The 2017 Finnish biopic by Dome Karukoski, with the help of brilliant and exceptionally convincing Pekka Strang, portrays the life and work of one of the most celebrated and influential figures of twentieth century gay culture, Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland. The film follows Touko’s personal development from the battlefield of World War II, where a young lieutenant first finds his sexuality among his comrades in arms in the darkness of war blackouts, to the late 80s, when Tom of Finland is exposed to the world following, with thousands of men, dressed in leather, praising him as their hero. And though the film centres around one figure, depicting him through relationships with his closest people, it also reflects the impact of Laaksonen gradually finding his ground on the changing of self-image of gay men of those days. In this essay, I will …show more content…
Going almost viral within gay community, Laaksonen’s bold imagery has changed the way young homosexual men would see themselves. They now wanted to be strong and muscular, to be able to embrace their masculinity and be proud of it. Durk Dehner, manager of the Tom of Finland Foundation in Los Angeles, who was Laaksonen’s partner and number one fan, says about the influence of Laaksosnen’s art on gay men, “He was inspired by an iconography usually exclusive to heterosexual men to provide young homosexuals with a positive image, showing them they were perfect the way they were. He drew men in nature, under the shining sun. It was a way of telling boys that even if society didn't like them, Mother Nature was on their side, as she had created them”[*]. The image of a bold, self-confident man dressed in leather and radiating content, could not have been more attractive. Soon both gay and heterosexual men were storming gyms in order to pursue their new empowering
Taste, which is, after all, the insecurity of the middle class, became the homosexual's licentiate to challenge the rule of nature,” (Rodriguez 124). This stereotype communicates to the general public that homosexuality or the ones that fall in the boxes of LGBTQ (and more) are the individuals that have taste in fashion, makeup, food, home decor, etc., also even by claiming to be something out of heterosexuality disrupted the laws of nature which is smart for Rodriguez to input in Late Victorians. In addition, the use of symbolism in Rodriguez’s essay regarding homosexuality is portrayed as a home. The Victorian houses that were built for middle-class individuals, which were being claimed by homosexual men to live in, marry, or start a family in, in San Francisco. The portrayal of home as a place of comfort, safety, and family were things that homosexual men (or women), and anything in between craved for in mortality like heterosexual beings. Apart from the symbolism, I noticed that Rodriguez liked metaphors, anaphora, hyperbole, and repetition in his
Hegemonic masculinity is the belief in the existence of a culturally normative ideal of male behavior. This ideal among other things includes the belief that men should be big, strong, and athletic. Sports, especially contact sports, reinforce this idea, as an athlete is seen as the ideal of what it means to be a man. The general belief associated with gay men is that they posses none of these traits and are thought to be feminine. These normative beliefs are not the case and are actually st...
homosexual liberation. Some have demonstrated their anger and concerns about prejudice against homosexuals in both riots and artistic forms. Therefore, these people seek to prove to the heterosexual world that homosexual ‘deviancy’ was a myth.
Andrew Sullivan, author of, What is a Homosexual, portrays his experience growing up; trapped in his own identity. He paints a detailed portrait of the hardships caused by being homosexual. He explains the struggle of self-concealment, and how doing so is vital for social acceptation. The ability to hide one’s true feelings make it easier to be “invisible” as Sullivan puts it. “The experience of growing up profoundly different in emotional and psychological makeup inevitably alters a person’s self-perception.”(Sullivan)This statement marks one of the many reasons for this concealment. The main idea of this passage is to reflect on those hardships, and too understand true self-conscious difference. Being different can cause identity problems, especially in adolescents.
Imagery is a common literary element many authors use to get their message across to us in a vivid way. In Richard Blanco’s poem “Queer Theory”, the grandmother is listing the things that the young boy can and can not do, such as “never fly a kite or roller skate, but light/ all the firecrackers you want,/ kill all the lizards you can, cut up worms-/feed them to that cat of yours,” (Blanco 27-30). The grandmother is describing the types of things that she believes only gay people do. She considers flying a kite and roller skating to be a feminine action and warns him to stay away from them. However, she wants him to take part in all of the masculine activities he possibly can. The author uses imagery to describe in detail what exactly the grandmother classifies as
“Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls”: few of our cultural mythologies seem as natural as this one. But in this exploration of the gender signals that traditionally tell what a “boy” or “girl” is supposed to look and act like, Aaron Devor shows how these signals are not “natural” at all but instead are cultural constructs. While the classic cues of masculinity—aggressive posture, self-confidence, a tough appearance—and the traditional signs of femininity—gentleness, passivity, strong nurturing instincts—are often considered “normal,” Devor explains that they are by no means biological or psychological necessities. Indeed, he suggests, they can be richly mixed and varied, or to paraphrase the old Kinks song “Lola,” “Boys can be girls and girls can be boys.” Devor is dean of social sciences at the University of Victoria and author of Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality (1989), from which this selection is excerpted, and FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society (1997).
Richard Rodriguez in his piece “Late Victorians” paints a picture as an outside observer of gay culture in San Francisco. He opens and closes with thoughts from St. Augustine and continues through the paper to write of his heavy Catholic influence in his thinking. As a gay male that migrated to San Francisco, Rodriguez speaks of the stereotypes within the gay community, always putting himself in a different if not elevated category.
Being Gay: Coming Out In the 21st Century. New York, N.Y.: Films Media Group, 2005.
Warner, Michael. The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life. New York: Free Press, 1999. Print.
Last year, NBA player Jason Collins came out as gay. Collins is the first professional athlete from one the four major sports in North America. Not only is he gay, but he is also black. So being a queer person of color, Jason Collins would face a lot of barriers in his life. However, he seems to be breaking those barriers down, as depicted in Kevin Siers’ editorial, Another Barrier Broken. One could say that this picture aims to appeal to pathos, and hopefully Jason Collins (and this editorial) would inspire other queer athletes to break down their barriers and “come out”, however these barriers are not always easily broken despite having the right to do so.
The American black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street directed by Martin Scorsese was released December 25, 2013 and stars the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie. While on face value The Wolf of Wall Street looks like a film about excessive cocaine binges, long evenings filled with men with cigarettes, large portions of alcoholic consumption, having many sexual escapades with various women and even dwarf tossing from time to time, the film is deeply rooted in perception gender within the genre of The Wolf of Wall Street. The word ‘genre’ is rooted into a similar category as
...n In this essay it has been shown how masculinities are being performed, created and reaffirmed in the context of the Russian mafia, vory y zakone. This oppositional subculture construct their oppositional form of masculinity, which employs many aspects of hegemonic masculinity and exists it opposition to women and homosexuality. Men who are members of the vory y zakone, construct and perform their masculinity through the following behaviors. They degrade women sexually by treating them as a commodity and assuming dominance over them. Violence is performed as a way of displaying masculinity and the way in which violence is performed is important. Heteronormalivity is intertwined with masculinity and engaging in acts that reaffirm ones heterosexuality is important. Lastly, tattoos also serve as a way for the member of the vory y zakone to display their masculinity.
The Web. 12 May 2014. Fone, Byrne. A. Homophobia: A History of the.
The 1990s saw surge of gay characters in both television and movies. From Ellen Degeneres and her character Ellen Morgan coming out under much scrutiny on the TV show ‘Ellen,’ to Julia Roberts and Rupert Everett comedically playing off each other in the motion picture ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding.’ Sure, gays and lesbians have been around forever, especially in Hollywood. But never has there been a time to be more out. With the popularity of shows like Will and Grace, which feature leading gay characters, as well as Dawson’s Creek and it’s supporting character of teenager Jack McPhee, we are slowly seeing gay and lesbian characters creeping into the mainstream media.
Wilton, Tamsin. "Which One's the Man? The Heterosexualisation of Lesbain Sex." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 157-70. Print.