Wh thoands of followers, extravagant liftyl and nonstop gym selfi, Instagays are easy to envy. But their rise marks a gay cultural shift, promptg big qutns about what all those nocent snapshots might mean.
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THE GENERIC GLORY OF GAY INSTAGRAM
But Ian Spear and Rex Woodbury, an Instafamo gay uple, are particularly good at picture of Ian and Rex is glor and yet each picture is the same.
But Ian Spear and Rex Woodbury, an Instafamo gay uple, are particularly good at look at their Instagram. There’s an eagerns his exprsn, like he’s tryg his harst to be the bt boy the Spear and Rex Woodbury are one of many upl who have land thoands of followers and dozens of sponsorships on Instagram for beg hot and gay.
Urban Dictnary f an “Instagay” not as any gay guy on Instagram, but rather those gay guys who bee famo on the social media platform for beg “attractive, fun, rich, outgog, happy, and nfint. ” The rt of the Instagays are basilly distguishable om Ian and Rex. Instagays’ self-prentatn is clearly homosexual, but not necsarily feme.
THE DANGER OF INSTAGAYS
Effemacy on gay Instagram serv to affirm masculy: Beg touch wh one’s feme si is evince of nfince one’s manhood.
As femist theorist Marilyn Frye wr The Polics of Realy, “gay male affectatn of femy is a ser sport which men may exercise their power and ntrol over the feme. ” The Instagays give not so much a performance of effemacy as a mastery over Instagram is, basilly, an arms race of self-refement. ***I started followg gay upl on Instagram my junr year of high school, around the time I beme obssed wh my body.
I followed many Instagay upl, but I beme obssed wh Ian and Rex. They’re Pete Buttigieg, but, like a lot of gay men, are really good at dog the thg. Often, I’ve felt that gay cis-men here at Harvard are the bt at dog the Harvard thg.
INSTAGAYS, UNFILTERED
It’s like “Queer Eye, ” but the gays have turned on themselv and this liftyle makeover go on perpetuy. ***“I first heard the word ‘gay’ as an sult gra school, ” Rex says a vio about g out. “I told my dad that I was gay, that I was sred of beg gay, of beg ls than perfect, ” he says.
”Rex narrat his gayns as a fall om manhood. It’s pensatn for his homosexualy. ” This type of story is why therapists believe perfectnism is enmic gay men: The shame and stigma of havg to e out of the closet mak gay men termed to prove themselv agast tradnal standards of succs.
As Masha Gsen spelled out a recent New Yorker article on the queer opposn to Pete Buttigieg, not every gay person has to e out of the closet — gayns n sometim be visible. My gayns never felt like a hurdle I had to jump over.