By Dear Straight People,
Gay men love women! No, you did not read that wrongly! Gay men really do love women! In fact, they don’t just love women, they practically worship them! Of course, gay men don’t just worship any woman…
These women need to be fabulous
They need to have attitude
But most importantly, these women need to be powerful
In other words, these women need to be divas!
The phenomenon of diva worship among the gay community is widespread, but not often thought about. For decades, divas have been an instrumental part of gay culture. Whenever a diva comes into town, gay men would transform the concert venue into their own personal place of worship. There, they commence their 3-hour long ritual of diva worship, characterised by high-pitched screams and lots of hyperventilating!
But what is it about divas like Britney and Christina that are able to command such a cult following from the gay community? If you think about it logically, shouldn’t gay men worship the male sex symbols like Elvis or Justin Timberlake instead?
There are many theories out there that attempt to solve the big mystery behind gay men and their obsession with divas. The most popular theory is perhaps, the idea that gay men relate tremendously with divas because of their marginalisation in society.
The gay community has always been a group that was ostracised by society. We refused to worship the male sex symbols like Elvis or Justin because they reminded us too much of our heterosexual oppressors. So instead, we turned channeled our love to the only other alternative left for us; the women! But instead of throwing ourselves at every female celebrity out there, only two groups of women were able to command our loyalty.
The first group is the tragic, almost martyred figures. These women reminded us a little of ourselves. They were often battling serious personal issues like being abused by men or trying to overcome some kind of addiction (Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli). And yet, despite all of their personal struggles, they still managed to shine brightly every time they were put in front of the spotlight.
The second group is probably a lot more relevant to our time. They are all prominent pop cultural icons that managed to overcome the odds to reach the top of the Hollywood food chain. These women were either born into the wrong race (Whitney, Beyonce, JLo), had a difficult childhood (Mariah) or did not have any obvious talent (Madonna, Britney). The underlying similarity between all these divas was however, the fact that they were all born into the wrong gender.
In a largely patriarchal society, these women managed to overcome insurmountable odds to rise to the top. On stage, they portrayed themselves as pop royalty, often surrounded by male dancers who only served to make them look even more powerful and glamorous than they already do. They winked seductively at the camera, tempting the heterosexual male audience who could only admire them from afar, but were never able to possess them.
Thus, it has been strongly suggested that gay men live vicariously through these divas by worshipping them. Whether consciously or subconsciously, our devotion to our chosen divas allegedly stems from the fact that we all secretly wished that we could travel the globe wearing fabulous outfits while conquering all the handsome heterosexual men around the world who stuttered before our royal presence!
While that theory does seem pretty plausible, there could be also be a much more simpler explanation for the phenomenon of diva worship. The reason why we gay men love our divas could be simply due to the fact that we have good taste!
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