Well, not unlike what Shirley Bassey once sang, it strikes me as all just a little bit of history repeating.
What seems novel to me about these notions, really, is just the terminology. The eighties were a terrific example, where it was nothing for New Wave and Synthpop male artists to be androgynous (or in the case of Boy George, Erasure, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, outright gay), and for the women to be Tomboyish or Riot Grrl (think Wendy O. Williams, L7, or Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill, or Tribe 8, who were out-and-out lesbians).
What is different, however, is gender is being brought into the equation, and far short of being anything innovative or progressive, I think it’s going to wind up tying the whole discussion up in a Gordion knot, because there is no keystone or benchmark to it. The eighties radicalism of style still swung on the axis of the relative immutability of “male” and “female”. Once that anchor point is lost, all bets are off.
So the whole discussion of “lesbian”, “male”, “female”, “trans”, or “queer” style is only going to last until someone dissents and everyone splinters and the bottom drops out of all of it became no one can agree on anything. It’s just like economics: ideas reach a memetic saturation point before the bubble bursts.
I’ve noticed that, as I get more comfortable in my femininity and understanding of myself as a (straight) woman, I find myself reaching for androgynous clothes more often. It’s as if I have less to prove in terms of how I present myself and so I just grab things that are comfortable/easy/classic like a pair of straight jeans and a t-shirt or button down.
I just read an "article" about one of the Duggar women revealing she wore pants and how massive of a deal it was. It's extreme horseshoe theory if I ever saw it.
In a way this an inversion of your bi article, even if the author isn't aware of it. They accused you of ignoring 1995 while we cannot believe she sleeps on the eighties.
As said on Twitter, the ahistoricity is bit jarring (hence this post), not to mention the interpretation on the celebrities.
Note that she didn't choose Emma Corin or Kristen Stewart. But the editors might have seen the value of this piece for various kind of subscribers. Except lesbians and discerning straight women.
Ah well, I hope that commenters of the NYT tend to agree with us.
I was going to say that I have a picture of my heterosexual great-grandmother in her flapper era with a bob and a necktie, but on balance I guess that's as good evidence of her queerness as being my great-grandmother is of her heterosexuality.
Well, not unlike what Shirley Bassey once sang, it strikes me as all just a little bit of history repeating.
What seems novel to me about these notions, really, is just the terminology. The eighties were a terrific example, where it was nothing for New Wave and Synthpop male artists to be androgynous (or in the case of Boy George, Erasure, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, outright gay), and for the women to be Tomboyish or Riot Grrl (think Wendy O. Williams, L7, or Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill, or Tribe 8, who were out-and-out lesbians).
What is different, however, is gender is being brought into the equation, and far short of being anything innovative or progressive, I think it’s going to wind up tying the whole discussion up in a Gordion knot, because there is no keystone or benchmark to it. The eighties radicalism of style still swung on the axis of the relative immutability of “male” and “female”. Once that anchor point is lost, all bets are off.
So the whole discussion of “lesbian”, “male”, “female”, “trans”, or “queer” style is only going to last until someone dissents and everyone splinters and the bottom drops out of all of it became no one can agree on anything. It’s just like economics: ideas reach a memetic saturation point before the bubble bursts.
very amusing writing!
I’ve noticed that, as I get more comfortable in my femininity and understanding of myself as a (straight) woman, I find myself reaching for androgynous clothes more often. It’s as if I have less to prove in terms of how I present myself and so I just grab things that are comfortable/easy/classic like a pair of straight jeans and a t-shirt or button down.
I just read an "article" about one of the Duggar women revealing she wore pants and how massive of a deal it was. It's extreme horseshoe theory if I ever saw it.
This may be my first encounter, as an American reader, with a reference to Alistair from As Time Goes By. Love it.
If you stick with this blog I promise it won’t be your last. (He is a regular fixture.)
In a way this an inversion of your bi article, even if the author isn't aware of it. They accused you of ignoring 1995 while we cannot believe she sleeps on the eighties.
As said on Twitter, the ahistoricity is bit jarring (hence this post), not to mention the interpretation on the celebrities.
Note that she didn't choose Emma Corin or Kristen Stewart. But the editors might have seen the value of this piece for various kind of subscribers. Except lesbians and discerning straight women.
Ah well, I hope that commenters of the NYT tend to agree with us.
I was going to say that I have a picture of my heterosexual great-grandmother in her flapper era with a bob and a necktie, but on balance I guess that's as good evidence of her queerness as being my great-grandmother is of her heterosexuality.