Mary Rose Museum's Queer Lense

[1stWorldProblems]

I bloody love this musuem & it's one of the few to use tech to enhance its exhibits with the "ghosts" it projects on the hull (as opposed to unnecessary "interactive" displays that 50-somethings are cool and break after a few months but which kids have seen better done on their tablets but that's another thread). This came up on my timeline today - viewing a number of their objects through a queer lens - or going on about 21st century concerns that can only be linked to the said object by tying yourself in knots.

https://maryrose.org/blog/collections/the-collections-team/queering-the-mary-rose-s-collection/

SO tedious - the wreck and the objects found are fascinating without layering on 21st century superfluous info. It's not even interesting or original thoughts - just the usual guff.

"Today, hairstyles are often heavily gendered, following the gender norm that men have short hair, and women have long hair. By ‘subverting’ and playing with gender norms, Queer people can find hairstyles that they feel comfortable wearing. "

They're a museum, and ignoring that while gender norms currently may be short hair men, long hair women, there have been plenty of periods in history where it's been the fashion for men to have long hair. Fashion, not something innate. FFS. Alongside hair been shorn off for fevers and so on. If you want long hair, go for it.

The Mary Rose is plenty interesting as it is, especially all the artefacts and the DNA evidence from where the crew members were from. I went a couple of years ago (after FiLiA.)

So true. It's all so paper thin isn't it?

I love how they don't assume the gender identity of crew mates or anyone onboard. What a world.

That these little add ones get commissioned that are so ephemeral and have nothing to do with historical content, however much trendy curators would like them to. It's nutty.

Meh. It's everywhere in museum and gallery-land. It royally Fs me off.

I'm in Italy on my holidays and the Italians have no truck with this guff. It's, "here's a painting" and that's it. Or, "here's an old book with something interesting in it" without trying to pin it on something that's 21st century-trendy. I'm all in favour.

Are there any reviews of this risible attempt at queering,online? I'm off to work with no t'internet shortly,but would like something to look forward to later.

Kew Gardens also at it.
https://www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/queer-nature

Its fucking plants!

I gave it a wide berth when we were there. All that neat classification is just so very colonial.

Please someone nearby go to this and report back.

I need to know about the queer joy of mushroom cabaret.

https://www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/queer-nature-after-hours

@GrabbyGabby there is such an obvious flower joke there but I somehow think it would be deleted.

It looked like it was written by an adult, I've just googled that name. Dr Hannah McCann is a lecturer in gender studies at the University of Melbourne.

I've no idea how people get paid to actually spout this kind of stuff.

You cannot go to an art gallery, theatre or museum now without seeing something celebrating queerness, trans identities or something involving drag. I hate that I sound like Victor Meldrew but it's beyond parody.

Queer joy at Kew fungis and fungal.

@DontStealTheTeddy That was written by a Doctor? I know it's gender studies but even so...they really seem to have checked out. Calling it lip service is giving it a degree of rigour that really isn't warranted.

Oh my good Lord. It reads like a parody.

Was it a ChatGPT that wrote that guff about hairstyles and nit combs, or was it Google translated via Finnish, Chinese, French and Xhosa?

Who uses a nit comb to style their hair anyway?

It’s embarrassing.

There were 82 in total. These nit combs would have been mainly used by the men to remove nits from their hair, rather than using the comb to style their hair (which would have usually been covered up by a hat).

So what did women do? Just scratch?

Good luck wearing a hat while you rammed shot into a cannon in about 34degrees in the darkness below decks, btw.

Assuming I've got the right person, yes. She'd written something about hair and femme and queer elsewhere, so I suspect it is her.

Today, hairstyles are often heavily gendered, following the gender norm that men have short hair, and women have long hair.

And just think of all the people subverting those "gender norms" in the 20s with women with short bobs, the 60s/70s with men with long hair, and the 80s/90s with women with all manner of short hairstyles. Why is today considered more progressive exactly?

I assumed it was written by their teenage non binary intern!

And once again Mumsnetters have created humour and sanity from a depressing story. Thanks for making me laugh instead of tearing my hair out! I’ll come to Millicent’s fat museum too, as long as there’s a well-stocked cafeteria.

Don't you have one in your make up bag?! I never go anywhere without a bottle of Hedrin and a Nitty Gritty comb, especially if I'm off on a hot date. 🔥

I read a little of the article in the nit comb hyperlink, it was all about scripts and performance, fgs it sounds exhausting. It was boring, who has time for all that navel (tee hee) gazing.

😂 A teenager who doesn’t realise that the world existed before they/it/ were/was born

I'd make my child go back & write something historically accurate & more interesting instead of this guff. Her talk in the Mary Rose in Y4 had more facts than that web page.

Glad to see I'm not alone

Desperately want to see the queer mushroom cabaret now. I'm getting Fantasia vibes.

Also, if you read the nit comb nonsense im the style of Philomena Cunk it's 817% funnier.

Also, if you read the nit comb nonsense im the style of Philomena Cunk it's 817% funnier.

It's pure Cunk!

That’s pit rivers mentioned above. There is a doorway linking the two, they are separate museums though.

Queerness as an interpretative tool is there a dance for this as well? Surely there must be an interpretative dance.

Being serious what a load of absolute and utter wank that page is, please tell me no money was paid for that risible nonsense.