closet conlanging

On Fri, 18 Dec 1998, And Rosta wrote:

> It's curious how there is a kind of metaphorical relation between
> conlanging on the one hand and masturbation and bi/homosexuality on the
> other (The Secret Vice, The Love that Dare Not Speak its Name). When
> some months ago there were several people posting to the list declaring
> themselves to be bisexual teenage conlangers, and I never got round to
> observing that bisexuality and conlanging are, like religiosity, phases
> that many teenagers go through but few adults remain in.
Ouch.  Hmm.  The topic of homosexuality and conlanging has been raised
before on the list.  I read it with interest, but didn't participate. I
want to treat it with caution, but I've been wondering whether anyone
would object to my referring to this and other connections about "closet
conlanging" and "closet sexuality" in my paper, because the link is a
potent one.  The notion you raise here--that we're "too old" for
conlanging--is one that I have felt acutely, even if I haven't personally
been subjected to that form of disavowal that looks upon homosexuality as
an arrested state of development that adult humans should be "too old"
for.  Many of my gay friends have, though, and the metaphor of the closet
seems a very appropriate one for any discussion of lunatic lovers of
language (remember my "Lunatic Survey"), "the Maligned Art" (the title of
my talk), and (il)licit forms of intellectual pursuit. But I want to be
sensitive about this and not name names--i.e., mention that the topic has
been *discussed,* but not by whom, when, where, etc.  Since I'm bringing
up some issues of gender and conlanging (the low number of female
participants on the listserv), the connection to the closet seems fair to
bring up, too, especially given Yaguello's simplistic division of certain
kinds of conlanging into "male" and "female" categories.  The remark about
religiosity seems like another nexus in which to address potential attacks
on conlanging.  Hmm.  Interesting and touchy.  No flames, please!

It's official, now: International Association of the Fantastic in the
Arts, mid March, at Fort Lauderdale FL.  Maybe I'll meet Nik! ;-)  But
then Florida is a huge state.

Sally
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Sally Caves
scaves@frontiernet.net
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teonaht.html
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/contents.html

Aro le thena neom, ma haikkebo vera.
"Snow breathes on us but doesn't fall."
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