4 days ago
15 October 2009
He's not gay, he's just sparkly
In some ways it's the logical extension of Caitlin Flanagan's vampire-as-abstinence-metaphor Atlantic article, but Stephen Marche really takes it a step further in Esquire by claiming that the popularity of TWILIGHT is based on teenage female fantasies of dating gay men -- and that that's a good thing.
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3 comments:
Oh man, I said that to some people about a year ago and was met with looks of sheer hatred. Apparently women don't think of themselves as wanting to date gay men, just straight men who are sensitive and neat and love fashion and don't spend all day watching sports.
I don't see how being sensitive and neat and loving fashion and not spending all day watching sports has to be incompatible with being sexually attracted to women.
Elizabeth: agree, and add that the converse is true as well.
W.G., don't you know that all women hate sweeping generalizations being made about them? Heh. But you (inadvertently?) made my point on what the author gets wrong: If TWILIGHT is proof that mainstream culture has accepted gay people, then they have done so on a conditional basis that allows acceptance only on the fulfillment of certain roles -- not exactly something to get excited about. You don't want to conform to someone else's fantasy, and neither do they.
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