Writer and
blogger Robert Jones, Jr. (AKA Son of Baldwin) gets Facebook trolls freaking out
about the perceived “gayness” of the above photo of Michael B. Jordan and
his Creed director Ryan Coogler all the way together
in a piece for The Grio.
The two men
posed together for a recent Vanity Fair profile that lit social media afire when
Jones, Jr. posted it on the Son of Baldwin Facebook page. In the
words of Jones, the photo “portrays a kind of intimacy between the two men —
the two black men — that seemingly betrays the rules of
patriarchal masculinity.”
Apparently, the
pic is “a lil gay.”
Heterosexual
black male masculinity remains such a fragile thing for very complex reasons,
and this “controversy” certainly isn’t helping (note: hold off with the
pitchforks, this writer is black).
We’re not huge
fans of this new trend of creating stories based on what a few idiots think on
social media, but this deserves to be checked, and boy does Jones, Jr. check it:
This is
nonsense, of course; a careless, cherry-picked understanding of human existence
designed to give certain segments of our communities an inflated sense of
self-importance. Human sexuality is much more complex than they will ever
admit, and the ranges of genders and sexualities expressed in humankind
pre-date any attempt at supposed sociopolitical manipulation.
But I’ve been
told that it’s natural for black men, in particular, to panic about their
manhood and masculinity given America’s perennial violence against us. Perhaps
there’s some truth to and justification for that. But I wonder if we’re allowed
to interrogate that idea a little more. What I’m interested in knowing is whose
notions of manhood and masculinity we’re trying to emulate.
He goes even
deeper in the piece, which is really worth a read.
It will be nice
when a photo of two black men can just be a photo or, better yet, when
black men can playfully poke fun at gender norms and homoeroticism with the
glee of Channing Tatum or Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Until then,
black male sexuality will continue to be heavily policed, but at least voices
like Son of Baldwin exist to start a much delayed conversation.
No, looking into it too much.
ReplyDeleteI do dislike MBJ a lot, tho.
Thanks 4 opening the dialogue. First of all MBJ is gorgeous. M living 4 the picture. To me, it shows 2 brothas comfortable n whatever sexuality they r n2. We as men must b able 2 display vulnerability. I don't care what their sexuality is they r both fiyah!
ReplyDelete