By pigeonholing the pop star, we reinforce the binaries that have punished our community for centuries
In a Rolling Stone cover profile, the pop star Shawn Mendes revealed he’s been struggling with anxiety around his “feminine” behaviour. That should perhaps not be surprising in a heteronormative society that polices male femininity. What was different in this instance, is that the policing is being done not by homophobic hypermasculine dude-bros, but by the gay community itself. Mendes detailed how gay social media users had turned speculation about his identity into a “sport”, how they had made him the subject of endless memes, and latched on to microbehaviours in interviews as evidence of his homosexuality. He described waking up in a panic after he had dared to wear glitter, thus feeding the fire that he’s “terrified of”.
These revelations sparked a wave of self-examination in the gay community. Many prominent figures showered Mendes with support, while others snorted. Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander tweeted: “It must be really intense to be the subject of so much interrogation.” Adore Delano of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame tweeted a simple, “lol”, in response.
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