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Big Brother 2006

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Jawsus-son Starship

19:31 / 30.05.06

Welcome to the Town of Offtopica.

Is it wrong that I take umbridge with the term 'Smughet'? Seems kinda unfair to seperate them by the sexuality issue, especially when you conisder that Glynn would be on team non-smughet, and Pete's straight. And Lea. Can't we call them "The Couples" and something else. I dunno, Cool Kids. I'm not sure.

Not trying to rock the boat.

Back on the Main road to Ontopica.

19:36 / 30.05.06

Hm, obviously being pleasant to people one has known for five minutes = "licking arse". Nasty old two-faced Richard! At least they're not confining their slating to him; Lea also comes in for criticism and, for fuck's sake, Pete - who is, according to Grace, a "dirty f*****". I suspect she may come to regret that one...

Tryphena Absent

19:36 / 30.05.06

Ugly on the inside means ugly all through.

19:41 / 30.05.06

Is it wrong that I take umbridge with the term 'Smughet'? Seems kinda unfair to seperate them by the sexuality issue, especially when you conisder that Glynn would be on team non-smughet, and Pete's straight. And Lea. Can't we call them "The Couples" and something else. I dunno, Cool Kids. I'm not sure.

You can call 'em whatever you like. I'm calling them Team SmugHet because they've formed a power bloc based on opposite-sex pair-bonding about which they are (in my opinion) both smug and paranoid. I don't consider Pete, Glyn or Lea Team Smughet because, although they may well be heterosexual, they're not smug (in my eyes). It's not just about being heterosexual; it's about forming a tight grouping/alliance with other coupled heterosexuals, and 'othering' those who don't fit the pattern.

19:43 / 30.05.06

It's "umbrage", though. Umbridge is the town over the hill from where The Archers is set.

19:44 / 30.05.06

It's very High School High in there, isn't it?

19:45 / 30.05.06

Forgive me for stating the obvious.

19:46 / 30.05.06

Once I had a secret love.

Then I told Grace and swore her to secrecy.

Now the world and hir fuckbuddy knows.

Jawsus-son Starship

19:46 / 30.05.06

If (and it wouldn't happen, but get the hypothetical hat on for a mo) Richard became really close and joined that team, would you still call them Team Smughet? Or if I felt that Richard's side suddenly got smug, would it be cool for me to call them Team Smughomo? Because I wouldn't think so.

While you might not think that it's about them being Hetro, when you name the team after their sexuality, it seems like that part of the problem. Though I'm sure it isn't.

19:47 / 30.05.06

Sezer will mostly be the person from High School I thumped very hard.

I work with someone who talks like him. Totally convinced xe is the most powerful human being in any given social group, holding all the strings all the time...

Tryphena Absent

19:48 / 30.05.06

Okay, I've now caught up with what the hell Ganesh is talking about and I feel a leetle bit queasy. Team SmugHet suits them perfectly, I throw my support behind it.

19:53 / 30.05.06

I too agree with the term Team SmugHet. It's not about being Het or Homo, it's about forming a team on the aforementioned basis.

ANYHOO, I never vote for these things but Sezer just annoyed me so much with his stupid "Let the games begin.. they're gonna walk, through the front door or the back.." I REALLY hope he goes up for eviction so I can vote him out!

Jawsus-son Starship

19:54 / 30.05.06

Ok, problem avoided. I will now commence back peddling ala Grace.

19:54 / 30.05.06

To clarify: I see Team SmugHet as, essentially, Sezer 'n' Imogen 'n' Grace 'n' Mikey. George was on the periphery, courted by Grace for reasons of her own (probably ego-bolstering and respect for his close-to-Royaltyness) and Lisa's become a sort of honorary member, tolerated possibly because her nomination counts. Mikey's a bit of a dumbo, I think, or at least not quite as exercised about the Group vs Group thing as the others. I suspect Grace isn't especially into him, but has bagsed him because he's the obvious pretty trophy man-on-one's-arm.

There's a huge amount of distinctly paranoid projection going on, with Grace, Imogen and Sezer projecting their own anxieties onto Richard and Lea (OMG they're sooo licking arse just because they want the newbies' votes!1!) and working to bulk up divisions. Grace, as ever, says one thing and does another.

I'm actually really impressed with Lea, who might've been threatened by another blonde surgery survivor coming into the House but seems genuinely open and friendly.

Tryphena Absent

19:55 / 30.05.06

Oh look, here's Grace, lying AGAIN. Can't stay consistent for ten minutes can she? I hope she's up for eviction so I can vote to evict her once for every lie she's told.

19:57 / 30.05.06

Use the work phone.

19:58 / 30.05.06

Good idea Vincennes!

Jawsus-son Starship

20:01 / 30.05.06

Misogyny a-hoy!

Can Sezer fuck off and take Imogen with him? "Ghetto Ho"? Seriously? What planet is rat-boy from?

20:02 / 30.05.06

Sezer. What a cock. Imogen, tell him to fuck right off for being such a cock or you deserve anger, too.

20:02 / 30.05.06

If (and it wouldn't happen, but get the hypothetical hat on for a mo) Richard became really close and joined that team, would you still call them Team Smughet? Or if I felt that Richard's side suddenly got smug, would it be cool for me to call them Team Smughomo? Because I wouldn't think so.

I'd be impressed if he managed it, since Team SmugHet is all about coupledom. Imogen's already 'othered' him by drawing attention to his easy relationship with Sezer and claimed a) it's motivated by him being "jealous" of she and Sezer, and b) her parents (who are presumably the metaphorical horses who mustn't be frightened) wouldn't approve. Richard couldn't join Team SmugHet because there's no-one in there for him to pair-bond with.

While you might not think that it's about them being Hetro, when you name the team after their sexuality, it seems like that part of the problem. Though I'm sure it isn't.

I think it's part of the problem here, yes, because they've formed particularly traditional opposite-sex pair-bonds in which 'monogamy' (in the form of them always sleeping in the same beds, and disapproval being cast over too-much-friendliness with anyone else) is encouraged, and groups of pair-bonds consolidate their heterosexual coupledom by 'othering' those who don't fit the picture - singles and gayers.

Putting on the hypothetical hat for a moment, I think that even if there were someone in there with whom Richard could pair-bond (and he'd need to do so to be part of Team SmugHet), he wouldn't do so in the same exclusive way. In BB terms, I think that is a heterosexual thing.

Tryphena Absent

20:02 / 30.05.06

Okay, maybe restrict it to big lies.

Imogen: "I'm such a good judge of character"

Really Imogen, then why are you hanging around with the two nastiest people in the BB House. Mooo-oo-RON.

20:05 / 30.05.06

Uggh SEZER MUST DIE!!!

20:11 / 30.05.06

Imogen, tell him to fuck right off for being such a cock or you deserve anger, too.

Alternatively, concentrate on 'othering' Richard on the grounds that "my parents watch this programme" - you fucking mealy-mouthed homophobe.

Ahhh, the BBBM audience has - tadahh! - compared the situation to L*rd *f th* Fl**s.

Jawsus-son Starship

20:11 / 30.05.06

Ganesh - George isn't paired off, nor Lisa, and they were considered part of the "Smughet" team. And you haven't really answered my questions, just told me why they couldn't happen. Ignore the fact that they couldn't happen, just imagine they could, then answer.

I'm not that bothered, it just pricked me as being slightly off-key for this site. I think that I'd be called by my usual title (i.e misogynist) if I refered to a girl group as Team SmugGirls, perhaps I wouldn't, or calling a group of jewish housemates Team SmugJews, I might be considered anti-semetic.

(Non-snark)But as I always say, if everyone else thinks it's cool, then it must just be me.(Non-Snark)

20:19 / 30.05.06

Not wishing to succumb to HetPanic, but it does seem to be slightly unnecessary. We know who you mean, Smug would be enough, wouldn't it?

20:21 / 30.05.06

Sezer's just little, so I'm hoping that Glyn will walk past him, thinking of Aisleyne, and stab Sleazeboy in the eye with a mighty Welsh mountain of an erection.
Or Lea might slip and fall on him and suffocate him with her enhanced breasts.
Or Richard might just strangle him to death with his pearl necklace for the fun of it.

20:22 / 30.05.06

Ganesh - George isn't paired off, nor Lisa, and they were considered part of the "Smughet" team.

Are you having reading difficulties? I considered George as peripheral to Team SmugHet and Lisa as tolerated by them. I consider the core members to be Grace, Sezer, Imogen and Mikey. Is there anything else you'd like me to clarify?

And you haven't really answered my questions, just told me why they couldn't happen. Ignore the fact that they couldn't happen, just imagine they could, then answer.

Well, using my imagination, if Richard suddenly sprouted wings or blue fur or adamantium claws, I'd probably call them The X-Men instead. Or if the House suddenly teleported to Pluto, I'd call them Team Dead.

If Richard were permitted to join Team SmugHet, there would have to be a fundamental change in either the House dynamic or the factors bonding the Sezer/Grace/Imogen/Mikey bloc. I wouldn't refer to it as Team SmugHomo though, because same-sex pair-bonding would not be the dominant mode of group cohesion. If same-sex couples outnumbered opposite-sex couples and formed a power bloc in which Richard suggested that his partner shouldn't play with Imogen because his parents might be watching, then yes, in that circumstance, I would likely refer to them as Team SmugHomo.

I'm not that bothered, it just pricked me as being slightly off-key for this site. I think that I'd be called by my usual title (i.e misogynist) if I refered to a girl group as Team SmugGirls, perhaps I wouldn't, or calling a group of jewish housemates Team SmugJews, I might be considered anti-semetic.

If being female or being Jewish were the mode of team bonding and non-girls or non-Jews were being explicitly 'othered' in order to facilitate that bonding, then I'd see this as legitimate. I don't see it as "off-key for this site" at all.

20:26 / 30.05.06

Not wishing to succumb to HetPanic, but it does seem to be slightly unnecessary. We know who you mean, Smug would be enough, wouldn't it?

No, it wouldn't, because opposite-sex pair-bonding is the means by which the power bloc has organised itself, and part of its criteria for excluding people (Imogen finds Richard's contact with Sezer "too far", but doesn't see opposite-sex contact as problematic in the slightest).

I think some of this taps into the expectation that heterosexuality, as default, need not be noted or mentioned. In the Big Brother House, opposite-sex pair-bonds are not necessarily the default social grouping. I think it's perfectly legitimate for me to mention it explicitly.

Tryphena Absent

20:26 / 30.05.06

I'm not sure lumping Mikey in is entirely fair because while he appears to be part of the group he doesn't seem to be engaged in the scheming in the same way. Am I wrong?

20:31 / 30.05.06

I'm not sure lumping Mikey in is entirely fair because while he appears to be part of the group he doesn't seem to be engaged in the scheming in the same way. Am I wrong?

No, I think you have a point. Mikey's a sort of passive member, a trophy partner for Grace. I suspect she'd have preferred George (more moneyed, more clarsey, more readily drawn into bitchery about Grace's enemies), but went with Mikey. She desperately wanted George to stay. Grace has already confided to Imogen (and, I think, Sezer) that she's cooled on Mikey. I think she'll continue to hang onto him until something better comes along.

20:31 / 30.05.06

Re: Mikey though, I was pretty disgusted with Mikey when he refered to Sam as an 'it'. That's pretty horrible, and I'll certainly be remembering that come evictions. I hope he gets pulled up on it at a later date.

Tryphena Absent

20:33 / 30.05.06

He needs Richard to have a quick word.

20:43 / 30.05.06

Okay, following some PM dialogue, I want to unpick my choice of the phrase "Team SmugHet" a little further. I see the problem as more than some people being smug; that's only part of it. I'm irritated by them not simply because they're smug but because they're smug in the context of a power bloc of particularly conventional/traditional pair-bonded opposite-sex relationships which I associate with heterosexuality (as expressed within the BB House) - hence the "het" part.

We've never witnessed the formation of a non-heterosexual physically intimate (by which I mean snogging, sleeping together) relationship within the confines of the Big Brother House. Theoretically, it's conceivable that same-sex relationships would form along the same lines - but I doubt it. When Big Brother includes sufficient numbers of non-heterosexual people for this to happen, I'll happily refer to the resultant paranoid, controlling, exclusive, 'othering' power bloc as Team SmugHomo.

20:59 / 30.05.06

Oh dear. Sezer's gone beyond Attractively Cocky and into Annoyingly Narcissistic, with his focus on nominations and his frankly foul dismissal of Aisleyne (who he intends to "bully" until she walks). As alpha male of Team SmugHet, he's presumably concerned with defending the status quo as he sees it. Interestingly, he reckons that if he were up for nomination against anyone except Grace, he'd be kept in the House.

On Sam, he's equally enlightened:

"But you've also got to realise... she's a boy who thinks she's a girl. To go through that transition, something doesn't click right in your head. You've got to have something not all there."

21:01 / 30.05.06

Fair enough, with that context I don't have a problem with it, but without it (as most of us, let alone the other people reading, don't have the same grounding in gender/sexual politics) it did sound a bit as if it was anti-het for the sake of a cheap shot.
I do identify as heterosexual (if effectively celibate) and even though I understand why there is often a bias towards discussion of queer politics here, I do get the odd "hang on..." moment. I get the reasoning now. Thanks.

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