Problematic | G-Dragon and Daesung

WhiteTigeress

I am both sorry and not sorry for this. I blame the fact I’ve been working on academic junk this week. Also, I cheated a little… I should also mention the use of “queer” is in line with the language used in academia - I am not attempting to be offensive. 

“The queer narrative benefits from the reliance on the closet trope – I acknowledge that,” Daesung was in the midst of drawling, “But its relationship with the disabled community is far more complex than you give it credit. Crip theory and its claim that it supports a group it speaks in place of – rather than alongside of – however, is anything but productive. If anything, it demeans the group it means to represent and places them in a glass closet, as though the disabled community is little more than a fixture in a menagerie!”

Jiyong rolled his eyes at Daesung. “That is absolutely ridiculous, Daesung. Are you even listening to what you are saying?” He leaned his elbows onto the table, his glasses sliding down to perch on the edge of his nose. “The construct of the closet and the coming out narrative provides a framework for similar minority narratives as they emerge from the shadows of the oppressive majority. Disability, just like queer, is an identity the patriarchy has been trying to obliterate – forcing the constituents to attempt to pass as normates in a world that is anything but normative. Crip theory embodies that struggle to reclaim a minority identity that queer theory, as its parent framework, pioneered.”

“I will give you the fact that disability is a minority that has been oppressed in similar ways. But that does not mean the disabled and queer experiences can be conflated.” Daesung paused to take a sip of his coffee before launching back into battle. “Even the way you talk about disability fails to acknowledge the key factor that disability lacks the ability to pass for normative in every situation. The queer identity can be closeted – it is possible to hide that facet if you so desire – but there are certain disabilities, both internalized and externalized, that manifest in ways that cannot be hidden. How can you come out of a closet you have never been in to begin with?”

As Daesung and Jiyong continued to debate the validity of Crip Theory as a framework, the relationship between queer and disability, and the potential for a more effective theoretical approach, their respective boyfriends sat in silence. Finally, after the twentieth time of hearing the word “problematic,” Youngbae turned to look at Seunghyun. “Do you understand a single word they’re saying?”

“Nope.” Seunghyun took another sip of his coffee. “But it’s y, watching them like this.”

Youngbae nodded. “Yeah, I just wish they’d stop saying ‘problematic’ and ‘construct.’ I’m on my third coffee, and it’s nearly out.” He sighed. Playing drinking games during your boyfriend’s academic debates was probably not the best way to pass the time, but it was how Seunghyun and Youngbae survived. It was better than being bored stiff and risking falling asleep. The last time Seunghyun had done that, he had slept on the couch for a week. And Youngbae had once made the mistake of interrupting the pair as they discussed a potential collaboration. Jiyong had refused to even speak to the man for two months after that – the same amount of time it had taken the article to be accepted by a journal. Sometimes, the two men questioned what exactly they had signed up for when they fell for their beautiful, crazy nerds.

Dating academics was, shall we say, problematic at the best of times.