Politics
published by Retort Magazine, on April 19th, 2012Cultural Fluff and the Death of Faggotry
by SophistInTraining
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Gay culture is ridiculous and you know it.
‘Plasticized android’ – those were the words used by cutthroat culture critic Camille Paglia to describe the hollow, sexless posturing of gay icon Lady Gaga.
Why is it that gay men roll around in such soulless cultural glitter? Are there are any faggots left or are we all show ponies now?
A gay mainstream has been created in the last few decades. Cultural institutions, from niche media to bars, have become propagators of gay identity.
Gone are the days of the queer intellectuals: Burroughs, Wilde, Turing and Ginsberg. A time where ones sexual difference was not celebrated in itself but considered part of a wider rebellion against sexual norms. The faggots of the past were not like the gays of today: they were rugged individualists composed of artists, activists and free thinkers.
Politics and victimhood have pushed us to identify as a group – and what a sick group we are. Despite gains in wider social acceptance, research demonstrates the bizarre pathology of gay male identity.
Focus on the superficial and bodily leads to a lowered self-esteem and widespread disinterest in qualities of character. Emphasis on flippancy and fun downplays responsibility – with rates of sexually transmitted infections remaining high (and climbing) whilst use of protection falls. Finally, a politicized identity has led to pity politics and increased minority stress – a crisis of perceptions where the ‘heteronormative’ is an amorphous threat projected on otherwise reasonable people.
This cultural enclave breeds insecurity, and provides the solution in soulless escapism: a cult of celebrity, passionless sex and camp pageantry.
Queer politics has a lot to be proud of: the freeing of gender expression and libertarian sex being its highest achievements.
But the death of depth in gay communities is something to be condemned. A cultural industry built on keeping gay men shallow, insecure and defined by their orientation is a perversion of the legacy of queer movements of the past.
It’s time to move beyond the cultural fluff of the gay mainstream and embrace the holistic individualism of the past.
It’s time to be faggots again.
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© SophistInTraining 2012
JD student at Monash University. Blogs over at Sophist In Training on politics and philosophy.
Being controversial is not necessarily being intellectual. What a nonsense to suggest that just because of a loud minority a whole group is soulless. And everyone homo or heterosexual needs fun and humour to navigate this crazy world we live in. I do agree however that there should be less emphasis, less interest in one’s sexual orientation. My sexuality is my business. Being a white heterosexual does not make me a a gay bashing KKK member. Being gay does not make one “shallow, insecure and defined by their orientation.” ‘Faggot’ was a derisory term used in a time when being gay was not only illegal but considered a filthy illness and something to be feared. Why would you want to go back there?
Fuck you Jarryd. What’s wrong with a bit of partying /you stay home and read yr faggot books…………..oh wait!
I agree…so tired of a person’s sexuality being the most important thing. Who gives a *uck what gender anyone prefers, or whether it’s even a preference at all. ‘Born this way’ or whatever, I don’t think anyone should listen to that illuminati whore…mother monster…god help us all. Just listening to that music causes ‘the death of depth’.
Now now boys, it takes all types. I know a lot of gay artists and i know a lot of gay party animals…i like em all…gays make great friends. What I want to know is how come gay guys are almost always happy ? hmmmmmmmm
Gone are the days of queer intellectuals? Are you trolling? Allow me to recommend the work of just a few people like Jack Halberstam, Sheila Cavanagh, Judith Butler (!!), Jodie Taylor, Elspeth Probyn, and Alan McKee. The last three are doing great intellectual work in Australia. They’re doing it by way of the academy, but they’re engaged in creating dialogues (and thus communities) very different to the depthless ones you’re describing. You can find these communities if you look for them, but if you’re fixed on a singular notion of culture and community, then you probably won’t notice them.