CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION
1. Lesbian
and Gay
Lesbian is a term widely used in the English
language to describe a female with sexual or romantic attraction toward other
females (Oxford English Dictionary : 1998). The
word may be used as a noun, to refer to a woman
who identifies herself, or is characterized by others, as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality; or as an adjective, to characterize an object or activity related to or
associated with lesbianism (Zimmerman, Bonnie, 2003 : p.453).
Gay is
a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being
homosexual. The term was originally used to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy".
The term's use as a reference to homosexuality may date as early as the late
19th century, but its use gradually increased in the 20th century (Douglas :
2001-2013). In modern English, gay has come to be used as an adjective,
and as a noun, referring to the people,
especially to gay males,
and the practices and cultures associated with homosexuality. By the
end of the 20th century, the word gay was recommended by major LGBT groups and style guides to describe people attracted to members of the same sex (American
Psychologist : 1991).
2. The
Characteristics of Lesbian and Gay
Many lesbians are associated with short hair,
wearing baggy clothes, and playing sports (Geiger). Further, news coverage of
LGBT issues reinforces stereotyped portrayals of lesbians. Often news
broadcasts highlight stories on more "masculine" lesbians and fail to
give equal coverage to other more faceted lesbian identities. Thus, the
populations who receive information about marginalized communities from a news
source begin to equate lesbian sexuality with masculine presentation. The way
lesbians are portrayed leads people to make assumptions about individuals in
everyday life (ABC News Network : 2006).
Typically, lesbians are stereotyped as belonging to
one of the two following categories: "butch and
femme". Butch lesbians dress in a more masculine manner
than other women. "Dykes" (a pejorative term
that the Lesbian community has reclaimed,
to an extent) are considered members of a community that is perceived as being
composed of strong and outspoken advocates in
wider society (Krantz : 1995). Actress Portia de
Rossi has been credited for significantly countering the
general societal misconception of how lesbians look and function when, in 2005,
she divulged her sexual orientation in intimate interviews with Details and The Advocate which
generated further discussion on the concept of the "lipstick
lesbian" ("femme"
women who tend to be "hyper-feminine").
Lesbian feminists assert that a sexual
component is unnecessary for a woman to declare herself a lesbian if her
primary and closest relationships are with women, on the basis that, when
considering past relationships within an appropriate historic context, there
were times when love and sex were separate and unrelated notions (Rothblum,
Esther, Brehoney, Kathleen : 1993).
Gay
men are often associated with a lisp or a feminine
speaking tone (Mackenzie, Ian : 2004). Fashion,
effeminacy, and homosexuality have long been seen as stereotypes. They are
often based on the visibility of the reciprocal relationship between gay men
and fashion (Fashion : 2007). Designers, including Dolce & Gabbana, have made
use of homoerotic imagery
in their advertising. Some commentators argue this encourages the stereotype
that most gay men enjoy shopping A
limp wrist is also a mannerism associated with gay men (Bonnie : 2000).
CHAPTER
2
ANALYSIS
- Leave Your Lover Lyrics
I
don't have much to give, but I don't care for gold
What use is money, when you need someone to hold?
Don't have direction, I'm just rolling down this road
Waiting for you to bring me in from out the cold
You'll never know the endless nights, the rhyming of the rain,
Or how it feels to fall behind and watch you call his name
Pack up and leave everything,
Don't you see what I can bring
Can't keep this beating heart at bay
Set my midnight sorrow free,
I will give you all of me
Just leave your lover, leave him for me.
Leave your lover, leave him for me.
We sit in bars and raise our drinks to growing old
Oh, I'm in love with you and you will never know,
But if I can't have you I want this life alone
Spare you the rising storms and let the rivers flow
You'll never know the endless nights, the rhyming of the rain
Or how it feels to fall behind and watch you call his name
Pack up and leave everything,
Don't you see what I can bring
Can't keep this beating heart at bay
Set my midnight sorrow free,
I will give you all of me
Just leave your lover, leave him for me
Leave your lover, leave him for me.
Leave your lover, leave him for me.
What use is money, when you need someone to hold?
Don't have direction, I'm just rolling down this road
Waiting for you to bring me in from out the cold
You'll never know the endless nights, the rhyming of the rain,
Or how it feels to fall behind and watch you call his name
Pack up and leave everything,
Don't you see what I can bring
Can't keep this beating heart at bay
Set my midnight sorrow free,
I will give you all of me
Just leave your lover, leave him for me.
Leave your lover, leave him for me.
We sit in bars and raise our drinks to growing old
Oh, I'm in love with you and you will never know,
But if I can't have you I want this life alone
Spare you the rising storms and let the rivers flow
You'll never know the endless nights, the rhyming of the rain
Or how it feels to fall behind and watch you call his name
Pack up and leave everything,
Don't you see what I can bring
Can't keep this beating heart at bay
Set my midnight sorrow free,
I will give you all of me
Just leave your lover, leave him for me
Leave your lover, leave him for me.
Leave your lover, leave him for me.
- Sam
Smith
Samuel Frederick "Sam" Smith (born 19 May
1992) is an English
singer-songwriter. He rose to fame in October 2012 when he was featured on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart. His subsequent feature—on Naughty Boy's "La La La"—earned
him his first number one single in May 2013. (Wilkinson).
Smith was
born in London, England, the son of Frederick Smith and Kate Cassidy, a broker
(Wilkinson). He is an alumnus of
Youth Music Theatre UK and starred in their 2007 production of "Oh!
Carol". Before entering the
musical theatre, Smith had been in jazz bands. For a number of years he studied
singing and songwriting under jazz pianist Joanna Eden. He attended St Mary's Catholic School in Bishop's
Stortford. He was a member of the Bishop's Stortford Junior
Operatics (now Bishops Stortford Musical Theatre Society) and the Cantate Youth
Choir (The Fader).
In May 2014, Smith revealed to the
public that he is gay. He acknowledged a
relationship—since ended—with actor and model Jonathan Zeizel (BBC). At the 2015 Grammy Awards, where he
won four categories, he said, "I would like to thank the man that I fell
in love with last year - the man who this album is about. Thank you so much for
breaking my heart, because you got me four Grammys!" (Popsugar.com).
In an interview with 4Music,
Smith discussed his struggles with obsessive–compulsive disorder. "I
actually have OCD really bad, and it's getting a bit worse at the moment",
he said. "I have to check taps... before I leave the house, to make sure
I've checked everything in case it floods.” (4Music). He is a third-cousin of
singer Lily Allenand
actor Alfie Allen.
He's also the godfather of close friend and collaborator Jimmy Napes' son
Jackson. (Smith : 2015).
Smith is a feminist.
(Iannacci : 2015).
3.
Liberalism and Sexual Freedom in England
Liberalism is the political theory that is primarily
based on the need to improve and protect the individual. This school of thought
is formed around three essential and interrelated principles: 1. Rejection of
power politics as the only possible outcome of international relations (IR).
Questions security/warfare principles of realism perspective. 2. Accentuates
mutual benefits and international cooperation. 3. Implements international
organizations and nongovernmental actors for shaping state preferences and
policy choices ( Eric B, Shiraev, 2014 : 78).
Victoria Woodhull said “Sexual freedom means
the abolition of prostitution both in and out of marriage, means the
emancipation of woman and her coming into control of her own body, means the
end of her pecuniary dependence upon man... means the abrogation of forced
pregnancy, of anti-natal murder of undesired children and the birth of love
children only.” (Nelson, “What is Sexual Freedom?”, September 10th 2013).
In the United
Kingdom, the new generation growing up after World
War II had grown
tired of the rationing and austerity of the 1940s and 1950s and the Victorian
values of their elders, so the 1960s were a time of rebellion against the
fashions and social mores of the previous generation. An early
inkling of changing attitudes came in 1960, when the government of the day
tried unsuccessfully to prosecute Penguin Books for obscenity, for publishing the D. H.
Lawrence novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, which had
been banned since the 1920s for what was considered racy content. The
prosecution counsel Mervyn Griffith-Jones famously stood in front of the jury
and asked, in his closing statement: "Is it a book you would wish your
wife or servants to read?" When the case collapsed, the novel went on to
become a bestseller, selling two million copies. The Pill became available
free of charge on the National Health Service in the 1960s, at first restricted to
married women, but in 1968 its availability was extended to all women. In 1967,
laws prohibiting abortion and male homosexuality were repealed, although the
age of consent for homosexual men was set at 21, in contrast to the
heterosexual age of consent of 16. This is how it stayed until 1994, when the
male homosexual age of consent was lowered to 18, and then equalised at 16 in
2001. Also in 2001, lesbian sex was recognised in British law for the first
time ever, with an age of consent of 16 (Escoffier : 2003).
4.
The
meaning of ‘Leave Your Lover” Lyrics
(The meaning is based on the lyrics.)
“For the
writer of the song, he admits his limitation for giving more. For him, money is
not everything because there is
something more essential which is somebody’s love. Writer
feels so empty and only follows what his heart saying. Writer is waiting for
someone he wants, someone accepting him, someone erasing his lonely life. Writer describes his lonely life in
every night he goes through by rain’s rhythm describing his lonely. Writer reveals
his jealous to the woman, when she calls the name of a man he wants. She is so
close with the man making the writer jealous. Writer reveals what he feels through this song addressed to the man he
wants, who is so close with the woman. But, writer also hopes in his heart to
the man to end writer’s lonely life. Through this song, writer tries to
convince that he will give everything he has if the woman want to let the man
go for him. So the man will be beside the writer. Writer reveals his hope to go through his life until he die.
But, if writer can’t be together with the man, writer will choose live alone. What
writer wants is only the woman leaving the man, so that writer can be with him.”
In lyrics “leave your lover, leave him for me”, for
a moment, writers thought it was about Sam Smith is jealous because the girl is
with another man he knows. But when we were listening the lyrics and seeing the
video clip until the end, we concluded it is not about that. It is about Sam
Smith tries to ask the woman to let the man go so that Sam Smith can be with
him, and we can say, he is a gay and loves man.
Here, in this song,
Sam Smith exposes that he is a gay through the lyrics and also the video clip. This
analysis is inforced by Sam Smith’s characters in his daily life. He reveals
that he is a gay. According to eonline.com, Sam Smith revealed that this song
is about himself.
In dailymail.co.uk, Sam Smith said that he
sells his songs to countries where gay being killed. He wants to inspire
all-gay in the world.
This is also inforced
by the country he is living now, which is England. England is implementing
liberalism system, where sexual freedom is applied as common thing. These facts
are reasons why Leave Your Lover is about Sam Smith telling about himself who
is a gay.
References
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Smith Opens up About Life and Love". The Fader. Retrieved on
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Smith: 5 things you don't know about me”. 4Music. Retrieved on December
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