'They jt wanted to silence her': the dark si of gay stan culture | Mic | The Guardian

Contents:

• BT "DARK" GAY CHARACTERS
• 'THEY JT WANTED TO SILENCE HER': THE DARK SI OF GAY STAN CULTURE
• WHY REVEAL THE DARK SI OF THE GAY MOVEMENT?
• ADDICTED: THE DARK SI OF GAY SEX
• A DARK SI OF THE FOC ON GAY MARRIAGE
• THE DARK SI OF GAY DATG APPS – “I WAS REJECTED BY MY ALREADY-OPPRSED MUNY”

BT "DARK" GAY CHARACTERS

Add/vote books featurg ma male characters (gay, bisexual or other alternative sexualy) wh a dark si reprented by one or many of the followg attribut: negative, stctive emotns, self-stctive behavr, rapidly shiftg moods, actns termed by their own sir, obssive nature, posssive, manipulative, vlent, characters who know what they want and they do whatever tak to acplish that, ld lculatg persons, twisted personaly.

'THEY JT WANTED TO SILENCE HER': THE DARK SI OF GAY STAN CULTURE

”“Brightney Pri”, as has affectnately been nicknamed, was one of the biggt events of the gay lendar – so big that 4, 000 revellers were left strand once the cy’s heavg public transport system failed unr the prsure.

WHY REVEAL THE DARK SI OF THE GAY MOVEMENT?

Gay male culture has always alced around female pop stars, om Judy Garland to Lady Gaga and Ariana Gran. But gay men and the women they worship are ually happy to bask the mutual affectn. This year, Spears was honoured wh an award by the US’s Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn (Glaad) for promotg equaly.

Scratch lightly at the surface and what flak off is, y, reciprocy and genue affectn, but also llo theory of the gay fan-diva lk is that of shared opprsn – gay men and women are both ground unr the wheel of hetero-patriarchy.

ADDICTED: THE DARK SI OF GAY SEX

But there was nothg knowg the way another gay fan photoshopped an umbrella to his meet and greet photo wh the unwtg star and later circulated onle. The actns have a distct edge of mockery, the air of a joke that their subject is not Michael Bronski, a Harvard Universy profsor and the thor of books on queer history and gay culture says “There is a long history of gay male fan culture latchg onto famo women and then turng on them.

”The love-hate dynamic of gay stan culture that Bronski scrib is now largely mediated through social media. Sami Baker is 21 and a self-profsed gay stan – his favour are Gran, Beyoncé and Charli XCX. The language ed wh this culture is taken om the same place that Drag Race gets s lexin, namely the unrground subculture where LGBT people pete var drag and performance tegori, documented the film Paris is Burng, and an spiratn for Madonna and Beyoncé many gay men, Baker and myself clud, gay pop stan culture is the distillatn of everythg meangful life.

A DARK SI OF THE FOC ON GAY MARRIAGE

Photograph: LogoTVIt is hard to overtimate how meangful the fan-diva relatnship is for gay men. Wh hours, stan Twter had unearthed and circulated crimatg tweets by Kiyoko om ne years ago (when she was 18) an attempt to “ncel” her – excludg a person entirely om onle disurse, except as the target of hate mem – for darg to crique a song they Adam Byrne, a 23-year-old gay stan, this was a prime example of gay misogyny: “They didn’t re what she had to say. ”For him, this behavur typifi gay stan culture: female artists mt obey the l or suffer the nsequenc.

’ Look at the smug tweets about Nade Coyle ncellg her tour; the way Katy Perry beme gay Twter’s punchg bag. Perhaps, this ntext, ’s unsurprisg that gay men seem to revel the perceived setbacks and shortgs of their stanned subjects. The behavur is ls like a playful poke the ribs, and more like a slap the last week, sger Mara Diamandis – an idol of the gay muny – tweeted back to a fan who is part of the gay stan muny after he sent her an abive tweet.

THE DARK SI OF GAY DATG APPS – “I WAS REJECTED BY MY ALREADY-OPPRSED MUNY”

Even when gay men aren’t rag outright abe on the women, their praise n sometim reveal different forms of misogyny.