-On a recent Feminine Chaos, Kat and I discussed Lyz Lenz’s heteropessimistic musings. The feminism of wanting a world without men, of imagining that everything would be better if we lived in a great big commune of women. There’s a certain romanticization of not-romance, in that essay and in the general cultural-political world it comes from. Friendship is better than romantic partnership. Chosen family beats biological. What matters is the community, not your own personal ties. As if nothing can be annoying, stifling, or even abusive the moment you leave the confines of heteronormativity. As if, if your inclination is to be partnered to a man, you would Actually be much happier in any other arrangement.
-Harry Styles, noted attractive famous person, is much in the news. I have absolutely no idea why. Is he in some new thing? What genre of thing? Is he dating someone? I know that there are a lot of takes about his sexuality. What is he? Does it matter? Does it matter enough for every publication to have its own op-ed on the topic? Endless cycles of olds reminding that androgynous rock stars predate the year 2018, with the same ever-circulating photos of David Bowie. But the is-he-or-isn’t-he-ing of a largely for-the-girls-and-women heartthrob, combined with a bunch of recent Savage Love installments, suggests the lady-into-two-dudes is having a moment.
-Britbox Canada has some new Inside No. 9! Two dudes, of whom one is, I cannot emphasize this enough, Steve Pemberton.
unfortunately I know everything about Styles--Bowie's marketing was an "inspiration" and he's had turbo PR for the past 5 years, this is the movie phase of the powerpoint, he'll even be at TIFF. I wrote about his team's using ships (the "he's gay" crowd basically) to keep fandom engaged, it's all pretty elaborate.
But yes--the two guys thing has been peaking over the past few years for sure but it seems to be marketable on a different level, now.