Another gay-straight double standard
Remember when Britney Spears was 16, totally hot and topping the charts? Remember her skimpy, Catholic school girl uniform?
People went crazy. Men from 8 to 80 took notice. Older guys, they were called “dirty.”
Take good-looking young men, put them in the same Hollywood, music and media spotlight and, duh, there will still be men from 8 to 80 turning their heads. Except, this time, the older men are called pedophiles.
Well, that’s what at least one music fanatic thinks:
The Jonas Brothers are an unstoppable force, I get it. I heard “Burning Up” played twice at a gay bar this weekend, which makes me think the DJ was a Boy Scout going for his pedophile badge.
Pedophile? No, I don’t think so. There’s not a single member of the Jonas Brothers who is a “child.”
Kevin Jonas will be 21 in November. Joe Jonas turned 19 Aug. 15. Nick Jonas will be 16 on Sept. 16.
There was a lot of talk when Kevin and Joe “became legal” — how they noticed a lot of mothers who started dressing up for the concerts and falling head over heels for them in same fashion as their teeny-bopper daughters.
I bet we won’t hear similar talk when Nick turns 16. In North Carolina and several other states, 16 — not 18 — is the age of consent.
And, I wonder…are the legions of heterosexual mothers fawning over the Jonas Brothers pedophiles, too? Or does this apply only to gay men?
But this double standard between gays and straights annoys me. A 40-year-old man experiences a completely uncontrollable reaction to 16-year-old Britney Spears and he is simply a “dirty old man.”
If a gay man experiences the same for a 16-year-old Nick (or even a 21-year-old Kevin or 19-year-old Joe, for that matter), he’s called a “pedophile.”
I’m tired of my life, loves and desires being compared to criminals who take advantage of and rape the innocence of helpless victims like children.
It’s shit like this that just pisses me off.™
By the way… the new Rolling Stone cover is barely “child-like.”
About the Author: Matt
9 Responses to “Another gay-straight double standard”
To be fair, I think that the use of “pedophile” had nothing to do with it being a gay man in question and more to do with the fact that two of these “attractive” dudes are teenagers.
I don’t think the person was questioning anyone’s “lifestyle”. . .I think they were saying it’s creepy that older people (guys, girls, whatever) are fawning over these people barely past puberty.
And, to be fair, I think it’s creepy whether it’s guys, girls, gays, straights, whatever.
By Sarah on Aug 18, 2008
Just as there are historical, cultural and social implications made if a white person were to call a black person “lazy,” there are also such implications when a person connects gay men with the word “pedophile,” or pedophillic behavior.
History is replete with examples of gay men being maligned by connecting or comparing them to child molesters and pedophiles.
Sarah said: I don’t think the person was questioning anyone’s “lifestyle”. . .I think they were saying it’s creepy that older people (guys, girls, whatever) are fawning over these people barely past puberty.
That might be true, but never have I seen heterosexual women compared to pedophiles. Hardly ever, in instances like this, are heterosexual men compared to pedophiles. However, gay men are immediately pegged as such.
Sarah, I agree: There is something creepy about extremely older people taking interest in barely legal teens. Trust me, I agree with you, but there is a larger history at work here. If this history didn’t exist, the tone of this conversation would be completely different.
Also, I didn’t appreciate the writer’s second (perhaps unintentionally) anti-gay comparison: Gay leaders or members in the Boy Scouts are pedophiles.
By Matt on Aug 18, 2008
I should also add, on a technical language note: The word “pedophile” was never used correctly by the writer anyway. A pedophile is a person with sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children, not adolescents.
It is the same type of sloppy word usage the media is guilty of during their coverage of the Mark Foley scandal (liberally tossing about “pedophile” outside of its defined usage/meaning).
By Matt on Aug 18, 2008
WTF is a Jonas Brother?
By Robert on Aug 18, 2008
Haha… In the same vein as “High School Musical” and Hannah Montana… they’re another Disney creation that, surprisingly, is having some level of success outside of the tweeny- and teeny-bopper crowds.
More: http://www.jonasbrothers.com
By Matt on Aug 18, 2008
I tend to agree it’s a bit disturbing on both accounts, just because “they look like little kids to me”…. that said, someday we will look back and see how we treated LGBT people in the same respect we do to other minorities, and be ashamed.
By liv on Aug 18, 2008
I must not be up on my PC speak, because I wouldn’t think twice about calling a black person lazy if they. . .were lazy.
By Sarah on Aug 18, 2008
I think the stereotyping comes into play because who’s to say the DJ ever actually saw a picture of the Jonas Brothers or even knows anything about them beyond their music?
When I do manage to make it into a bar, I don’t often recognize the song being played and even less often do I know the artist’s name. I would imagine the DJ would be aware, but it’s certainly jumping to conclusions that the DJ would play a song just because he thought the artist was hot. The music better be hot, or the DJ will be unemployed.
By Pepe Johnson on Aug 19, 2008
I tend to agree with Pepe, in that it’s the music and not the artist that often attracts the people. What would this “music fanatic” say if this music was being played in a straight bar? Yes, there is a double standard by many of the unknowing homophobes out there.
By juanito on Aug 19, 2008