Section: Gender and Communication
THE QUEERNESS OF GAY ANGELS: A QUEER THEORETICAL INQUIRY INTO THE POLITICS OF SEXUALITY OF PERFUME GENIUS.
Frederik DHAENENS, Ghent University
With the release of his second album, Perfume Genius – the artist persona of Mike Hadreas – has gained international attention in the music press. He is lauded for his piano-centred pop songs, which are generally described as fragile, intimate, and personal and he is specifically supported for the way he addresses sexuality in his songs and his artist persona. However, the gay identity of Mike Hadreas and the representations of same-sex intimacy in the music culture he produces are not free from debate or controversy. Exemplary was the removal from Youtube of an advertisement clip for the new record, in which the young artist hugs an older man, because the clip was argued to depict sexual themes of an adult nature. From a queer theoretical perspective, this act exposes the ubiquity of heteronormativity in contemporary Western society.
Queer theorists (Butler, 1999; Halberstam, 2005; Warner, 1999) interpret heteronormativity as the discursive power granted to the compulsory heterosexual matrix in Western society. The matrix relies upon fixed notions of gender, sexuality, and identity, and veils its constructedness and anomalies by feigning universality and rendering the heteronormative discourse hegemonic. In this way, it succeeds in depreciating, despising, or excluding those who do not comply with or conform to the demands of the heteronormative discourse materialized in institutions (e.g., marriage), practices (e.g., reproduction), and a rigid set of norms and values (e.g. stability, monogamy, longevity). Even though the advertisement clip did not feature any explicit representation of sexual activity, the imagination of LGBTs as sexually active is considered morally disruptive for the hegemonic position of the institutions, practices, norms, and values that privilege the heterosexual ideal.
As popular culture is yet another socio-cultural realm that takes part in consolidating heteronormativity, it is important for media scholars to focus on the articulations of queerness within popular culture – those performances, representations, expressions that resist heteronormativity. In negotiating homosexuality in his artist persona, his music, his cover artwork, and his videos, Perfume Genius deploys politics of sexuality that may have the potential to resist crucial aspects of heteronormativity.
Within the scope of this study, politics of sexuality are conceptualized as referring to the praxis and representation of sexual identities and desires, and to socio-cultural and political-legal aspects related to sexuality. Yet, the expressions or representations of homosexuality alone do not suffice to unsettle the heterosexual ideal: to resist, they need to be articulated as queer. Hence, the question that prompts is twofold; what kind of politics of sexuality does Perfume Genius deploy and to what extent do they challenge heteronormativity. Put otherwise, I inquire how the artist negotiates sexuality in his music – ranging from lyrics that address homosexuality, over homo-erotic imagery in his artwork and videos, to aspects of his musical performances that connote homosexuality – and whether these negotiations articulate queerness. To this end, I conduct a qualitative textual analysis of a selection of the material produced by Perfume Genius.