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rfmcdonaldIn previous posts in this series (1, 2), I've suggested that alienation plays a critical role in forming the identities of gay/bi men. This isn't exactly a new insight, inasmuch as non-heterosexual sexual orientations have traditionally been placed outside of the spheres of the normal and the acceptable, that is, when they've been recognized as orientations at all and not (say) compulsive and criminal behaviours.
Mass media and popular culture in the 21st century, though, might well be inflicting the same problems upon heterosexuals, at least those heterosexuals who, for whatever reason, find themselves incapable of living up to the perfection that seems to be demanded. In the 21st century, might all men be united negatively, by their common alienation from what's defined as acceptable, and yet buffered from the full force of their unacceptability by the lack of any enforcement mechanisms on the part of society?
This is encouraging; and yet. There's equality and then there's equality, and then there's simply equal suffering.
Mass media and popular culture in the 21st century, though, might well be inflicting the same problems upon heterosexuals, at least those heterosexuals who, for whatever reason, find themselves incapable of living up to the perfection that seems to be demanded. In the 21st century, might all men be united negatively, by their common alienation from what's defined as acceptable, and yet buffered from the full force of their unacceptability by the lack of any enforcement mechanisms on the part of society?
This is encouraging; and yet. There's equality and then there's equality, and then there's simply equal suffering.
