New Life

            As Annamarie Jagose said, "once the term 'queer' was, at best, slang for homosexual, at worst, a term of homophobic abuse". In the recent years the word queer is used by many people and has multiple different meanings. Eldeman states "queer focuses on mismatches between sex, gender and desire".  People have grown to the idea of the 'queer', while others stick with the conservative’s traditional view. Countries and some states have even legalized marriage, while others fight the diversity and stick with the traditional heterosexual marriage.

With such an ongoing battle about what is right and what is wrong, the confusion of the undecided person is clearly recognized. Tradition is defined as, "the passing down of elements of a culture from generation to generation". Many countries have traditions that have been followed for decades and are never expected to be changed. As a person decides whether or not he or she is 'queer' it puts a lot of stress on them. One stressor is the question of what people, like their mother, father, siblings or grandparents might think about them. They're defying society within that whole country, even going against the belief systems that grandparents might have put in place and believed in for many decades. Another stressor may be the fact that they might be punished or even banished from their families for having these feelings that are thought of as wrong.

Traditionally, as an immigrant, coming to a new country and adapting to the complex cultures and ideas that are new to me is difficult. People in this country expect me to "walk the walk and talk the talk". They expect me to know the way of society, basically that I should be the way that they expect me to be. Canada is a multicultural country, therefore, I blended in well with the others that were of my culture. "Canada’s policy of multiculturalism makes it a favourite destination for immigrants. They can keep their pride in their ancestry while simultaneously having a sense of belonging to Canada." With the clothes that I chose to wear I could fit in with anyone, although I wasn't sure who I wanted to fit in with I was always undecided on the way I felt about the other gender. The country I had come from had strict laws about what woman had to wear and who they had to marry and no one challenged the rules.  It was as if when I was born there was already a mould that I was made into. I soon realized that I had the opportunity to be my own person. Therefore, I could see my traditional views vanishing before my eyes. New cultural experiences came before me; I could try anything I wanted.

The new friends I met at school were into way different things then I was. They would skip the first period after lunch to smoke up before gym class and the parties that they through was much different than my family’s gatherings. Soon I found myself changing and straying away from the tranditional way of life that I once believed in. Eventually, I noticed myself really enjoying my closest lady friends company. It felt right even though I was rebelling against what my parents believed about same sex relationships. I knew my behaviour was different towards women then it was towards men, yet somehow, this country that I now live in allows me to hold her hand through the hallway at school and not be looked down upon or even worse.

The ever changing way of life allows new ideas and ways of life to prosper and flourish. As an immigrant, they are exposed to new experiences and usually stripped, not completely, of the old ways of life. New concepts, such as the 'queer', aren't always present in some countries. Immigrants are expected to accept the challenges of being "new" to the country and if they aren't already decided on which gender they prefer it's a whole new world to them. Immigrants that live in Canada are blessed with privillage of living in a multicultural country. In Canada discrimination is declining because most of the population comes from different backgrounds and cultures. Therefore, immigrants will be exposed to many new ideas, beliefs, customs, and practises in Canada.

- Samantha

References

Annamarie Jagose. (1991). Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities, differences: a Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies. 3, 2. pp.iii-xviii

           Eldeman, Lee. (1995). Queer Thory: Unstating Desire, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 2, 4. pp. 343-6

           Canada's Multicultural Policies. (2010). Benefits of Multiculturalism. Retrieved from http://www.edukits.ca/multiculturalism/student/diversity_multiculturalism_e.html