Summary Of And Then I Danced By Mark Segal

And Then I Danced author Mark Segal is a gay, Jewish man from a poor family. Understanding Segal’s expression of his identity remains important in the context of his activism. His identity not only affects the way the world sees him but it also shows the interaction of social groups that individually have distinct qualities. A person’s relationship to others in society shapes how one sees and understands the world. A reader of Segal’s memoir is able to comprehend his positionality as he acknowledges his self in association to the way in which others view him. This concept is known as positionality and it is molded by such social groups. Positionality is even more important when power comes in to play. Segal’s work as an activist, demonstrator,
As an activist strategy to go political, the LGBT+ community sought to reinvent themselves as well as the movement. Segal’s “zaps” were necessary for the establishment of the LGBT+ movement and his later political approach. “Zaps” were a political stunt done to address the news, or lack thereof, of gays in the media. While the acts could seem in-your-face and possibly radical, the protests were non-violent, typically only involving Segal holding up a sign that reads something on the lines of “gays are against prejudice.” The purpose of these stunts was to keep the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Gay rights movement in the news. It was important to advocates of this movement to be talked about, to be heard, and thus, be taken seriously. Prejudice can be defined as “a positive or negative attitude toward a person or group without just grounds or sufficient knowledge… in spite of new evidence or contrary argument.” While prejudice is an attitude, discrimination is the behavior that arises from prejudice and the GLF was fighting