The intellectualization of Michael Jackson as icon starts in earnest today
with The New Yorker theater critic Hilton Als' queer theory read on his
career in The New York Review of Books. The only problem is, Jackson
wasn't gay.
Als' fascinating argument is that Jackson's otherness was formed because
he was gay, but couldn't express it because of his religious mother,
domineering father, and the homophobia that exists in the black community.
In black urban centers across the US, where Jesus is still God, men who
cannot conform to the culture's edicts-adopting a recognizably
heterosexual lifestyle, along with a specious contempt for the spoils of
white folk-are ostracized, or worse; being "out" is a privilege many black
gay men still cannot afford.
Of course, this isn't the first time that anyone has called Jackson gay,
but it's entirely different to base an entire article on the assumption
that he was. Creative manifestations of his homosexuality, according to
Als, include his turn as an "effete" scarecrow in The Wiz, his Judy
Garland-esque costume for the Victory Tour, and, of course, everything
having to do with him and gay icon Diana Ross.
And there were the songs he wrote for women-early idols like Diana Ross or
his older sister, Rebbie-songs that expressed what he could never say
about his own desire. "She said she wants a guy/To keep her satisfied/But
that's alright for her/But it ain't enough for me," Jackson wrote in the
1982 Diana Ross hit song "Muscles." The song continues: "Still, I don't
care if he's young or old/(Just make him beautiful).... I want muscles/All
over his body."
Or, maybe he was just, you know, writing a pop song. What we know about
Jackson's sexuality doesn't seem to point to the fact that he was actually
gay. He was married to women more than once (not that he would be the
first 'mo to wear a wedding ring, but...) and that he had some
inappropriate relationships with young boys. Just because the victims of
his alleged abuse were male does not mean that he had desire for grown
men.
So, please stop saying that Michael Jackson was gay. Though gay couples
are allowed to marry in several states and homosexuals are flouncing all
over mainstream culture more readily these days does not mean it is
accepted by a majority of the population, and we don't need any negative
role models. After all, Harry Homophobe isn't going to say, "Wow, that gay
Michael Jackson wrote 'Billie Jean' and that song rocks. Gays are so
wonderful and creative" he's going to think, "Wow, that gay Michael
Jackson was so gay that he had to touch little boys and try to make them
gay. Gays are disgusting." The last thing we need is to re-convince people
that gay men are not child molesters.
It's unfortunate that Als had to push his argument to including Jackson's
sexuality, because he was clearly "queer" in the sense that he was a
figure that lived outside of society's typical edicts about race, class,
culture, and sexuality. He was a "freak" (even Als concedes that fact) and
was treated as such.
However, his freakishness may have come from many places揺is unnatural
celebrity at a young age, the public scrutiny he lived under, living under
the contradiction of his church-going mother and his Hollywood father傭ut
it didn't come from being gay.
Michael [NYRB]
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https://www.gawker.com/5323166/the-gays-do-not-want-michael-jackson-
thank-you-very-much>