| re: Let's Make Meat Loaf A Lesbian Icon | |
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Posted by: |
Evan 01:55 am UTC 11/21/14 |
| In reply to: | Let's Make Meat Loaf A Lesbian Icon - steven_stuart 09:55 pm UTC 11/20/14 |
| I actually really enjoyed this. Thanks for posting. > Interesting article from a lesbian website that a lesbian > Meat fan sent me: > > Why is there not yet such a thing as a lesbian icon? I’m > not just talking about lesbians who have become famous — > spare me your Melissa Etheridges, your Tracy Chapmans. Nor > do I consider any of the zillion indie female vocalists > who are beloved within the lesbian community to be > candidates for iconic status—we all went through our Ani > DiFranco phases, and the less said on that score the > better. No, I’m talking about big, loud, fabulous > mainstream performers who embody a lesbian aesthetic in > the same way that Judy Garland or Madonna do for so many > of our gay male brethren. Shouldn’t we have that? We > deserve to have that! So, in the interest of getting the > ball rolling, I hereby nominate Michael Lee Aday, aka Meat > Loaf, to the position of number one (butch) lesbian icon. > > Butchness, in women and in men, is an oft-misunderstood > and maligned quality. This is particularly pronounced when > the distinction is drawn between butchness and its > prettier cousin, androgyny. A butch is cruder, more prone > to grunts and eruptions than an androgyne, and wears less > eye makeup. But a butch is not simply, uncomplicatedly > masculine. Butches draw on a wider emotional palette than > your standard-issue manly man does. They feel things > deeply, and cannot conceal those feelings even if they > try. > > Although country music is rife with the male variety, > butch women have never really found a solid place in > popular culture the way their male counterparts have > (although, like feminine men, when they do appear they > tend to be objects of mockery). > > More so even than country music’s male butch stars, Meat > Loaf exemplifies everything that’s grand about butchness > and lesbianosity in both his music and his public persona. > He’s portly and tender, macho and heartfelt. When he comes > in as Eddie in the Rocky Horror Picture Show he seems more > alien than Dr. Frankenfurter—the only diesel dyke in a > production full of fairies. Unfashionable and earnest, no > costume has ever succeeded in hiding him or making him a > cipher in the manner of a Lady Gaga or a Madonna. Meat > Loaf is not enigmatic, and no matter how much dry ice he > uses in a live show, he will never, ever wisp. > > Like all butches do, Meat Loaf bends gender along an > unexpected angle (he’s not masculine, but also beautiful — > he’s, uh, the other thing). His physical presence is one > of solidity, even lunkishness, which mean that his > emotional depths are unexpected and can sink you like an > iceberg. “This is my anger/this is my shame/these are my > insecurities/that I can’t explain” he belts and growls in > All of Me, (a Ben E. King cover, which is also a top > contender for the most lesbionic song ever written). Or, > in the song that introduced me to him as an artist, he > promises that he “Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t > Do That)” Big Boo-like, Meat Loaf invites the audience’s > laughter in many of his lyrics and then tries, gamely, to > laugh along — but in the end he wears his heart too close > to his sleeve to be comfortable as a subject of mockery. > His struggle for validation, his yearning to be taken > seriously even as he plays the jester, all speaks to a > part of the human experience that most other icons seem to > spend their lives avoiding. When you listen to Meat Loaf > vocally pouring his heart and soul into hits like > “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” despite the fact that > it is basically a novelty song, it’s right out in the > open. That’s butch. > > Okay, so what little evidence there is about Mr. Aday’s > political convictions indicates that he may, just > possibly, be a Republican. The lesbian community takes our > politics pretty seriously, and so there’s no denying that > a guy whose single foray into political expression was an > endorsement of Mitt Romney in 2012 might be a bit of a > hard sell. But just imagine a world in which, decades ago, > Meat Loaf had gained the sort of committed, die-hard > lesbian fandom he so richly deserved. Not only could he > have served as a role model for young lesbians and > provided a fashion template more creative than that > already provided by the nation’s lumberjacks. He could > have injected some much needed fun into a lesbian culture > which has, let’s face it, tended slightly towards the emo > and humorless at times. [Ed. note: HOW DARE YOU] And, in > return, a lesbian fanbase could have prevented his > downward spiral, diverting him off the path that > ultimately ended in Republicanism. Seriously, the man was > in Hair and the Picture Show — this needn’t have happened. > I’m going to go ahead and say that he only supported Mitt > Romney in 2012 because the poor guy felt hurt that the > lesbians of the world had failed to recognize him as the > exemplar of the butch lesbian aesthetic that he was born > to be. > > So, why didn’t lesbians embrace Meat Loaf ages ago, when > he was in his prime? I blame internalized > homophobia—because it makes a good stock excuse, for > everything. But seriously, unlike the wild and wooly > excesses of gay male culture, lesbians have always seemed > to me to be a little bit reluctant to proclaim our > identities too loudly when those identities diverge from > what the dominant culture respects and validates. How else > can we explain the lesbian tendency to hide ourselves away > at folk festivals or sparsely attended poetry slams [Ed. > note: WHAT ABOUT DINAH SHORE, WE DO FUN S--OKAY POINT > TAKEN]? Rather than claiming pieces of the dominant > culture and making them our own we take the quiet, > retiring route, at times to the point of abandoning our > heroes once they “sell out” or get too popular. > > Everything that lesbians value, and everything we can’t > escape about ourselves, can be found in the career of > Michael Lee Aday. We are solid physically and volatile > emotionally. We are not cool. We do not wisp. We have > spectacularly bad taste in haircuts. We get laughed at. We > are heartfelt. We are Meat Loaf. > > > > http://the-toast.net/2014/11/20/lets-make-meat-loaf-lesbian-icon/ > | |
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