{"id":1003,"date":"2024-03-21T13:58:34","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T17:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/?p=1003"},"modified":"2024-03-21T13:58:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T17:58:34","slug":"lily-belisle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/2024\/03\/21\/lily-belisle\/","title":{"rendered":"Lily Belisle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lily Belisle<\/strong> is an undergraduate at Boston University pursuing Sociology and Women’s, Gender, <\/span>and Sexuality Studies. Lily is currently conducting research for her Honors Thesis on the <\/span>attitudes displayed by those in power when discussing sexual violence in a legal setting and <\/span>previously worked as a Research Assistant for Professor Deborah Carr (CAS Sociology). <\/span>Additionally, Lily recently co-founded Armchair Journal, an independent sociology journal for <\/span>undergraduates. Recognized for her achievements, she has received various awards including <\/span>Dean\u2019s List, the Harold C. Case Scholarship, the Albert Morris Grant, and is a member of the <\/span>AKD International Sociology Honors Society. Her work is set to be published in the FDU <\/span>Politics & Law Journal and she has presented at the Harvard College Undergraduate Research <\/span>Association\u2019s National Research Conference and the 2024 Eastern Sociological Society <\/span>Conference. Driven by her commitment to social justice, Lily actively contributes to research <\/span>and community initiatives, making valuable contributions to the social sciences.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Illegibility of Queer Nonconformity: <\/strong>An Analysis of Boundary Maintenance in the Context of LGBTQ+ Artists\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Irish poet Oscar Wilde once said, \u201cLife imitates art far more than art imitates Life.\u201d[1]<\/span><\/a> In other words, not only is art a reflection of the culture within which it\u2019s situated, but even more consequently, it guides socio-political scripts as well. Because art has such authority over the social climate at a particular moment, it is imperative to unpack the subtext for which it provides a home, to think critically about and interrogate the unspoken social norms being reproduced. Existing in today\u2019s \u201csocial media age,\u201d some of the most universally regarded cultural artifacts of the 21st century are music videos.[2]<\/span><\/a> Music videos set the stage for political ideology and gender and sexuality norms\u2014they illustrate and reinforce what is considered to be socially acceptable. Music videos have the power to preserve the status quo or shatter tremendous barriers. They communicate both graphically and theoretically how the most well-liked elite carry themselves and express their identity. Therefore, music videos in the U.S. offer revealing insight into the country’s collective beliefs surrounding social norms and acceptance, particularly around fashion and gender expression, given their visual nature. Employing Sam Smith\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends\u201d <\/sup>and Lil Nas X\u2019s \u201cMONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)\u201d <\/sup>\u00a0as sites of analysis, this paper will demonstrate through the content of music videos how queer celebrities become \u201cillegible\u201d if they do not abide by hegemonic Western and heterosexual ideals of thinness, Whiteness, puritanical modesty, and the gender binary.[3]<\/span><\/a> In order to compensate for deviating from heterosexuality, queer artists are forced to conform to dominant standards in other ways, such as by presenting an ultra-athletic physique or adhering to hyper-masculine or hyper-feminine traits. In the case that they slip from these ideals or choose not to subscribe, homophobia, anti-fat bias, religious stigma, and\/or racism are there to step in and nudge famous figures back into \u201cacceptable\u201d bounds.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s crucial to understand the concepts of legibility and illegibility in order to wholly grasp the dynamics of boundary maintenance and \u201cimpression management\u201d in the context of queer identities. French sociologist \u00c9mile Durkheim first coined the term \u201cboundary maintenance\u201d in \u201cSocial Facts<\/span>\u201d (1994) and \u201cThe rules of sociological method<\/span>\u201d (1895).[4]<\/span><\/a> Through a functionalist lens, Durkheim argued that all functioning societies contain a value consensus, or a shared set of norms and values, into which the vast majority in a society have been socialized.[5]<\/span><\/a> Racial categories, like gender categories, require boundary maintenance, and what secures both the race and gender binaries is heterosexuality.[6]<\/span><\/a> Both race and gender are based on binary social constructions that rely on \u201cborders and boundaries.\u201d[7]<\/span><\/a> Identity work is equivalent to boundary maintenance in the sense that performances of identity create, present, and sustain personal identities.[8]<\/span><\/a> Moreover, identity construction is an interactive process that requires identity work.[9]<\/span><\/a> With the aid of a symbolic interactionism framework, it becomes clear that actions and the meanings we assign to them are socially situated and are performed for real or presumed audiences.[10]<\/span><\/a> In other words, gender is a performance.[11]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Presentations of gender and sexuality are not an \u201cachievement,\u201d but rather an unavoidable routine, methodical, and recurring accomplishment.[12]<\/span><\/a> Gender is emergent out of social situations. Individuals \u201cdo\u201d gender, but it is a \u201csituated\u201d doing, carried out in the presence of others who are presumed to be oriented to its production. This act has significant consequences; the allocation of power and resources is impacted by sex-category membership.[13]<\/span><\/a> In a sense, gender is a performance and we reproduce its externalization not only through repeated ways of speaking, but also of doing. As Butler posits, \u201cgender, as an objective natural thing, does not exist: gender reality is performative which means, quite simply, that it is real only to the extent that it is performed.”[14]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

With this literature as a backdrop, scholar of queer theory Catherine Connell explores these patterns in the scenario of queer<\/em> legibility. In the context of queer teachers, Connell articulates that individuals are able to co-mingle their LGB identity with the professional identity of teacher through the performance of the \u201cgood gay role model,\u201d an achievement made possible through monogamous partnership, the suppression of sexual expression, and the appearance of gender normativity.[15]<\/span><\/a> Queer people navigate femmephobia and lesbophobia, engaging in what sociologist Erving Goffman calls \u201cimpression management,\u201d by muting sexual discussion and performing gender normativity.[16]<\/span><\/a> Queer individuals mitigate perceived dissonances by downplaying their LGB identities in a \u201clegible\u201d way. The institutionally-specific instantiations of queer social control, as I locate in the music and art industries, cannot be removed from their place within the broader network of institutions and institutional actors. The accounts here connect to what sociologist Brandon Robinson calls the \u201cqueer control complex.\u201d[17]<\/span><\/a> Within this concept, Robinson demonstrates that queer people are granted the \u201cmeasures of benevolence\u201d afforded by liberal discourses only when they negotiate the \u201chomonormative bargain.\u201d[18]<\/span><\/a> In other words, LGB individuals must thread the needle in order to be \u201cgood,\u201d presentationally asexual gays.[19]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

In Connell\u2019s first book, School’s Out: Gay and Lesbian Teachers in the Classroom,<\/em> she further delves into this idea of \u201cimpression management,\u201d exploring that gay and lesbian school teachers use impression management strategies to survive the stigma of being queer. In particular, \u201cpassing\u201d strategies, which depend on a desexualized presentation of self, help them avoid drawing attention to their sexual identities.[20]<\/span><\/a> Teachers carefully consider the \u201cappearance rules\u201d of hetero\/homosexuality and make conscious decisions to avoid \u201cacting gay\u201d or otherwise signaling potential gender nonconformity. For example, in Connell\u2019s research, gay male teachers reported similar pressures to enact normative masculinity to survive in a homophobic environment.[21]<\/span><\/a> In a similar way that these teachers exhibit strategies of adhering to \u201cnormative masculinity\u201d to survive in a homophobic environment, Sam Smith and Lil Nas X negotiate the legibility politics of censoring their own queer identities in a homophobic music industry.<\/p>\n

An \u201covert ode to queerness,\u201d Sam Smith\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends\u201d video is what Clash magazine calls a \u201csexually liberated frenzy of colorful velvet robes, leather whips and nipple tassels.\u201d[22]<\/span><\/a> Throughout the video, Smith pays homage to the \u201cqueer elders\u201d who came before by crafting a vibrant celebration of all that represents queer joy, past and present. Not only does their song feature clips of gay icon Judy Garland\u2019s Over the Rainbow<\/em> and drag queen RuPaul calling for self-love, but it also salutes the acclaimed ballroom documentary Paris Is Burning<\/em> with Smith in a pink dress similar to Pepper LaBeija\u2019s infamous golden version. Moreover, alongside \u201cwrithing men in revealing underwear,\u201d reminiscent of Lady Gaga\u2019s Alejandro<\/em><\/a><\/span> or the hypersexualized images of gay art icon Tom of Finland<\/a><\/span>, \u201cvoguing,\u201d affectionately known as the dance style of the gay ballroom scene, too, finds its way into the four-minute-long masterpiece.[23]<\/span><\/a> The video ironically takes place in Ashridge House, serving as a discreet satire on state-sanctioned homophobia. Ashridge House, known as the former residence of King Henry VIII, symbolizes the late King\u2019s Buggery Act of 1533, which effectively rendered homosexual acts illegal in England.[24]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

An \u201cillegible\u201d aberration from the monotony of compulsive heterosexuality and cisnormativity in the music arena, \u201cI\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends\u201d invites actors and viewers alike into the world of gender fluidity, sexual exploration, and life outside the gender binary.[25]<\/span><\/a> <\/sup>\u00a0Throughout the video, Smith appears adorned in extravagant costumes and glamorous accessories. They enter the video in a dramatic pink, ruffled dress and silk magenta gloves and later change into a black bodysuit and black feathered headdress on top. They experiment with a mix of femme-associated designs, embracing the fluidity of gender identity and expression and rejecting the notion that non-binary people are \u201csupposed to\u201d look androgynous or perform gender-queerness in a certain way.[26]<\/span><\/a> Analogously, the gender of most actors throughout the scenes is intentionally ambiguous and incongruent with norms of legibility. The manor rooms are \u201cfilled with drag queens and people who look feminine, masculine, and androgynous.\u201d[27]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Although there has been substantial progress in the cultural acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community in recent years, this shift in treatment comes not without a host of conditions\u2014ultimately, this acceptance is conditional on queer individuals\u2019 legibility. An increasing number of artists in the public eye identify as queer, however, the most mainstream of the bunch are those who remain \u201clegible\u201d by conforming to hegemonic norms in some way. Stars derive legibility by embodying \u201cpalatable\u201d representations of queerness: remaining easily understood by and legible to the general population by resembling dominant standards of gender. Social deviance, or in this case, gender and sexuality deviance, is only tolerated in exceptionally small doses, and thus to mediate the gaze and scrutiny of onlooking critics, queer celebrities find ways outside of their sexuality (and, in some cases, gender) to adhere to social norms.<\/p>\n

For example, Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen DeGeneres, Dan Levy, and Kristen Stewart are a few among many widely revered gay celebrities who are met with approval by being White, cisgender, and thin. Neil Patrick Harris and Dan Levy offer queer representation while staying in accordance with dominant definitions of cisgender \u201cmasculinity,\u201d and this contributes to their continued acceptance. Ellen DeGeneres and Kristen Stewart are proud lesbians but are protected by Whiteness, cisgender-ness, and thinness in ways proud Black, trans, and\/or fat lesbians are not. Sam Smith, in contrast, someone who does not fit the mold of thinness or cisgender-ness, is hence exposed to the violent wrath of queerphobia and anti-fat bias. Vogue writer and editor Daisy Jones asks, \u201cHad Sam been a slim-built, conventionally attractive pop star in the vein of Harry Styles, would they be subject to the same ridicule and debate? Is queerness only acceptable when the person is slim, or less femme, or less loud about it?\u201d[28]<\/span><\/a> Newspaper columnists, social media influencers, and other conservative pundits have responded to Smith\u2019s video with claims that their non-binary identity is attention-grabbing, their fatness should be covered up, their video is a bad example to children, and that they are \u201cmorally debased,\u201d \u201cperverted,\u201d and \u201cdisgusting.\u201d[29]<\/span><\/a> However, Smith\u2019s provocative depictions are far from unique. Professional dancer Sam Salter highlights that Nicki Minaj has sported a thong much more revealing than any of Smith\u2019s clothing items, Miley Cyrus has worn similar nipple tassels without any discussion, and Harry Styles was celebrated for gracing the cover of Vogue Magazine in a dress.[30]<\/span><\/a> Femmephobia (anti-femininity experienced through social and structural discrimination), fatphobia<\/span>, and homophobia all underscore the distinctly-coded backlash and critiques Smith receives.<\/p>\n

Another dimension of the public outcry in reaction to \u201cI\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends’\u201d is rooted in both secular and religious notions of sexual repression and purity. In \u201cThe Sex Obsession,\u201d gender, sexuality, and religion scholar Janet Jakobsen highlights that in tandem with the influence of state-sanctioned secularism, sex has been crafted as an obsessive force in U.S. politics by Christian ideals. In theory, sex is a natural and neutral bodily function and desire, a part of life and nothing more.[31]<\/span><\/a> But, as a result of what French philosopher Michel Foucault <\/sup>famously frames as the \u201crepressive hypothesis,\u201d the relationship between power and sex has come to rest on a basic premise of \u201crepression,\u201d where sex is treated as though it doesn\u2019t exist. Foucault <\/sup>\u00a0argues this is not natural, but rather a dynamic that has been naturalized by the state in the interest of preserving its control.[32]<\/span><\/a> And this doesn\u2019t affect heterosexual and homosexual sex in the same way\u2014there is an even more profound taboo associated with queer sex.<\/p>\n

Referenced in Jasbir K. Puar\u2019s \u201cAbu Ghraib and US Sexual Exceptionalism,\u201d homosexual sex is so fundamentally stigmatized that it functions as the ultimate tool of degradation on U.S. military bases.[33]<\/span><\/a> During the atrocious torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, there was an incredible reliance on sexual humiliation and ritual torture, particularly in the context of public enactments of sodomy or gay sex. This complicated interplay of violence and its manipulation of sexuality as the ultimate site of violation offer a partial historicization of the current discourse around calls for sexual liberation. The offended recoil seen in viewers of Smith\u2019s video is not just a reflection of disdain for the sexual connotations, asserts Jones. \u201c[Viewers are] outraged because it\u2019s overtly queer and<\/em> sexualized<\/em>. People don\u2019t know what to do with their discomfort\u2014so they decide the video itself must be the problem. They\u2019re offended, they think, so the video must be offensive<\/em>.\u201d[34]<\/span><\/a> Sam Smith and their unfettered queerness serve as a timely example of an \u201cillegible\u201d LGBTQ+ celebrity navigating a system that tries to discipline them into compliance at every turn. Although, as much as Smith has garnered a wave of animosity from the public, their Whiteness certainly affords them a safeguard artists of color cannot access. Lil Nas X\u2019s relationship with the public following the release of \u201cMONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)\u201d offers a unique look into these relevant racial dynamics and fills the gaps left by an analysis of Smith.<\/p>\n

Country icon Lil Nas X\u2019s \u201cMONTERO,\u201d taking inspiration in both name and meaning from the 2017 movie Call Me by Your Name<\/em>, serves as a heartfelt letter to Nas X\u2019s younger self. The song and video alike capture Nas X\u2019s journey from promising himself \u201cto never come out publicly\u201d to openly embracing his sexuality with an anthem made to celebrate queer joy.[35]<\/span><\/a> The song also serves as a rallying call for the normalization of same-sex lust in music.[36]<\/span><\/a> In an interview with Billboard Music News, Nas X emphasizes wanting to incorporate lyrics that regarded gay sex in the same way another artist might talk about heterosexual sex in their music.[37]<\/span><\/a> \u201cLet\u2019s normalize having these lines in songs, the same way somebody might talk about f\u2014ing a girl or f\u2014ing a guy,\u201d Nas X implores. A final theme that appears throughout the video is the fear associated with living openly as queer, much of which is fueled by the church.[38]<\/span><\/a> Nas X \u201cthinks with \u201cthis fear,\u201d scholar Ashon T. Crawley explains. Nas X draws on the fear that is the \u201ctheologically produced and doctrinally maintained practice of power, authority, control. The fear of being outed. The fear of rejection by the gods. The fear of erotic joy leading to premature death. The fear of eternal torment.\u201d[39]<\/span><\/a> Playing on this fear, Lil Nas X takes away its power and rewrites the narrative.<\/p>\n

Part of this reconstruction can be seen in the Greco-Roman and medieval Christian motifs and messages nestled throughout the video.[40]<\/span><\/a> From the first glimpse of Nas X\u2019s album cover\u2014a Black, queer reconfiguration of \u201cThe Creation of Adam\u2014his video4<\/sup> communicates \u201cthat institutionalization of homophobia is a learned thing, and that there are other origin myths available to us that are not rooted in those ideas.\u201d[41]<\/span><\/a> Composed of three acts, the video begins in the garden of Montero. In a tongue-in-cheek riff on the biblical themes that have long been used to demonize queerness and justify homophobia, Lil Nas X renames the Garden of Eden \u2018Montero.\u2019[42]<\/span><\/a> Here, Nas X slips into sin, as he \u201cgives into a serpent in the garden, but it’s worth it for him to not have to live a lie.\u201d[43]<\/span><\/a> The original story of the garden is steeped in misogyny, aligning sexuality with women and women with evil. Creatively, Nas X inverts this dynamic, designing a story where his character and the serpent instead interact. Eventually, the camera pans to the tree of knowledge, on which the phrase \u201cAfter the division of the two parts of man, each desiring his other half\u201d is etched in Greek. This is a direct quote from Plato\u2019s Symposium<\/em> and stands as an early example of homosexuality and bisexuality being represented as familiar or acceptable. Nas X\u2019s employment of such a historically significant quote situates him within a powerful lineage of queer scholarship and performance, similar to Smith\u2019s historic nods in \u201cI\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

MONTERO\u2019s second verse ushers in the next act, \u201cThe Colosseum,\u201d where a human Nas X looks out at an angry crowd, all made of stone.[44]<\/span><\/a> The visual paints Nas X as a Christian martyr in the story of the Roman Catholics\u2019 demise. When Nas X begins to ascend to heaven, though, he is greeted not by St. Peter but instead by a male angel who resembles the Greek mythological figure Ganymede. This is significant because Ganymede has served as a long symbol of homosexuality, most notably in Shakespeare\u2019s As You Like It<\/em>. Nas X\u2019s religious detail here serves as a way to locate queerness in even the earliest portrayals of humanity, reifying that queerness has always<\/em> existed. Art history scholar Roland Betancourt argues that this scene represents Nas X\u2019s same-gender consummation being \u201clegitimized by Pagan gods.\u201d[45]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The third and final act of MONTERO is of Nas X\u2019s \u201cdescent into Hell.\u201d Before he can reach heaven, Nas X plunges from a stripper pole and falls into a red and black underworld landscape reminiscent of gothic architecture from the rise of medieval Christianity. The devil\u2019s throne reads \u201cThey condemn what they do not understand\u201d in Latin, referencing those who condemn the LGBTQIA+ community out of a lack of understanding. Nas X here provides a critique of Christianity and its repressive nature, in a sense prompting that Christianity will martyr its children for their sexual desire.<\/p>\n

Although Sam Smith and Lil Nas X\u2019s videos seek to uplift similar social commentary and political messaging, it is crucial, too, to recognize the ways in which they differ. First, and possibly most strikingly, the cultural controversy seen in response to MONTERO is uniquely colored by Nas X\u2019s racial identity as a Black man, and that racialized queerness or deviance is viewed as uniquely \u201cillegible\u201d or unacceptable. The content in Nas X\u2019s video is no more religiously \u201cinappropriate\u201d than work produced by White artists, but while White creators don\u2019t even warrant the bat of an eye, Nas X\u2019s piece has been under relentless attack. For example, when Madonna showed burning crosses in her music video for her song \u201cLike a Prayer,\u201d and M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce wrote a song called \u201cShout at the Devil,\u201d the two were considered \u201cinspired,\u201d but when Nas X unveiled MONTERO, he was deemed a \u201cmenace to society.\u201d[46]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Even more blatant than these patterned microaggressions, several comments in response to MONTERO have been expressly anti-Black.[47]<\/span><\/a> Following the video\u2019s release, conservative commentator Candace Owens<\/a><\/span> tweeted, \u201cWe\u2019ve turned George Floyd, a criminal drug addict, into an icon. We are promoting Satan shoes to wear on our feet. We\u2019ve got Cardi B<\/a><\/span> named as Woman of the Year. But we\u2019re convinced it\u2019s white supremacy that\u2019s keeping Black America behind. How stupid can we be?\u201d[48]<\/span><\/a> Ultimately, Lil Nas X\u2019s video scares White people because it means they are \u201closing their grasp\u201d on the control of Black queer liberation. The racialized dynamics that appear in concert with Black and Brown artists\u2019 sex\/sexuality are a reflection of the US nation-state\u2019s long campaign to strip communities of color of their bodily autonomy. The body and self-identity have been repeatedly weaponized against marginalized groups as a way to restrict their power. Robbing individuals of the right to exist in their true selves is one of the most intimate violations imaginable, and thus by doing so, the state and those atop the social hierarchy hold a monopoly over every aspect of a person\u2019s life. Smith is certainly no stranger to the unsolicited judgment of online trolls, but it is important to consider how their Whiteness acts as a buffer. Smith finds legibility in their Whiteness while Nas X is given no such opportunity.<\/p>\n

That said, Nas X\u2019s thinness and cisgender-ness afford him fragments of safety and legibility Smith does not enjoy. Despite being known to visually experiment with gender expression in terms of makeup and dress, Nas X largely embodies the hegemonic standard of what an American man is expected to be. As an illustration, Nas X regularly shows off his six-pack abs, making headlines that read, \u201cLil Nas X Just Took His Album and His Six-Pack on Tour\u201d or \u201cLil Nas X’s Abs Stole The Show At iHeartRadio Music Festival.\u201d[49]<\/span><\/a> This may appear trivial at first, but given that a chiseled body and washboard abs are viewed as potent signs of masculinity, it\u2019s a salient detail to acknowledge.[50]<\/span><\/a> Nas X frequently leans into the fact that he is conventionally attractive. Last November, he shared a Tweet joking, \u201cY’all should be happy I’m gay, cuz I would take all y’all b***hes, like, very easily,\u201d insinuating there are few women who wouldn\u2019t find him physically desirable.[51]<\/span><\/a> Nas X\u2019s thinness and clear masculinity enable him to deviate from heterosexuality with considerably less disapproval than he might receive if his presentation were different and viewed as less legible.<\/p>\n

Although homophobia can impact someone regardless of their gender expression, a comparison of Smith’s and Nas X’s treatment demonstrates that its severity can take on a multitude of forms. Often, what is stigmatized even more highly than gayness is \u201csubservient\u201d or \u201cfeminine\u201d gayness, traits that Nas X does not typify. Stigma doesn\u2019t equally adhere to feminine and masculine gay men, contends Professor of Ethnic Studies Tom\u00e1s Almaguer.39<\/sup> Almaguer, a specialist in the queer culture of Chicano men, finds that the \u201creceiving\u201d partner, the stereotypically more feminine partner, is subject to much more stigma than the \u201cgiving\u201d partner, the stereotypically more masculine of the two. Essentially, it is understood that to give is to be \u201cmasculine\u201d and to receive is to be \u201cfeminine,\u201d meaning a man\u2019s masculine gender identity is not as threatened by a homosexual act as long as he plays the \u201cinserter\u2019s role.\u201d[52]<\/span><\/a> Therefore, Lil Nas X, someone easily readable as a physically strong, masculine man is treated with much more respect than Sam Smith, a femme-presenting, non-binary individual.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, queer celebrities are viewed as illegible when they depart from the box of hegemonic Western ideals that includes thinness, Whiteness, puritanical modesty, and the gender binary. These politics of \u201clegibility\u201d are symptoms of the larger power structures at play and can aid in locating the biases still pervasive in dominant social discourse. Sam Smith is understood to be less socially acceptable as a non-thin person not out of coincidence, but because anti-fat bias is deeply entrenched in our society. Smith is subject to transphobia and queerphobia because they occupy space outside of the gender binary. Yet, Smith is also somewhat insulated from greater backlash by being White. Conversely, Lil Nas X is on the receiving end of violent degradation as a result of raging anti-Black racism. He is faced with outrage in response to his displays of sex positivity and same-sex lust because of homophobic ideals. And still, Nas X is shielded from anti-fat bias and transphobia by his thinness and adherence to hegemonic masculinity. The treatment of Smith and Nas X reveals that the legibility of queer artists is not black and white; it\u2019s nuanced and deeply enmeshed with structures of power. But what is<\/em> clear is that no matter how socially progressive America may claim to be, our work is not done until queerness, fatness, Blackness, and sexual freedom no longer function as \u201cdeviance.\u201d<\/p>\n

[1]<\/span><\/a> Oscar Wilde, \u201cThe Decay of Lying: An Observation,\u201d in Intentions: The Decay of Lying Pen Pencil and Poison The Critic as Artist The Truth of Masks<\/em>, ed. Josephine M. Guy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1891).<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/span><\/a> Jon Niermann, \u201cWhy Music Videos Are Making a Comeback in the Age of Coronavirus.\u201d Muse by Clio. Accessed December 14, 2023. https:\/\/musebycl.io\/music\/why-music-videos-are-making-comeback-age-coronavirus.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/span><\/a> Sam Smith, \u201cSam Smith – I\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends,\u201d Youtube, January 27, 2023, \u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hYjHhqLSiN4<\/a>; Little Nas X, \u201cLil Nas X – MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) (Official Video),\u201d Youtube, March 25, 2021, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6swmTBVI83k.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/span><\/a> Emile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology <\/em>(New York, NY: Free Press, 1966); Emile Durkheim, Moral Education <\/em>(New York, NY: Free Press, 1973); Emile Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method, <\/em>trans. Steven Lukes (Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan, 1982).<\/span><\/p>\n

[5]<\/span><\/a> Emile Durkehim, The Division of Labour in Society, <\/em>trans. W.D. Hall (Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Mcmillan, 1984).<\/span><\/p>\n

[6]<\/span><\/a> Sophie Bjork-James, \u201cRacializing Misogyny: Sexuality and Gender in the New Online White Nationalism: Sexuality and Gender in the New Online White Nationalism,\u201d Feminist Anthropology<\/em> 1, no. 2 (2020): 176\u201383. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/fea2.12011.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7]<\/span><\/a> Abby L. Ferber, White Man Falling: Race, Gender, and White Supremacy <\/em>(Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999).<\/span><\/p>\n

[8]<\/span><\/a> Vanessa R. Panfil, The Gang\u2019s All Queer: The Lives of Gay Gang Members <\/em>(New York, NY: New York University Press, 2017). <\/span><\/p>\n

[9]<\/span><\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/span><\/a> Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life <\/em>(New York, NY: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1959). <\/span><\/p>\n

[11]<\/span><\/a> Judith P. Butler, Gender Trouble <\/em>(London, UK: Routledge, 1990).<\/p>\n

[12]<\/span><\/a> Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman, \u201cDoing Gender,\u201d Gender and Society <\/em>1, no. 2 (1987): 125-151. <\/span><\/p>\n

[13]<\/span><\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/span><\/a> Butler, Gender Trouble, <\/em>278.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/span><\/a> Cati Connell, A Few Good Gays: The Gendered Compromises behind Military Inclusion <\/em>(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2022). <\/span><\/p>\n

[16]<\/span><\/a> Goffmann, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life; <\/em><\/span>Connell, A Few Good Gays. <\/em><\/p>\n

[17]<\/span><\/a> Brandon Andrew Robinson, Coming Out tot eh Streets: LGBTQ Youth Experiencing Homelessness <\/em>(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2020).<\/p>\n

[18]<\/span><\/a> Connell, A Few Good Gays. <\/em><\/p>\n

[19]<\/span><\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/span><\/a> Catherine Connell, School\u2019s Out: Gay and Lesbian Teachers in the Classroom <\/em>(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2014). <\/span><\/p>\n

[21]<\/span><\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/span><\/a> Eleanor Noyce, \u201cThe Sam Smith Video Backlash Is Nothing but Homophobia and Fatphobia Combined,\u201d Clash, <\/em>February 1, 2023, https:\/\/www.clashmusic.com\/features\/the-sam-smith-video-backlash-is-nothing-but-homophobia-and-fatphobia-combined\/.<\/span><\/p>\n

[23]<\/span><\/a> Rosie Nelson, \u201cSam Smith: How Queerphobia and Fatphobia Intersect in the Backlash to the I\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends Video,\u201d The Conversation,<\/em> February 7, 2023. http:\/\/theconversation.com\/sam-smith-how-queerphobia-and-fatphobia-intersect-in-the-backlash-to-the-im-not-here-to-make-friends-video-199437.<\/span><\/p>\n

[24]<\/span><\/a> \u201cHenry VIII,\u201d \u00a0National Museums Liverpool, accessed December 14, 2023, https:\/\/www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk\/artifact\/henry-viii.<\/span><\/p>\n

[25]<\/span><\/a> Adrienne Rich, \u201cCompulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,\u201d Signs <\/em>5, no. 4 (1980): 631\u201360, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1086\/493756.<\/span><\/p>\n

[26]<\/span><\/a> Rey Watson, \u201cNon-Binary People Don\u2019t Have to Look Androgynous.\u201d An Injustice!<\/em> April 21, 2021, https:\/\/aninjusticemag.com\/non-binary-people-dont-have-to-look-androgynous-a463f38efb35.<\/span><\/p>\n

[27]<\/span><\/a> Nelson, \u201cSam Smith: How Queerphobia and Fatphobia Intersect in the Backlash to the I\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends Video.\u201d<\/p>\n

[28]<\/span><\/a> Daisy Jones, \u201cIf Sam Smith Were a Thin, Cis Woman, No One Would Have given Their New Music Video a Second Thought,\u201d Vogue<\/em>, January 31, 2023, https:\/\/www.vogue.com\/article\/sam-smith-im-not-here-to-make-friends-video-controversy.<\/span><\/p>\n

[29]<\/span><\/a> Nelson, \u201cSam Smith: How Queerphobia and Fatphobia Intersect in the Backlash to the I\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends Video\u201d; Chris Barilla, \u201cSam Smith\u2019s \u2018I\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends\u2019 Music Video Has Spurred Controversy,\u201d Distractify<\/em>, February 1, 2023, https:\/\/www.distractify.com\/p\/sam-smith-music-video-controversy<\/a>; Niermann, \u201cWhy Music Videos Are Making a Comeback in the Age of Coronavirus.\u201d<\/p>\n

[30]<\/span><\/a> Nelson, \u201cSam Smith: How Queerphobia and Fatphobia Intersect in the Backlash to the I\u2019m Not Here to Make Friends Video.\u201d<\/p>\n

[31]<\/span><\/a> Janet R. Jacobsen, The Sex Obsession: Perversity and Possibility in American Politics <\/em>(New York, NY: New York University Press, 2023). <\/span><\/p>\n

[32]<\/span><\/a> Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction <\/em>(New York, NY: Vantage Books, 1990).<\/span><\/p>\n

[33]<\/span><\/a> Jasbir K. Puar, Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times<\/em> (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007).<\/p>\n

[34]<\/span><\/a> Daisy Jones, \u201cIf Sam Smith Were a Thin, Cis Woman, No One Would Have given Their New Music Video a Second Thought.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[35]<\/span><\/a> Chrisy Bobic, \u201cLil Nas X\u2019s \u2018Montero (Call Me by Your Name)\u2019 Has a Special Meaning for Him,\u201d Distractify,<\/em> March 26, 2021, https:\/\/www.distractify.com\/p\/montero-call-me-by-your-name-meaning<\/a>; Stephen Daw, \u201cLil Nas X Wants \u2018Montero\u2019 to Help \u2018Normalize\u2019 Same-Sex Lust in Music,\u201d Billboard<\/em>, March 29, 2021, https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/lil-nas-x-montero-call-me-by-your-name-lyrics-breakdown-9547933\/.<\/span><\/p>\n

[36]<\/span><\/a> Daw, \u201cLil Nas X Wants \u2018Montero\u2019 to Help \u2018Normalize\u2019 Same-Sex Lust in Music.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[37]<\/span><\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[38]<\/span><\/a> Ibid; Ashon Crawley, \u201cI Grew up Afraid. Lil Nas X\u2019s \u2018Montero\u2019 Is the Lesson I Needed,\u201d NPR<\/em>, April 14, 2021, https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/04\/14\/986466561\/i-grew-up-afraid-lil-nas-xs-montero-is-the-lesson-i-needed.<\/p>\n

[39]<\/span><\/a> Crawley, \u201cI Grew up Afraid. Lil Nas X\u2019s \u2018Montero\u2019 Is the Lesson I Needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

[40]<\/span><\/a> Andrew R. Chow, \u201cHistorians Decode the Religious Symbolism and Queer Iconography of Lil Nas X\u2019s \u2018Montero\u2019 Video,\u201d Time<\/em>, March 30, 2021, https:\/\/time.com\/5951024\/lil-nas-x-montero-video-symbolism-explained\/.<\/span><\/p>\n

[41]<\/span><\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[42]<\/span><\/a> Yamiche Alcindor, What Lil Nas X\u2019s \u2018Montero\u2019 Says about Black Queerness,\u201d Youtube, April 1, 2021, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JFDBhJp2A9s.<\/span><\/p>\n

[43]<\/span><\/a> Bobic, \u201cLil Nas X\u2019s \u2018Montero (Call Me by Your Name)\u2019 Has a Special Meaning for Him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[44]<\/span><\/a> Chow, \u201cHistorians Decode the Religious Symbolism and Queer Iconography of Lil Nas X\u2019s \u2018Montero\u2019 Video.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[45]<\/span><\/a> Roland Betancourt, Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages<\/em> (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2023).<\/span><\/p>\n

[46]<\/span><\/a> Ana Ortega, \u201cThe Controversy around Lil Nas X\u2019s New Video Is Steeped in Homophobia and Racism,\u201d Duclarion.com,<\/em> accessed December 14, 2023, https:\/\/duclarion.com\/2021\/04\/the-controversy-around-lil-nas-xs-new-video-is-steeped-in-homophobia-and-racism\/.<\/span><\/p>\n

[47]<\/span><\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[48]<\/span><\/a> Candace Owens qtd. in Ortega, \u201cThe Controversy around Lil Nas X\u2019s New Video Is Steeped in Homophobia and Racism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[49]<\/span><\/a> Philip Ellis, \u201cLil Nas X Just Took His Album and His Six-Pack on Tour,\u201d Men\u2019s Health,<\/em> September 10, 2022, https:\/\/www.menshealth.com\/fitness\/a41146230\/lil-nas-x-six-pack-abs-tour\/<\/a>; Peyton Blakemore, \u201cLil Nas X\u2019s Abs Stole the Show at IHeartRadio Music Festival,\u201d Iheart.com<\/em>, accessed December 14, 2023, https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/content\/2019-09-20-lil-nas-x-abs-stole-the-show-at-iheartradio-music-festival\/.<\/span><\/p>\n

[50]<\/span><\/a> 37.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cranswick, Ieuan, David Richardson, Martin Littlewood, and David Tod. 2020. \u201c\u2018Oh Take Some Man-up Pills\u2019: A Life-History Study of Muscles, Masculinity, and the Threat of Injury.\u201d Performance Enhancement & Health 8 (2\u20133): 100176. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.peh.2020.100176.<\/span><\/p>\n

[51]<\/span><\/a> \u201cLil Nas X Flaunts Six-Pack Abs When Saying He\u2019d Take Straight Men\u2019s Women Easily If He\u2019s Not Gay,\u201d Aceshowbiz.com<\/em>, November 11, 2022, https:\/\/www.aceshowbiz.com\/news\/view\/00195356.html.<\/span><\/p>\n

[52]<\/span><\/a> Tom\u00e1s Almaguer, \u201cChicano Men: A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior,\u201d Differences<\/em> 3, no. 2 (1991): 75\u2013100, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1215\/10407391-3-2-75.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lily Belisle is an undergraduate at Boston University pursuing Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Lily is currently conducting research for her Honors Thesis on the attitudes displayed by those in power when discussing sexual violence in a legal setting and previously worked as a Research Assistant for Professor Deborah Carr (CAS Sociology). Additionally, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1093,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions\/1093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ampersandjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}