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Oxford students bopping mad at controversial St Hugh’s theme

St. Hugh’s College made a controversial decision to change the theme of their first bop of Hilary term from the student-elected ‘Queerbop’, to a more generalised ‘Express Yourself’.

The LGBTQ rep at St. Hugh’s, Matthew Shaw, explained to Cherwell, “Over each vac Hugh’s students vote on a poll for the bop themes for the following term which have all been suggested by the JCR and compiled into a poll, out
of which the theme ‘Queerbop’ came top. Numerous concerns appeared to have been raised with the Entz reps over the theme. Concerns were mainly raised for two reasons, people felt uncomfortable or excluded by the theme, or did not understand the meaning of the word.

“Whilst I completely understand that not everyone understands the term queer or queer culture, hushing it away does not improve the situation but merely silences an important voice and damns any further notion of the understanding and progress that can be made. I think it is a shame that what would be a celebration of queer culture and support for the LGBTQ community at Hugh’s could be perceived as exclusionary, uncomfortable, and that people immediately thought they would offend or ridicule instead of celebrate and support; there is clearly more work to be done.”

Tasha Gillies was among those who disagreed, commenting, “The theme just
seemed a recipe for disaster. Any costume under a queer theme would just
represent one of the many harmful ideas of who queer people are, as if all LGBTQ people can be shoehorned into one distinct way of looking.”

Commenting on the change, OU LGBTQ Society President Otamere Guobadia said, “I feel for the queer St Hugh’s community, who are being denied the wonderful feeling of being prioritised and represented in the oppressive framework that is mainstream culture and college life. We have Black History Month and LGBTQ History Month because things like heteronormativity and white supremacy are so ingrained in the way people are raised that minority history and culture are relegated to the margins; I think that this erasive rebranding of the bop under the guise of preventing
offense is ridiculously paternalistic and othering hen it was clearly the popular choice.

“Frankly I give absolutely no fucks if straight people are rendered uncomfortable by the thought of having to, for once, channel nonnormative
ideas of gender and sexuality at a bop without devolving into tasteless parody
or making queer people the punchline of a bop costume. Conversely the ‘kid glove’ fear advocated by straight people who believe it is impossible to interpret a queer theme inoffensively is bullshit. There are lines between
appropriation and appreciation which take common sense and empathy to respectfully navigate, and at Oxford we should all be capable of doing so.

“Misplaced post-queer, assimilationist ideas convince people that there is not a necessity of queer spaces and events because we are all just part of the human race, and there is no ‘straight bop.’ But guess what? Under
Patriarchy every fucking bop is a straight one.”

St Hugh’s Entz reps could not be contacted for comment.

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