Monsters, Misfits, and Drag Queen Reading Hours
What is a Monster? In movies we see The Thing, or the Werewolf, or Dracula. In Frankenstein it's pretty clear that the begotten creature is a monster, but it's ambiguous as to whether the Dr. is also a monster.
A monster is often a type of grotesque creature, whose appearance frightens and whose existence threatens the human world's social or moral order. A monster can also be like a human; they are commonly portrayed as the lowest class, as mutants, deformed, supernatural, and otherworldly.
And so deformed children were once (and perhaps still are) monsters. But the Unicorn Puppy born with a tail on it's forehead is so cute, and doesn't threaten our notion of dogs, so they're good to stay.
Animal monsters are outside the moral order, but sometimes have their origin in some human violation of the moral law. Human monsters are those who by birth were never fully human or who through some supernatural or unnatural act lost their humanity, and so who can no longer, or who never could, follow the moral law of human society.
from wiki:Monster derives from the Latin monstrum, itself derived ultimately from the verb moneo ("to remind, warn, instruct, or foretell"), and denotes anything "strange or singular, contrary to the usual course of nature, by which the gods give notice of evil," "a strange, unnatural, hideous person, animal, or thing," or any "monstrous or unusual thing, circumstance, or adventure."
from Emma Louise Backe: Monsters have for centuries been manifestations of society’s fears and anxieties. As Stephen T. Asma explains in On Monsters, “Monster derives from the Latin word monstrum, which in turns derives from the root monere (to warn). To be a monster is to be an omen […] The monster is more than an odious creature of the imagination; it is a kind of cultural category, employed in domains as diverse as religion, biology, literature, and politics” (2009:13). More often than not, monsters stand as symbols or emblems of a culture’s nightmares.
Jeffrey Dalmer: monster.
Hannibal Lecter: monster.
And so the word Monster, used correctly, is a social construct. We might find the creatures in Alien monstrous, but only because they threaten our social order, our status quo, our assumptions we base our lives on. Monsters are threats to our way of life.
I would suggest: a monster is something we shield our children's eyes from: a homeless man, a drag queen, homosexuals displaying affection, or a transgender person. They are challenges to the status quo; they are stories we would protect our children from; they warn that our descriptions are not exhaustive, that there are other types of lives beyond the table of categories, and if we're not careful they my come for you, my pretty.
There is no greater threat to the monosexual status quo than bisexuals, so perhaps invisibility is a blessing.
To tone down the disapproval of 'monster', let us consider: what is a misfit?
- a person whose behavior or attitude sets them apart from others in an uncomfortably conspicuous way.
- something that does not fit or that fits badly
- examples: a fish out of water, a square peg in a round hole, a nonconformist, eccentric, a maverick, an individualist, an oddball, a weirdo, a freak, a bad boy, a screwball,a kook.
I suggest that misfit is a toned-down or semi-tolerable form of monster; they do not demand acceptance or present a threat to the status quo. In a way, they reinforce the normal. Misfit vs Monster is a distinction born of number, proximity, extremity. or demand for normality: one gay boy is a misfit, but twelve gay boys including a few in women's clothing is monstrous and we must protect "our" way of life from them, if only for the children.
Misfits simply don't meet our categories; monsters destroy the categories, throw over the sorting bins, and insist: I am here and this is normal!
And so a cross-dresser in Shadyside is a misfit, but a small group of drag queens who would read to children for an hour in a library are monsters who must be denied, suppressed, and failing those -- attacked.
I identify as a misfit.