Burnt Orange Report

Where's the Outrage?

By Byron LaMasters

I've been impressed with several of the opinion columns in the Daily Texan already this semester, and here's another. Rafael Mittlefehldt asks why is the right-wing not outraged over the kiss between Madonna and Britney Spears? Personally, I thought that it was pretty hot, but it's interesting that the right has been relatively quiet on it.

If there's one part of pop-culture that makes me think the world is going to hell, it's the recent exponential growth of reality shows. However, there are dozens of things about pop-culture that make me think the world is going to hell. This week, it was the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony.

Shows like this make me glad my little 13-inch isn't cable-ready. If you've read a newspaper, used the Internet or watched TV in the last week, you have seen the picture of Madonna French-kissing Britney Spears. If not, you were probably looking for it. Pervert.

I realized the other day why all the news about the kiss annoyed me so much. It's because the only media outlets reporting on it with any sort of enthusiasm are, say, MTV News or Teen People. These guys are in the entertainment business, and their brand of glossy fabu-reporting reflects that. That's fine, because that's what they're paid to do, but I realized I was only disappointed because I was looking for real political debate. Yet all the stories out there about the event have been about the actual kiss, not any reaction.

This silence is rather significant. There is no lamentation from the pope. There's no call to arms from Billy Graham. The president has not hinted that perhaps the Video Music Awards ought to be codified in some way. There aren't any stories about the reaction, because there isn't any reaction.

This might not seem so out of the ordinary, since it was just a stupid show that no one takes seriously anyway. Then again, there's almost always a very public reaction to publicized homosexual behavior. This time, an entire sector of the religious community known for stepping in at times like these has decided to leave the entertainment industry alone. Eerily enough, no one's made a sound. Why?

Well, I took a sociology class a couple years ago, so I know why. It's because the homoeroticism in question involved women rather than men.

A friend of mine pointed out that if it had been two guys kissing at the awards ceremony, people would've gone nuts. Religious leaders everywhere would have called thousands of press conferences to officially denounce MTV. Bill O'Reilly would be booked through next April. Millions of old people across America would have written letters to the editor.

The reason for this blatantly conditional response is simple: Lesbians are just a lot cooler than gay men - in the eyes of conservative America. Notice how a vast majority of religious and conservative political leaders are male. There's little need to explain this in any great detail. Regardless of their views on homosexuality, a photo of attractive women kissing probably affects them more than they're willing to admit. Lesbian eroticism is still highly popular among homophobes.

Besides, they do have a lot more biblical support than most people might believe. Think the Bible condemns all homosexuality? You'd be wrong. It only condemns male homosexuality. Look at Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a man as with a woman. That is an abomination." The passage is clearly speaking only to one gender. Similarly, the story of Sodom in Genesis, Chapter 19, only describes the attempted gang-rape of men by men. And yeah, there might be something in Romans 1:26 that mentions passive lesbianism, but two out of three is pretty good. The first two books are older anyway.

Clearly, homosexuality isn't really in question at all. Reverse sexism is the real issue. Men everywhere - gay or straight - should be unwilling to stand for this, and demand equal treatment from the subtly oppressive opposite sex.

We'll all be watching the awards ceremony closely next year. Only when Jack Black and Snoop Dogg make their own headlines can we be assured a victory.

Posted by Byron LaMasters at September 7, 2003 07:39 PM | TrackBack