You're doing nothing wrong by saying or writing a word unless you use it offensively :)
Whatever the reason for you feeling uncomfortable, however, I really encourage you to raise it with either your tutor or a dean! It’s obviously not pleasant at all for you to be made to feel uncomfortable on a regular basis, and I’m sure the deans especially will be on your side and keen to find a solution :)
Hope it all goes well, and please feel free to get in touch again xx
Alex
I can definitely sympathise and see why this might make you uncomfortable. This year one of our tutors set us an essay on Strauss’s opera 'Salome', which culminates in what’s essentially a super-misogynistic 20-minute strip tease. We hadn’t been given any warning about what we were going to be studying and it made me quite uncomfortable to listen to it!
If this kind of text is making you feel uncomfortable and you’re having to confront these texts on a regular basis, then the best thing I can advise is to talk to your tutor about it. Is there any way of avoiding this kind of text? If you don’t feel comfortable talking to your tutor, then perhaps you could think about going to see the deans. You can email them at deans@oriel.ox.ac.uk, or you can drop in during deans’ hours in the Macgregor room (8.15-8.45 on Mondays; 1.30-2.00 on Fridays).
I would say this: I don’t think that acknowledging the existence of gay slurs is intrinsically homophobic or offensive toward LGBTQ+ people in any way :) In fact, it’s very important in the fight against homophobia/queerphobia to acknowledge that horrific things have been said and done in the past and are still being said and done. When studying historical artefacts from the past, it’s important to remember that we’re seeing these things with our twenty-first century take on morality – things were viewed totally differently in the past. You're doing nothing wrong by saying or writing a word unless you use it offensively :)
Whatever the reason for you feeling uncomfortable, however, I really encourage you to raise it with either your tutor or a dean! It’s obviously not pleasant at all for you to be made to feel uncomfortable on a regular basis, and I’m sure the deans especially will be on your side and keen to find a solution :)
Hope it all goes well, and please feel free to get in touch again xx
Alex