Who Cares About Gay Writing....
I know, I know, it’s so cool to be part of the rainbow horde these days when it comes to writing. Everywhere I look there are anthologies that are focused on “queer horror” authors or “LGBTQ+” authors and I have to wonder why the fuck does anyone care who you’re fucking when it comes to writing? These anthologies are supposed to be focused on fiction, not the author’s memoir, so does being part of the rainbow really somehow make you a better writer?
Yeah… nah it doesn’t. It just makes you gay, that’s all.
Believe it or not, what your sexual preferences are has no effect on your skills as a writer. Sure, if you’re writing a book about a queer character you can use your personal life experience as queer whatever (can I even use the terms woman or man anymore or is that too taboo?) but if your writing skills are bad then it won’t matter. Shouldn’t we be focusing on writers who are flat-out good rather than someone who self-identifies into the rainbow horde? The writing scene would be a whole lot better that’s for sure.
But wait! Wait you say! Shouldn’t the arts present diverse perspectives? Shouldn’t everyone get a chance to speak rather than just boring old white guys?
I hate to be a downer but the writing scene is and has been pretty diverse for a LONG time. There have been some AMAZING writers who fall into the rainbow but they were famous for BEING GOOD not because of their sexual preferences or "gender ID". There’s a difference.
Truman Capote (of Breakfast At Tiffany's fame. So fab, darling.)
Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray)
Virginia Woolf (Her lover Vita Sackville-West is said to have been an inspiration for Orlando)
Langston Hughes (thought to be either homosexual or possibly asexual. Montage of a Dream Deferred)
And the list goes on (really it does it’s extremely long). But it’s safe to say there were a lot of writers who didn’t conform to the norms of sexuality, but still, they were good writers and weren’t famous because of who they liked in their beds.
It’s strange to think people can get famous these days simply for declaring they like to wear a dress or fuck the same sex or even fuck nothing at all. Is that not a little sad, to have your entire career as a writer or artist dependent on what’s going on in your pants? It’s the same as someone being famous for belonging to a minority. Maybe a writer is just fucking amazing and happens to be Mexican? Or Native American? Leave them alone. They are a genius and their skin color/genetics have little to do with it.
Most of us have heard news stories that talk about universities that had lower sets of standards for African American or minority students. How insulting. I’ve never known a black person who wanted to be treated differently because they were black. They would want to get into a certain school because they were as smart or smarter than other candidates. Period. As a society, we claim to be color blind. Yet this kind of stuff keeps cropping up and people are outraged. Being black or from a minority is not a handicap that needs to be compensated for by having lower standards. The same should go for LGBTQ+ but for some reason, they like to claim victimhood at every turn and society supports their delusion. Nothing is ever their fault it’s because society is against them. Well, society was against African Americans going to school for a while but they didn’t let themselves become victims. They fought for their rights won them, and now have them. Yes, we celebrate black authors because there are lots of great ones, but they didn’t become famous because they were black and demanded to be famous otherwise we were racists. They were great writers who happened to be black.
Diversity is great but it's no longer the point of many issues today and is instead used as some sort of fallback idea for a weak victim ideology.
“But but! Don’t you support diversity??!?!" Yeah, I do, but is that even a thing these days? People of all kinds are everywhere in places like America, Canada, the UK, Europe, and Australia. You can come from any background, work hard enough and move up the social ladder. Your rights are protected as a black, white, native, Latin, Asian, LBGTQ+, etc. Let’s move on to bigger, more critical topics and stop picking at ourselves like a chicken in a cage. The earth is burning up, wages are stagnant, and house/cost of living is out of control. Get outraged about that, bitches.
When it comes to gender and sexuality, we’re told there are no lines, anything goes! Yet the rainbow horde continues to whine and complain about wanting equal rights. Yet….. they have them. They have so many rights it's crazy. And the gay and lesbian community fought for a long time to get the right to marry, the right to be open, and not be discriminated against. Mission achieved! Yet now we’ve got this new wave of rainbow victims who don’t just want equal rights but demand that society fawns over them. Demand that we love their horrible art or flat writing simply because they are part of the rainbow.
It doesn’t work like that for me. If I’m paying money for a movie, art, a book, anything it has to be good because it is good. I don’t give a fuck about who you’re fucking, I want a goddamn book with vibrant characters and a solid storyline. If you can’t deliver and have to use your so-called gender ID as a crutch I’m not interested, and a lot of other people won’t be either. (Many are just too polite or scared to say it out loud.) You shouldn’t be famous for wearing women’s clothing, it's stupid. Remember when only women wore dresses and then some dared to wear pants? Women didn’t suddenly get book deals because they “cross-dressed” and wore damn pants!
This is my theory, sure it’s a little silly, but hear me out. Since around the time the #metoo movement picked up steam it’s been toxic to be a white man. Society tells white guys to shut up we don’t care about you. Stop publishing white guys! We HATE WHITE MEN! …..So white men, being natural conquerors, decided enough is enough. They put on dresses and claimed to be transwomen and now society adores them again! Oh-my-gawd, they are so brave for wearing lipstick. Suddenly all of those subpar writers that couldn’t get anyone to care about their books have legions of fans all because they crossdress. And to ensure they get even with all of the evil “cis women” who turned against them they don’t just want to be left alone to frolic like little girls in fields, but they want to dominate society because, after all, they are just white guys in dresses. They can’t help themselves! Pillage, conquer, and fight is just what white guys do, whether they are in a dress or not.
Writing and the arts have always been friendly toward weirdos, gays, people of color, etc. Artists love eccentric people, unique people, and yes they even love people who fall into the LGBTQ+ category and yet suddenly we’re supposed to believe they need their own special anthologies/genres to support their rainbow-ness? You know what? I wouldn't care, everyone has to be interested in something even if it’s limited by gender identity or whatever. If I find a great story by a member of the rainbow community, cool. I love Ariel Gore who happens to be openly queer. But her books don't revolve around only that topic. She is a diverse and interesting person who is a fucking amazing writer.
…..But when I read most stories by people who are simply known as LGBTQ+ authors, I feel bad for the characters in sometimes even bad for the authors. They tend to create these flat, one-dimensional characters that are often victims, have nothing else going on, and are obsessed with their sexuality/gender identity. That is it. What a limited existence. These people have nothing going on other than feeling like a victim, feeling self-loathing, or feeling constantly threatened by outside forces, etc….
Do you know what I love? A really good story where the character just happens to be LGBTQ+ and the story doesn’t revolve around it. What if you wrote a story where the character was trans but we as the reader didn’t even know about it until halfway through the book because it was a horror story and the main character being trans wasn’t important????? Or if the story revolves around the character's sexuality fine, but make it a good story and stop playing the weak victim card. People hate victims. Do you know why? Because no one wants to be one in real life. So when they read about one they want that victim do fucking do something about it. Maybe do something they feel IRL they can’t do. They want the victim to fight back, find happiness, take revenge, fucking do something other than be a flat, powerless, victim. Wah-wah….
I loved Silence of the Lambs because it’s just good. The story does have Buffalo Bill killing women to wear their skins because he is a disturbed wanna-be transexual. But the story doesn’t explore his “past trauma” or why he thinks he is a woman trapped in a man’s body. It’s just a part of an overall larger story.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show blurs plenty of gender lines but the characters are fun and likable, and there is a damn plot and catchy music. We don’t see Tim Curry complaining that Rocky is transphobic because he wants to get it on with Janet.
The point is, books and movies used to be popular because they were good (usually) not because they were written by or featured members of the rainbow horde. Now we’re supposed to love someone just because they are “queer” and dismiss someone just because they are “cis” and talent or ideas are supposed to play no part.
Society is bullshit. Society has bad taste. I want something to read or watch that is good and I don’t care who wrote it. I don’t want even to know your gender politics. I just want your art to speak for itself. And if your art has nothing to say I don’t think you deserve fame and praise just because of your alliance with the rainbow alphabet (can I even use the word ‘alphabet’ or is alpha too masculine?!)
People are all the same straight, gay, or otherwise. If people who claim they want equality then bitch when they aren’t elevated above the rest of us boring people for being ‘non-binary’ then they have a more serious issue to deal with, which is narcissism. The plague of the modern century.
I won’t even get into how narcissistic is to insist on being called “they/them” when you’re a single. fucking. person. Or demand that people call you one thing when you are clearly something else. I’m not taking part in your fantasy world. Deal with it.
See the rant is already happening and needs to be nipped in the bud.
The End.