But the dynamic remains in western culture.” The women have changed – it’s no longer Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland. Queens would come to a Judy Garland concert and then scream at her when she was too drunk to finish it. These actions have a distinct edge of mockery, the air of a joke that their subject is not in on.ĭr Michael Bronski, a Harvard University professor and the author of books on queer history and gay culture says “There is a long history of gay male fan culture latching onto famous women and then turning on them. Perhaps in that model, the Spears T-shirt could be read as a show of solidarity, a knowing acknowledgment of her pain and our understanding? But there was nothing knowing in the way another gay fan photoshopped an umbrella into his meet and greet photo with the unwitting star and later circulated it online. One theory of the gay fan-diva link is that of shared oppression – gay men and women are both ground under the wheel of hetero-patriarchy. Scratch lightly at the surface and what flakes off is, yes, reciprocity and genuine affection, but also callous misogyny. Photograph: Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Imagesīut “unconditional” is often precisely what this love is not. Propped up by her gay fan base? Britney Spears.
