Is James Franco.... you know.... (Straight?)

image of both Jameses--Franco and Dean, is from here

I know, I know: whether a man is straight is really no one's business. (Well, except dominant media's and Wikipedia's.) I mean that's "private" right? Coming into awareness that you might be "heterosexual" ought to be your own protected process. And often enough, thank GAWD, it does only prove to be "a stage" in one's development. Some might even say it's healthy to explore one's own heterosexual feelings! Only that person should decide if and when to reveal that very personal information to others, in places and times when they know their unsuspecting friends and obtuse family members won't freak out at the news and reject them or toss them out onto the street, being told "No child of mine will be STRAIGHT and live under MY roof!"

There have been many times that I've revealed to a friend or family member that someone (other than myself) is lesbian or gay. Usually, which is also to say "too often", whether they are conservative or liberal I'll get that the litany of "caring" or "concerned' comments as if I've told them a secret that (they believe) must be attached to some stigmatically and socially attached shame. You'd think I'd whispered, "So-and-so has GONORRHEA!" Nope. Just that they're lesbian or gay--not even if they're homoSEXUALLY ACTIVE. Just the 'being' lesbian or gay part. As if that's something to feel shame about. (It isn't.) Yes, it's made to be shameful by an anti-lesbian and anti-gay (not just "homophobic") society that incorrectly thinks being straight is natural and so not being straight... well, you can extrapolate from there.  -- Julian Real, gay male who has never been heterosexual, although there was a phase of "experimentation"

I'm not sure if it's been before or since he portrayed James Dean, but James Franco has been an actor I've kept an eye on--and to me he's not hard on the eyes. I watched Freaks and Geeks, but don't recall him from that time as "a name".... yet.

He's clearly gifted in a variety of arts arenas, from acting to filmmaking to painting to performance art. What can I say? I like the guy. A lot. He's intelligent, creatively open, and he's got a sense of humor. I don't ask for much from men; only those few qualities and that they don't hate women: so, as far as I know, he gets a passing grade. Speaking of grades, he's reportedly taken some unfathomably high number of course credits in college one semester. Crazy. And he's not done. He's working on his PhD.

As has been discussed here in the past, I don't find men attractive based on looks alone, or, even, primarily. I mean I can find men attractive, physically, instantly. But for me to find a man REALLY attractive, he has to be engaged in some interesting stuff--he's got to be engaged with the world in creative ways that are counter-hegemonic.

Without having seen it, I believe that the his film Feast of Stephen is about gay desire, longing, and the dangers of being young and gay in a tyrannically heteropatriarchal society where gross homophobic violence can become eroticised. As noted, I've not seen it and given the story, I'm not sure what I'd make of it. Eroticised violence against women and gay men just isn't "what I'm into" (being erotically and otherwise counter-hegemonic and all) so I expect I'll find the movie enraging more than engaging. But I'll try and see it and report back to you.

There's also new film in which he stars, Howl, he portrays Allen Ginsberg, a gay man I rather despise, as his proclivity for boys was anything but counter-hegemonic. Fortunately Andrea Dworkin took Ginsberg to task for his acted-upon desire for boys. She called his misopedic ass out good. I wish more people were like her. (For more on Howl, see this from NPR.)

People speaking honestly to one another is a rare thing indeed. With that as one of the most pathetic segues in the history of segues, I'll shift gears to an MTV interview with Mr. Franco, about the whole Twilight book and film series phenomena.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

You can tell he's actually given the matter some thought, and I am always struck with how little mass media interviewers want to know about anything below the surface, not about James exactly, but about the issues he raises. You can kind of tell they went to the "soundbite school of journalism", if that. Franco has studied at a variety of academic institutions from NYU's renowned film school to Yale. He's no slacker. And he's clearly interested in a lot about dominant society and dominant media, utilising some very non-dominant media to express himself.

As you may also know, James played one of Harvey Milk's lovers in the movie, Milk. Harvey is yet another gay man who was known for having sex with underage males. This will be the focus of some future blog posts. This post is primarily about Franco and film.

Gay cinema is rare enough. Not as rare as lesbian cinema, of course, because men remain dominant in every social sphere, including in the world of queer film, and so does whiteness.

If he were any other heterosexual, there could be problems, for me, with him making a film about the humiliations and degradations that can accompany gay sexual longing. But, I know he's been interested in how U.S. society exercises masculinity and as a not-out and/or non-gay actor, he has shown an admirable dedication to human portraits of gay and bi men. The fact that he's a genuine artist (as opposed to the corporate types, I suppose) exploring this terrain does cause me to cut him a bit of slack. I believe art should be neither politically (patriarchally) correct nor politically (patriarchally)  incorrect, only honest and if possible, truthful. The discussion ought to follow the viewing.

So, bravo, James, for putting this work out there, whether or not you are gay. I'll appreciate your work and accept you even if you are a heterosexual man. ;)

Here's one site that has a clip of Feast of Stephen, for now. And, quite possibly, here's that same clip:

Afghan Women Vote Against Patriarchal Fascism East and West

Most of what follows is from Shiraz Socialist. Please click on the title just below to link back.

Afghan elections: three million-plus defy the fascists

September 19, 2010 at 2:37 am 

Above: anti-fascist Afghan women: they know how to deal with the Taliban

“Although the “west” has all but given up on Afghan democracy – the agreed-upon euphemism for this betrayal appears to be “working to lower expectations” – it would seem that a few million Afghans have voted in today’s elections anyway, braving Taliban threats of dismemberment and death…”
Read  the rest of what Terry Glavin has to say, here.

Julian's note:
Afghan women need to be armed to deal with U.S. and NATO forces too, who are no less threatening and terroristic to women and girls in Afghanistan, despite what Western media proclaims as Truth.

Terry Glavin's blog post on  this contains anti-Semitic references allegedly used by Taliban forces to keep women from voting. Never mind the Jews, folks. The U.S. Christian White Right are funding the slaughter of Asian women in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Portland is "Pornland" and Strip Club-City and that requires Pimps Sexually Buying, Renting, and Trafficking Girls: A True Story of Prostitution and Pimping from Nightline

image above, from here, is part of another ABC news program, Primetime

Please keep in mind what you are about to see is a story that doesn't include the most poor and most marginalised girls and women globally or even in North America who are lured or captured by pimps and slavers. The story you're about to watch is "the nicer end" of the spectrum of how pimps and slavers operate. It's the end that pro-pimp, pro-procurement activists and advocates claim is liberating for women and ought to be legally considered "free speech" or a "civil liberty". Just one question: Speech and liberty for which groups of oppressed people?

The following true story of the purchase and pimping of girls for men is brought to you tonight, in part, by Craigslist whose business motto ought to be: Promoting and Profiting from the Sex Trafficking of Girls for Men Was a Third of Our Business Revenues--until we were "censored". (Note: They were never censored. Anti-sex/pro-sexxxism pornographers, procurers, and slavers love to throw that term around as if they've ever been made to shut up and as if they aren't in the business of silencing women and girls by any means necessary.)

All that follows is from *here*. A video follows just after the title and date below. Click on the center of the image to start it.

In Search of Love: Teens Lured Into Sex Trade

Police Say Portland, Ore., is a Hub for Child Sex Trafficking

By SHARYN ALFONSI and URSULA FAHY

Sept. 22, 2010

The first time "Katie" danced at a strip club, she was 13, and in the seventh grade.

Not long before, the Oregon girl had gone on an ordinary outing to a mall in downtown Portland. She met some boys there and they invited her to a party in the suburbs. At the party, Katie met an older boy she would begin to date.

"He bought me a lot of things, like shoes, outfits and purses and stuff like that," said Katie, of J, who she began to think of as her boyfriend.

Before long, J told her he was having financial trouble, and he asked her if she would she dance, "just once," at a strip club, she said. Katie, who had only ever worn high heels to church and on special occasions, soon was forced into working as a stripper and a street prostitute six days a week, she said.

Every year, at least 100,000 children are forced into prostitution in the United States, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And Portland, routinely voted one of the most livable cities in the country, hides a dark secret: It is a national hub for child sex trafficking, police and victims' advocates say. 

Children, young teens from all over the country, but mostly from the small towns of the Northwest, walk Portland's streets.

Katie's inauguration into the life was like that of countless other girls.

That first day at the strip club, she remembers looking out from the stage.

"It was gross," she told ABC News. "They're like older than my dad and grandpap and I just wanted to go home. "

She was told, "You can't go home, you have to finish your shift," she recalled. "And I was like, 'I don't work here,' and they were like, 'You do now.'"

"I realized I pretty much walked into a trap," she said.

Katie's is a classic case, said Sgt. Mike Geiger, who heads Portland's sexual assault detail. Cute young girls are being targeted by pimps.

"They look for them in the malls, the parks, on MySpace, Facebook," Geiger said. "(A)nd they look for them in the schools and walking downtown. They strike up a friendship with them."

Preying on Vulnerable Teens

Pimps fish for girls whose home lives are lacking in some way.

Every year, at least 100,000 children are forced into prostitution in the United States, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

(Getty Images)

If a girl indicates she's not getting enough attention or is having some other problems at home, "They will use the information and become their rescuer,'' said Geiger of the pimps' strategy. "'I can fix all that,' the pimps will say. 'I can give you a place to stay. You're way too mature to be treated like that.'"

The pimp will then give the girl clothes and other things, as well as affection, said Geiger. "And then the trap has sprung."

Ruth Roberts says that's what happened to her daughter.

"I was a single mom working really late ... making six figures,'' she said. "My daughter was getting A's and B's. Playing basketball. ... She had a good life, a good family, she didn't need anything."

But Roberts' daughter, then 16, met a guy on Portland's subway system. They "dated" and he convinced to her run away and live with him, Roberts said.

Soon, said Roberts, "She was walking the streets."

Forced to stroll Portland's notorious prostitution area around 82nd Avenue, referred to as "the track," even in the bitter cold.

Often, though, according to Roberts, her daughter was "rented" out on Craigslist.com.

Roberts said she spent her life savings trying to find her daughter and rescue her from the streets and from her pimp.

But her daughter, Roberts said, was afraid to leave. Her pimp once handcuffed her to a steering wheel of a car while he disappeared into a house, Roberts said her daughter told her. The pimp returned covered in blood, changed his shirt, and they went out to eat.

"She thinks he killed someone," Roberts said.

It is this fear that routinely keeps girls on the stroll.

Katie obediently worked the strip clubs by day and the track by night. At just 13 years old, she often would get picked up by johns within minutes of walking "the track."

She said she lived with J and lived by his rules. Other girls would come and go, she said. She remembers one in particular who was about the same age as she was.

"He bought her," she told ABC News.

Pimp Tells Teen, 'There is No God Where You Live'

That girl would find a way to escape, and Katie said she dreamed of doing the same.

"I just prayed," she said. "I was, like, crying and then he came out and he was like, 'What are you doing?' and I said, 'Praying.' And he said, 'Didn't I tell you there is no God where you live?'"

Michelle Alston knows that desperation first hand. She said her mother was prostitute, and at age 13, she decided to follow in her footsteps.

"When you go out there you risk getting robbed, raped, beat,'' she said. "You're getting in a car with someone you don't know. You risk that. ... Do I think it's worth it? No, but at the time it's all I knew."

Even though she was only 13 when she started, Alston said that sometimes she would have to lie about her age, when the john wanted someone younger.

"That's what they liked,'' she said.

When she was 14, Alston was introduced to the Internet and decided to go into business for herself.

"I would post online, Craigslist, City Vibe, Arrows Guide,'' she said. More than a dozen girls worked for her, she said, and she would post pictures of other girls, along with information about them, their fee and a phone number.

At 17, she was arrested and charged with "compelling and promoting prostitution."

She was a teenaged female pimp.

"I don't like that term,'' she told ABC, saying that she preferred to think of herself as a "financial advisor."
"I'd advise them to put their finances in my hands," she said.

Alston served three years in prison. She was pregnant when she began her sentence and gave birth in prison to a baby girl.

Helping women and girls to escape prostitution is fraught with challenges, experts say. For one, they are often treated as criminals, though they are just children and many have been forced into sex work.

"They might say to you, 'I've lived through more than most 40 year olds,' but then they say 'Oh, and I really love Justin Bieber,'" said Esther Nelson, a victims' advocate in Portland.

Nelson said she now sees girls forced into prostitution who are coming from and going to all parts of the country -- Atlanta, Hawaii, Chicago, New Orleans.

The city of Portland is home to more than 100 strip clubs and massage parlors, making it, per capita, the largest legal commercial sex industry in the nation.

"We have a very vibrant sex industry that is considered legitimate," she said. "And when you have that, you find the exploitation of children, because the sex industry is built on the exploitation of innocent people."

Police say Nelson is witnessing the results of sophisticated human trafficking now run by gangs who've realized it's often easier and more profitable to move girls than it is to move drugs.

Girls Branded With their Pimps' Logos

Authorities have many troubling stories to tell of the ways in which the girls are abused and victimized.
"People have been gang raped, tied up in Saran Wrap," Nelson said. "We're talking about 13-year-old girls left for dead in their hotel rooms without water or food for days. Pimps put logos on their bodies and they're treated like animals."

Geiger said Portland is badly in need of more shelters to help give the teen prostitutes a safe gateway off the streets.

"Often they end up in a juvenile detention center with less resources than they deserve," he said.

More often than not, Nelson said, the girls return to the street.

Escaping the Life
Katie was able to escape her pimp after waiting weeks for a bed in a shelter.

Roberts' daughter is no longer working as a prostitute, she said. But the young woman remains fearful that her pimp will find her.

Alston, who now works at a restaurant, said she hopes the family profession stops with her. She plans to shelter her curly-haired daughter, who she said has her hazel eyes, as much as possible.

"I want her to be successful and happy,'' she said. "I just want her to have everything I didn't."