Was It Good For The Gays: ‘The Object Of My Affection'
If you’re going to make a movie about queer people, you’re likely going to get a divisive response. Does it reinforce negative stereotypes? Does it provide an accurate cross-section of the diverse LGBT community? How many think pieces will it incite? In this regular column, we’ll look at depictions of queers in cinema and ask, Was It Good For The Gays? Today we look at Nicholas Hytner‘s 1998 romantic comedy, “The Object of My Affection.”
Category Archives: NEWS
Straight Married Teen Weighs The Pros And Cons Of Performing In Gay Adult Films
Straight Married Teen Weighs The Pros And Cons Of Performing In Gay Adult Films
Last month we heard about a married straight man trying to decide if he should divulge his gay porn past to his wife of 18 years. We’re pretty sure he’s going to keep it a secret.
Now from the depths of Reddit comes the reverse scenario — a 19-year-old married straight man boy who is strongly considering gay porn as a viable revenue stream. His wife “likes the idea.”
He explains that, “We both come from not-well-off families. I have a decent job, but we only make enough to cover bills…We discussed a few ways to get more income, and decided this wasn’t the worst idea.”
“It doesn’t bother her because it’s with guys, strange as that sounds,” he adds. “She says it’s because ‘she can’t give me what a guy can.’”
Many a commenter’s curiosity was piqued by the original poster’s willingness to go gay-for-pay so openly.
Here’s how he responded to their questions:
Have you had sex with men before?
No, I have not. I did a little bit of experimenting/flirting in high school but it never led to anything sexual with another guy. The thought of it doesn’t bother me though.
Is it really that easy to just decide to be a porn star and start getting paid?
Becoming one isn’t exactly easy, but I believe I have a decent chance. I’m a smaller build with an above average dick, fairly attractive, flexible, and have no gag reflex. I may not be able to get into the business, but I’m going to try.
You ever consider what your parents might think? or if you ever have children what they might think? “My dad sucks dick for a living.” Just doesn’t have a good ring to it, you know?
Why would I care what my parents think? They’re pieces of shit. And even if they weren’t, this isn’t their decision.
I also don’t plan on this being the only thing I do for the rest of my life. It’s not a permanent job for most people. If I do have kids, they’ll have to find out on their own that I did porn. It’s not like I’m bringing them to take your child to work day.
Have you guys watched gay porn before?
Yes, we’ve both watched gay porn, but not together.
Are you sure this isn’t just a way for you to fuck dudes? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Actually I left the choice ultimately up to her. I said that if at any time she is uncomfortable with it, I would quit. I’m not repulsed by the thought of having sex with guys, but I also have no problem with just sleeping with my wife for the rest of my life either. I did marry her, after all.
Dan Tracer
#BoycottDolceGabbana Grows As Gay Rights Supporters Picket Outside Flagship Store in London: VIDEO
#BoycottDolceGabbana Grows As Gay Rights Supporters Picket Outside Flagship Store in London: VIDEO
Gay rights supporters lined the walls outside Dolce & Gabbana’s flagship store in London on Thursday to protest the fashion designers’ comments about same-sex parenting and IVF babies, the London Evening Standard reports:
Campaigners from The Out and Proud Diamond Group held placards which said “D&G Homophobia is not fashionable!” in the protest next to the shop in Bond Street.
They were joined by leading gay rights activist Peter Tatchell as they called for shoppers to boycott D &G after the duo claimed children conceived through IVF were “synthetic”.
Other protest banners read “Dolce & Gabbana – put labels on clothes, not families” and “Boycott D&G over their disrespect for gay families”.
Watch footage of the demonstration, AFTER THE JUMP…
In related news earlier this week, the Huffington Post reported that international advertising agency DigitasLBi, which “counts Puma and eBay among its clients,” announced it would drop the “D” and “G” from its name for a week and call itslef “iitasLBi”.
Bill Maher and his panelists Christine Quinn, Mercedes Schlapp, and former Rep. Jack Kingston also addressed the D&G controversy on Real Time last night, which you can also check out AFTER THE JUMP.
Start at 8:10
Kyler Geoffroy
Not All Presbyterians OK With Church Marriage Equality
Not All Presbyterians OK With Church Marriage Equality
The church this week ratified a new policy allowing ministers to perform same-sex marriages, but some clergy members say they won’t.
Trudy Ring
www.advocate.com/politics/religion/2015/03/21/not-all-presbyterians-ok-church-marriage-equality
Los Tigres del Norte Are Making Gay Norteño History
Los Tigres del Norte Are Making Gay Norteño History
The beloved norteño musicians are being recognized for their thoughtful take on gay love.
Yezmin Villarreal
Videographer Refuses to Film Ohio Same-Sex Wedding
This Is What Happens When Art Students Recreate Famous Nude Masterpieces (NSFW)
This Is What Happens When Art Students Recreate Famous Nude Masterpieces (NSFW)
“Nudes are hot right now,” photographer Matthew Leifheitr mused in an email exchange with HuffPost. Leifheitr has many titles, among them VICE photo editor and editor-in-chief of MATTE Magazine. Recently, he’s taken on a faculty position at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, a role that’s allowed him to better explore the beautiful and nefarious world of naked art.
AFTER HENRI MATISSE. Photo by Noah Boskey, Erin Carr, Emma Castelbolognesi, Crystelle Colucci, Alberto Inamagua, and Allison Schaller.
The fruits of his labor are currently on view at SVA, in a pop-up exhibition titled “Artsy Nudes.” For the project, he gave his participating students a simple prompt: choose any nude work of art from all of art history and recreate it. From Henri Matisse’s “The Dance” to Diego Velázquez’s “Rokeby Venus” to Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase,” the appropriations breathed life into nude standards many hold near and dear to their hearts.
Some images appear remarkably similar to their historical antecedents, others take liberties to create a new photograph from an old painting. “I think reverse-engineering successful images to find out how they were made is a useful thing to be able to do,” Leifheitr explained. “My students are sophomores in art school, and I’d like them to be able to look at an image they like, be able to guess how it was made, and apply that knowledge to their own subject matter.”
AFTER MARCEL DUCHAMP. Photo by Anthony Costa, Jessica Frankl, Mikaela Keen Lumongsod, Frankie Mule, Gabrielia Priyma, Balazs Sebok, and Valeriya Vaynerman.
Leifheitr himself is no stranger to reconfiguring famous images. For example, he recently restaged a photo of Rudolph Nureyev taken by Richard Avedon, replacing the late dance icon with gay pornography giant Michael Lucas. He also photographed the contents of David Wojnarowicz’s “Magic Box” at NYU Fales Library, turning the results into a deck of oversized playing cards.
“I think there was something to be understood about the impossibility of true plagiarism in photography,” he wrote on VICE. “When I was in art school I remember becoming discouraged, believing any worthwhile image had already been made. The goal of this assignment was to teach that even if you try very hard to remake someone else’s work, your photographs can only be your own.”
“I’m interested in the stuff dead artists leave behind, and how those kind of archives can be reanimated or collaborated with,” he added over email.
AFTER DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ. Photo by Ebb Bayarsaikhan, Hannah Hurley, and Hayley Stephon; painting by Jake Kaplan.
“Artsy Nudes” is on its final leg at SVA (the show closes this weekend), though VICE fans can look forward to a 10-page spread of the works in this month’s magazine. You might have missed the show’s opening, which featured classical musicians performing in the nude, but it’s probably not the last figurative nude art show we’ll write about this year. Leifheitr cited Art F City founder Paddy Johnson in our e-conversation: “The figure is back.” Make that, the naked figure.
Before we ended our chat, we aksed Leifheitr about his show’s connection to the ever-present world of pornography, since he’s rubbed elbows with the industry before. “In my personal opinion, the line between porn and art is slippery, and ultimately unimportant,” he concluded. “It’s very dependent on context — if you’re in the office bathroom looking at the Matisse recreation my students made, and art historical pastiche makes you hot, I guess it might be porn in that context. If you’re in the gallery, it just looks like art.”
Well said, friend. Check out “Artsy Nudes” below.
www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/20/artsy-nudes-sva_n_6913694.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices
Monica Lewinsky Offers Powerful TED Talk on Her Public Humiliation and Fight Against Cyberbullying: VIDEO
Monica Lewinsky Offers Powerful TED Talk on Her Public Humiliation and Fight Against Cyberbullying: VIDEO
Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern whose affair with President Bill Clinton made her internationally famous overnight when its salacious details hit the internet in 1998, stepped into the spotlight at the annual TED Conference on Thursday in Vancouver.
I spent the week at TED and was in the room when Lewinsky stepped up in front of the receptive and curious audience to lead off a segment of the conference called ‘Just and Unjust’. Lewinsky has spoken about her experiences only a few times to date (she spoke at Forbes ’30 Under 30′ summit in October 2014).
Lewinsky talked of the mistake she made by “falling in love with [her] boss” and its “devastating consequences.”
“I was branded as a tramp, tart, slut, whore, bimbo and, of course, ‘that woman.’ I was known by many, but actually known by few. I get it. It was easy to forget ‘that woman’ was dimensional and had a soul.”
She added: “Not a day goes by that I am not reminded of my mistake, and I regret that mistake deeply.”
Lewinsky said that she was finally able to put some perspective on the public shaming she had endured 12 years later after her mother called her to discuss the death of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers student who took his own life after being secretly filmed by his roommate have an intimate encounter with another man and then humiliated when the video was posted to the internet.
Said Lewinsky:
“Tyler’s tragic senseless death was a turning point for me. It served to re-contextualize my experiences and I then began to look at the world of humiliation and bullying around me and see something different.”
She added: “There is a very personal price to public humiliation and the growth of the internet has jacked up that price.”
Lewinsky, who also cited recent hackings of Snapchat, iCloud, and SONY pictures and the intent behind them to publicly embarrass celebrities and executives, said she has since been motivated to battle cyberbullying and encouraged people to be “upstanders” rather than “bystanders” on the internet, and battle trolling with positive comments.
Finally, she addressed accusations that her decision to step back into the spotlight might be politically motivated:
“In the past nine months the question I’ve been asked the most is ‘why?’ Why now? Why was I sticking my head above the parapet?’ You can read between the lines in those questions. And the answer has nothing to do with politics. The top note answer was, and is, because it’s time. Time to stop tiptoeing around my past. Time to stop living a life of opprobrium. And time to take back my narrative. And it’s also not just about saving myself. Anyone who is suffering from shame and public humiliation needs to know one thing. You can survive it. I know it’s hard. It may not be painless, quick, or easy, but you can insist on a different ending to your story.”
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP…
I’ll be sharing more videos from the TED 2015 conference on a variety of topics over the next few days and weeks.
Andy Towle
Business, Faith Leaders Oppose Indiana 'License to Discriminate' Bill
Business, Faith Leaders Oppose Indiana 'License to Discriminate' Bill
The bill may be on a fast track to passage, but some influential voices are registering their objections.
Trudy Ring
www.advocate.com/politics/2015/03/20/business-faith-leaders-oppose-indiana-license-discriminate-bill
FAMILY Act Will Benefit Workers and Families
FAMILY Act Will Benefit Workers and Families
Yesterday, Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), re-introduced important legislation to address the needs of working families across the country.
HRC.org
