Earlier this week, “news platform” and echo chamber The Huffington Post, published an article claiming that the concept of gay people being camp is dangerous and unhelpful.
“This narrow, outdated stereotype is inaccurate,” wrote Rachel Moss, a white, female lifestyle blogger “Being a gay man has absolutely nothing to do with your looks or interests – sexuality is simply about the gender of the person you are attracted to.”
Thanks for clearing that up for us Rachel! So apparently gay culture, including its many nuanced subcultures of drag, queerness, fashion and music, are all totally irrelevant and unneeded. Because being gay is ONLY about whether you’re attracted to men or not. Well, we might as well all pack up and go home. Come on, everybody get out of Soho! Dalston, you too! ESPECIALLY you lot at The Glory! Get yer coats, we’re LEAVING!
The thing is, bless Rachel, this probably all sounded like a really good idea when she was gabbing to her GBF about it over a bottle of rosé at Farringdon All Bar One. We can see what she’s trying to say, she’s just done a really clumsy, ham-fisted job of saying it. What she’s TRYING to say, is that gay men shouldn’t be pigeonholed as narcissistic, hedonistic 24-hour party people. And – believe it or not – she’s right, not all of us are! There are loads of gay men who live pretty much identical lives to straight people. Kids, cars, toasters, the works.
And the hedonism thing IS something that’s used against us – in schools, in workplaces and sometimes even in the national press. It’s because the majority of the population don’t understand it. Most people like to do “normal” things like “watch television” or “mow the lawn” or “eat”. People love going on about our dangerous lifestyles, how out of touch we are with the real world, how we bring it all on ourselves, and how we seemingly can’t so much as stroll around a graveyard without dropping dead.
But what Rachel failed to do was recognize the virtue of gay men living on our own terms. Part of the joy of being gay is the ironic, tongue-in-cheek embracing of the very stereotypes that are used against us. Blasting out Ariana Grande at house parties. Referring to everyone as “she”. Having lots of sex. Taking drugs and being silly. Many of us totally match straight people’s stereotypes, and REVEL in the fact that we do.
And the thing is, people think partying and drugs make us dysfunctional messes who never achieve anything in life. Well you’ve got it all WRONG. All you have to do is look at pop culture. We’re basically solely responsible for the success of all forms of art, fashion and media.
Ok, that might be a bit of an overstatement. But we’re talented, creative and wonderful. Way better than heteronormative people who’s only contribution to the world is a spreadsheet on sales at the local Asda branch.
Many of us also revel in our femininity, and in our LACK of heteronormativity, and in the fact that we might alienate or shock people. In fact, being “straight-acting” is usually ridiculed. Oooh, check her out, she thinks she’s straight! She’ll be putting up shelves next! Whatever you do, don’t put “masc4masc” on your Grindr profile, you’ll be screenshotted and dragged on Twitter for days.
And while we’re here, let’s talk about the c word – “camp”. Interestingly, the title of the Huffington Post article has now been altered, but it originally said, “It’s time to leave ‘camp’ behind”. It just shows how woefully underinformed they are, because these days, on the London gay scene at least, “camp” is a positive, fun word! Perhaps you could say we’ve reappropriated it. Now, far from being a derogatory slur or insult it’s used to say how great things are!
Examples:
“Did you see Little Mix’s new music video? It’s camp!”
“Oh my god, we got so drunk and then went back to Gok Wan’s…his flat is so camp!”
“You know the bit in Jurassic Park where the t-rex rips the roof off the car? That’s camp.”
“We were shagging doggystyle and then he poured a bottle of vodka all over my back and licked it off. It was camp!”
“I love Celia Imrie, she’s camp!”
So in those five incarnations, “camp” is shown to mean anything from sexy, to beautiful, to amazing, to gorgeous! None of those associations are exactly insulting or life ruining are they?
Maybe the Huffington Post team should have their Christmas party at Sink The Pink this year. They might learn something.
