Intern runs amok
Oh look, hours of fun for the whole family: Queering the Mary Rose’s Collection.
How can we understand The Mary Rose’s collection of personal objects through a Queer lens?
This blog does not attempt to identify the sexuality or gender identity of crew members, which would be an impossible task. Instead, we will use ‘Queerness as an interpretative tool’ to represent LGBTQ+ stories.
Who’s “we”?
Turns out it’s Hannah.
Queering The Mary Rose’s Collection by Hannah (Collections & Curatorial Intern)
I wonder if the non-intern staff are regretting having an intern, especially one with no last name.
How can we understand The Mary Rose’s collection of personal objects through a Queer lens?
This interpretation of historical objects is inspired by ‘Queering the Collections’, a collective movement that occurs in museums around the world. From the Tate Britain and the Wellcome Collection, to the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, museums are reinterpreting and Queering their objects.
Ready? No one needs to go potty first? Ok let’s begin.
Octagonal mirror
There a photo of an octagonal wooden frame.
A circular, reflective surface would have sat within this beech frame. This mirror would have been considered a luxury item on the Mary Rose. Looking at your own reflection in a mirror can bring up lots of emotions for both straight and LGBTQ+ people. For Queer people, we may experience a strong feeling of gender dysphoria when we look into a mirror, a feeling of distress caused by our reflection conflicting with our own gender identities. On the other hand, we may experience gender euphoria when looking in a mirror, when how we feel on the inside matches our reflection.
Well! There’s the Mary Rose queered for you!
Hannah goes on to queer nit combs, a ring, and paternosters in the same inventive way. The nit combs were for getting rid of lice but combs are for hair and for queer people hair is a central part of their idenniny. The ring could be a wedding band and queer people can marry each other you know. Paternosters are a churchy thing, and Henry VIII made churchy law state law, and some queer men people were executed for having sex with men queer people.
It’s profound stuff!
This does sound like fun! Let’s dog the Mary Rose collection.
Dogging the Mary Rose collection:
Octagonal mirror: an octagon has eight sides, twice the number of paws of a dog. As social beings, dogs like to be around at least another dog, so the number 8 has special significance. (And did you know that if you turn the 8 sideways, you get the symbol for infinity?! How cool is that! We love our dogs to infinity!) As for the mirror itself, dogs don’t recognize their own reflection, so they may see the dog in the mirror as a rival, perhaps causing anxiety. On the other hand, they may see their human in the mirror, bringing them great joy!
Comb: Dogs love to be combed, as long as you don’t tug any knots in their fur too hard!
Ring: dogs often suffer from ringworms, leading to a loss of hair (c.f. combs). On the other hand, a ring is circular in shape, just like a collar. And put two together, and you have the number 8! (or infinity)
Paternoster: all dogs are good boys or girls (or enbies!) and they all go to heaven!
I would say not everything needs to be queered, but I suspect everyone on this site already knows that.
Maybe I should invite “Hannah” over to queer my kitchen?
This actually makes more sense than the example given. WAM, you should offer them your services! At least we know there was actually a dog on board: https://maryrose.org/hatch/
You could, but nothing will make sense, and nothing will get done because “Hannah” will end up spending the entire time centering “herself” and using up all the oxygen in the room.
@YNnB,
Well, I was an intern a long time ago.
Are we sure that “Hannah” didn’t ChatGPT this? It has the same tone of robotically self-assured bullshitting to a prompt.
YNNB — thanks for that link! I love archaeology and the intersection between that and forensic science, so analyzing the DNA of a 16th-century dog — cool!
However, that web page says,
Whoever wrote that is so going to Woke Hell! What if the unfortunate dog didn’t identify as male? Huh? Huh?
Oh boy oh boy! This opens up a world of possibilities. If you enjoyed this, Ophelia, you are going to be absolutely beside yourself when I publish my upcoming treatise, “Explaining The Anatomical Differences Between Duodenums in Mammals (From the Unique Perspective of Someone Whose Name Begins With ‘J’)”. Please attempt to contain your excitement until the official announcement.
Lolsob.
I contacted the Mary Rose Collection through the form available at their website, and asked why they’re enabling trendy narcissism. (I suppose an intern will read my question and delete it.)
I read the nit comb one, and our Hannah is really laboring for a connection there. But, if queering the Mary Rose collection isn’t enough of a thrill for you, how about queering science? Did you know that in Canada queerfolk scientists can express themselves through drag? Yes, it’s true!
I happened to be listening to this, one of my favorite science podcasts, on a jog. I was hoping that Bob McDonald didn’t do the interview on this one because he found it embarrassing. If the thought of listening to the uplift affectation nauseates you, there is a text transcription.
What a Maroon wins ALL the prizes.
[…] a comment by What a Maroon on Intern runs […]
Let me guess — “Hannah” is not his real name?
“Queer people feel a certain way when looking at this. Queered!”
Well there doesn’t have to be a connection, does there. The point can’t be to bring any further depth of meaning,to or additional understanding of the world that created the Mary Rose (which you’d think would be the aim), because none of this does that. It’s just another opportunity for narcissistic display and attention. It’s forced teaming with the past.
I don’t know, maybe ‘queering’ my kitchen would have helped my house sell faster…it did finally sell, though!
Gender…euphoria? Ha ha, I love it! Soon (starting tomorrow!) all my friends will be hearing how I’m gender euphoric.
Wait — is there a flag for this? There had better be.
Of course there is Skeletor!
https://www.lgbtqia.wiki/wiki/Gender_Euphoria
Terry Pratchett taught me his name is spelled Skelington.
Thanks, Rob!
Wrong, Holms!
Re the “gender euphoria” flag: am I mistaken, or is that flag essentially in “suffragette” colors?