  |
||
|
||
|
Title: Stand together Rating: 3.3 out of 4 Reference: Director & producer, Nancy Nicol. Library of Congress subjects: Gay liberation movement--Ontario--History Gay rights--Ontario--History Homosexuality--Law and legislation--Ontario--History Sociology subjects: The body The city (in part) Community activism Identity Media/text analyses (in part) Resisting the state Sexualities Reviews and Numerical Ratings 3 A documentary addressing some of the legal struggles for lesbian & gay rights in Ontario, from the RCMP’s national security campaign, which began in the late 1950's, through to the inclusion of sexual orientation as a prohibited grounds for discrimination under the Ontario Human Rights Code in 1986. The video contains some wonderful historical footage, as well as recent interviews with people who continue to be politically active. Absent are debates and divisions about strategies & tactics within the movement, including those concerning how to connect the lesbian & gay liberation movement to broader social struggles & considerations of class, race & gender. Debi Brock 3 A great choice for our curriculum that is of an appropriate level of difficulty for students of all levels. This video would make a relatively fine resource for courses that deals with the history of homosexual rights & liberation in Ontario. Some of the terrific aspects of this documentary are the many facts, data, stills, & historical official documents that were incorporated with the interviews. There were numerous interesting historical facts such as the ways in which the RCMP & Canadian government officials conducted their search for homosexual individuals. This video will unquestionably bring out discussions, educate, & influence students to be more open-minded. Minh Hoang (undergraduate) 3 As a “hidden history” this movie challenges the image of McCarthyism as a U.S. phenomenon, focusing on the moral regulation of Gay men in Canada by the R.C.M.P. There are also great images of gay “hippie” youth whose familiar look may surprise students, thus breaking with current stereotypes of queerness. Both these images & the “fruit machine” questionnaire used by the R.C.M.P to “root out” homosexuals, might be seen as farcical but can be used to discuss how we view the past & theorize social change. The actions of the gay men in the movie provide an example of Michel Foucault’s concept of reverse discourse. Some of the talking head scenes are dry & more context would be need to be provided as this segment of the video deals only with white gay men. For lectures on: moral regulation; social change and social movements; gender/sexuality. Patti Phillips 3.5 What follows is an assessment of only the opening segment – “Men in the Shadows” : Visually interesting, especially the dramatization. Shows government documents that are not readily available. A good resource for discussion of Canadian state surveillance & its use of several “scientific” methods, pertinent to studies of governmentality. Quite a bit of classroom discussion would be needed to make the sociological aspects of the material more evident to students. (Note: this segment of the video is on the beginnings of a resistance movement in Canada, and shows more individual resistance & use of humour in resistance; the rest of the video deals more with organizing work.) Kathy Bischoping & Andie Noack 4 (I’d give it a “5" if I could.)
I would enthusiastically recommend this video as a teaching tool in
a Sociology classroom. It addresses the history of Canadian state, military
and police monitoring & persecution of gays (& to a lesser extent
lesbians) during the mid-century. The video uncovers a hidden part of
Canadian history, it challenges norms of scientific & policing objectivity
and it presents the story from the perspective of those who lived through
the era. The content of the story is likely to be wholly unfamiliar
to most students. As a casual student of queer history myself, I still
learned quite a bit from this section and was genuinely surprised by
how science & the police worked together. I can imagine this having
a very useful place in a discussion on science & the politics of
regulation. Because of it’s story-telling style, the video was
more effective that a lecture might be on the same subject (although
we only get to glimpse the declassified RCMP documents showing the bizarre
surveys given to suspected gays). It was produced by a York professor
& has a strong Ontario focus. I found the sound to be bit muddy
and so it might not work well in a large classroom. One strong recommendation
is that the instructor show the full first section (about 26 minutes?)
and not the 20 minutes suggested here for review. Otherwise, one is
left with an inaccurate perception of the historical events of the time,
which is clarified in the final minutes of the section. Stand Together
is indisputably highly informative and would suggest many a sociological
conversation. Chanelle Gallant
About the project | Book a video for class | Enter the Library Catalogue | Send us feedback | Back to main |
