so i don’t often think about the future love lives of today’s youth but after being bombarded by one too many pictures of overly-coiffed disneyfied boys i have begun to worry about the ability of young women to identify the difference between straight and gay men. disney et al has been selling us zac efron and the jonas brothers (to reiterate, at least 2/3 gay) as the heart throbs of a generation, pretending that they’re 100% heterosexual, oh and virgins.
to me, this is death knell for the gaydar of poor young straight girls. first, you’re selling boys that are, at the very least, straddling the boundaries of sexual preference and making them the focus of teen fantasy. second, and very importantly, they’re being sold as chaste, and this is being highlighted in a very positive manner. so imagine you have some young high school girl now madly in love with a fashion forward be-cheek-boned young man who has yet to come out and who claims chastity as a reason for not sticking it in her. this poor young girl has little chance of identifying her manbag carrying boyfriend as a ‘mo because disney has literally set her up for failure.
take a quick look at the picture below and see the clear differences between chase crawford being “straight” and a real straight guy, trevor. chase, on the left, looks like he’s got foundation on and is swimming in a cloud of dolce and gabbana blue. trevor, on the right, has his belly out and is dripping masculinity, among other things. young straight girls need to be given examples such as these at an early age so they are able to discern the difference between these two species of men.
good luck ladies.
