Violent Femmes 2015

Kill Bill meets Suckerpunch meets Tron meets everything that is golden and sacred in this godforsaken land.

It’s a sticky August night, and I have a nine dollar beer in one hand and a glitter-glued poster reading “HARRY IS BAE” in the other. My stadium row, seats A-R, consists of three of my similarly outfitted friends, four harried-looking moms, one dad (heavily drinking), and nine girls under the age of fourteen.

I’m twenty-one years old, and I’m at a One Direction concert. I’m questioning my life choices, and I’m not quite sure why.

I’ve convinced myself that I’ve stockpiled enough indie cred to be here—I’ve seen from The Strokes to Kanye to The Avett Brothers, and I had GA passes to Bonnaroo for 48 hours before my sister-in-law told my mom about the acid trip she had there in ’08 and I had to sell my ticket on StubHub. I have every right to one night of bubblegum pop indulgence, but, still, I beg my friends to keep the photos we take off of all forms of social media.

I truly love One Direction—they’ve got catchy songs and an English charm that’s fun and quirky, and, as my sign professes, I think that Harry Styles is a pretty cool guy. I love this band, but, usually, it’s in secret—a guilty pleasure behind closed doors. But why am I so guilty about loving something that brings me such joy?

Why have I been taught that I should hate One Direction?

A quick Google search of “What do you think of 1D” yields a slew of visceral comments. Some of my favorites:

in which Jimmy gets hyperbolic and lazy,

in which Hannah massively dates herself to prove she’s “not like other girls”,

and in which Bee C unknowingly nails it.

We live in an era that devalues teen girls and the things that they enjoy. Gayle Wald, a cultural theorist and Professor of English at The George Washington University, calls it a “high/low hierarchy” of consumer taste based around notions of the changeability, superficiality, and artistic bankruptcy of the material forms that girls’ desires take in popular culture. In a patriarchal society, young girls aren’t meant to be purveyors of culture—they’re seen as too fickle, too shallow, and unable to value things for reasons other than aesthetics.

When teen girls have the social agency to like what they like and influence others to like what they like, however, they become powerful agents of consumerism; their preferences can dictate what sells and what doesn’t and wholly change the landscape of an industry through broad shifting of taste. In terms of the music industry, a mass of screaming girl-fans poses a threat to the established authority—that of the male rock critic, who presides from the likes of Rolling Stone or NME and decries All Those Who Are Not Beck. And when Those Who Are Not Beck challenge NME man’s sovereignty, there are critical backlashes—notably, One Direction had the distinct honor of winning “Worst Band” at the NME awards in 2012, despite that year being the first UK group in history to debut at number one with their first album on the U.S. charts

The landmark achievement—which even legends like The Spice Girls and, yes, The Beatles never attained—was naturally accompanied by huge commercial success, with over five million copies of each of their first three albums sold in three years. A slew of endorsements and branded products followed, from Super Bowl ads with Pespi to two cloying fragrences to a line of scarily inaccurate Barbie dolls, one of which I was gifted for Christmas one year and, ever since, my mom has given a creepy sticky note every time I’ve come home for an academic break. Every. Time.

Such widespread branding leads to cries of sellouts! money machines! chiefly, concerns of inauthenticity. Brought together by the infamous Simon Cowell on the UK hit-show The X-Factor, it’s no surprise that a random assortment of five teenage boys haphazardly thrown together in a pop band on a reality show should need media training, but this is often one of the major bones of contention that One Direction haters are quick to point out—that they’re over-produced by executives, management teams, or Auto-Tune. A hugely orchestrated production team sends signals that heavy marketing and image-pruning are at work.

Overproduction and overexposure, however, seems of little concern to young female fans, who again use their (parents’) buying power to stock up on singing toothbrushes and branded makeup (an admittedly odd choice of licensed product for a band who famously croons “Don’t need makeup/to cover up” in their most popular single). And inauthenticity of marketing is trumped by the earnest realism of the band members themselves, who, in the early days of their stardom used personal Twitter accounts and online video diaries to seemingly personally communicate with fans, even if wasn’t in a one-on-one correspondence.

Music videos, too, forged connections between idols and the idolizers, with 2012’s cringe-worthy “Gotta Be You” a perfect example of a tender willingness to appeal to teen girl sensibilities.

The boys moodily travel, in carefully non-coordinated but complimentary outfits, to a dreamy campsite to croon to their jilted loves “Don’t be scared/I ain’t going nowhere”. The video is carefully devoted and crucially nonsexual, providing a place for girls to project their developing desires, conflicts, and insecurities onto an image of nonthreatening masculinity. Girls have a choice, too, in the object of their desire, as each member represents a different kind of figure—Harry’s the cheeky one, Zayn (goodnight, sweet prince) is brooding and mysterious, Liam is dependable, Louis is funny, and Niall’s the cute one. Each role explores a form of romantic instruction that has the potential to be a powerful source of the domestication of female sexual desire, envisioning girls with social agency and the ability to break boys’ hearts—a power that hinges on their ongoing definition as objects of male desire.

One Direction, then, subverts heteronormative paradigms as objects of female desire, which Wald asserts is an important source of their success with fans, who use it to negotiate their own fluid gender and sexual desires. It can be confounded by outsiders as “girlish masculinity” or male femininity, in the deliberately nonsexual but homosocial nature of their presentation—coordinating color schemes, dance moves, even the close physical and emotional contact of members that subsequently constructs male fan desire as homoerotic even as it both shapes and serves the erotic desires of straight girl fans. In straight males, this identification with male femininity or the homosocial aspects of an all-male group provokes anxiety that typically manifests as disdain for the group as a whole and a perpetuation of its alleged queerness (Wald). The obsession of speculative homosexuality within boy bands is not only grossly homophobic, but conflates homophobia (expressed particularly as the fear of male homosexuality) with a misogynist contempt for girls and girls’ pleasure.

And since I hate nothing more than misogyny, I decree: Fuck it. I love One Direction. Their concert was one of the best I’ve ever been to, and I could actually see because everyone, for once in my life, was smaller than me. The quote of the night went to a twelve year old in the parking lot: “I saw their faces…and now I’m a changed woman.” Girl, if that’s what it takes, then so be it. 1D changed me, too.

Works Cited:

Johnston, Maura. “The Enduring Allure of Boy Bands.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Dec. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Moos, Jennifer J. “Boy Bands, Drag Kings, and the Performance of (Queer) Masculinities.” Transposition. Centre De Recherches Sur Les Arts Et Le Langage, 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Wald, Gayle. “‘I Want It That Way’: Teenybopper Music and the Girling of Boy Bands.” Genders Online Journal 35 (2002): 1-21. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Almost 40 years after winning gold at the 1976 Olympics, Bruce Jenner is being hailed for another accomplishment. Jenner, former Olympian turned TV reality star, came out as a transgender woman. His 2 hour interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC was viewed by more than 17 million people. Many sources have described Jenner as the most famous openly transgender American. Jenner’s public announcement may be the most prolific event in 2015, a year that CNN described as “the year when the term ‘transgender’ fully entered mainstream consciousness”.

Jenner’s announcement joins many other important moments in the transgender community during 2015. “Transparent,” an Amazon Studios’ television series revolving around a family and their lives after they find out their father is transgender, won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, while Jeffrey Tambor won Best Actor in a Television Series. Transgender actress Laverne Cox, a star in “Orange is the New Black,” appeared on the cover of Time Magazine last year and was recently cast in a new Drama on CBS. The transgender population is becoming more prevalent in American culture, which will hopefully lead to greater acceptance. Hayden Mora, a transgender man and Deputy Chief of Staff at the Human Rights Campaign, believes that “the more people who know transgender people, the more they will understand, accept and support us. That happens only if they acknowledge our humanity, and not treat us like tabloid fever.”

Acknowledgement of a person’s humanity does not simply mean acknowledgement of their existence. The transgender community will not achieve this until there is equality in America. Cox, a prominent supporter of Jenner, pointed out that to achieve this equality, “Structural change and policy change is really what needs to happen so the lives of all trans people will be better.” The hope is, however, that the increasing visibility of transgender people in the community will lead to these changes.

Although Jenner’s story increased visibility of the transgender community in the public eye, his story is unique. According to the Transgender Law and Policy Institute, an estimated 2% to 5% of the global population is transgender (i.e., experience some degree of gender dysphoria). The number of people who identify as transsexual and undergo sex-reassignment is significantly smaller. The point is that most of the challenges faced by trans people are not reflected in Jenner’s story. Violence and unemployment are some of the biggest challenges faced by the transgender community that Jenner has not had to deal with. The Trans Student Equality Resources (TSER) states that approximately 80% of trans students feel unsafe at school because of their gender expression. Of that 80% of gender non-conforming students, 60% experienced verbal harassment in the past year because of their gender expression, compared to 29% of their peers. Poverty is also a massive problem in the trans community. Injustice at Every Turn, a report of the national transgender survey, found that transgender respondents are nearly four times more likely to have a household income of less than $10,000. They are unemployed at twice the rate of the general population.

A large part of the violence and discrimination against the transgender community can be attributed to lack of understanding. Gender changes can be challenging for everyone involved, not just the individual going through the transformation. Less than half (45%) of the respondents in Injustice at Every Turn reported that their family is as strong as it was before coming out at transgender. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of respondents experienced flat out family rejection. The acceptance of family plays a large role in the life of the individual after coming out. Family acceptance is strongly connected with a range of positive outcomes while family rejection is connected with negative outcomes. Those individuals who were rejected by family members had considerably elevated negative outcomes including homelessness (three times as frequent), sex work (double the rate), and suicidality (almost double) compared to those that were accepted by their family members. At the end of last year in a case that made national headlines, transgender Ohio teen Leelah Alcorn committed suicide after her parents refused to acknowledge her wish to live as a girl. Transgender people are still subject to a great deal of discrimination and violence. Greater acceptance is needed and long overdue.

So this leads to the question posed by CNN: What impact will Bruce Jenner’s story have on all this? This question remains unanswered but speculation is two fold. Riki Wilchins, a former transgender activist and author of 3 books on queer theory, believes Jenner’s story will have a positive impact. “Civil rights for minorities come in fits and starts,” says Wilchins. “We are on an upswing now.” Despite this, Wilchins does admit that Jenner’s platform for coming out may have some negative impacts as well. “We’re talking about a civil rights issue that keeps getting recast as entertainment.”

Christina Kahrl, an ESPN writer and editor who publicly transitioned in 2003, has mixed emotions about Jenner’s announcement. Christina sees the announcement as a good thing because it advertises trans people leading positive and happy lives. That being said, the majority of the transgender community is not famous or wealthy. National focus on famous transgender people is “just an element of identity that can be defining for trans people, but it’s not all we are.” Amy Stone, associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Trinity University, believes this public announcement will have negative impacts. “Usually these moments tap into pre-existing panics about gender or sexuality, not necessarily spawning new ones.”

So far, the cultural outcome of Bruce Jenner’s announcement is unclear. The majority of initial support following the announcement has been positive. There has been an outpouring of support online applauding Jenner for his bravery. The increase in visibility and awareness of trans people is undeniable. The question is, will this visibility transfer to equality for the transgender people? Will it result in social and political change? The lesbian and gay community went through a similar situation when Ellen DeGeneres’ public coming out on the Oprah Winfrey Show put a public face on the challenges faced by individuals. Now, 18 years after the increased public visibility created by Ellen, the Supreme Court is looking at four cases about whether or not the Constitution gives same-sex couples the right to marry, regardless of where they live.

Obviously, Ellen DeGeneres is not solely responsible for this achievement. It has taken a lot of hard work and sacrifice from a great many people over the last couple of decades. Ellen was a large part of the visibility though, coming out the same way Jenner did on national TV. It will be interesting to see how the story of the transgender community unfolds. While it might not happen overnight, increased visibility from recent events in the media shows that the journey for transgender equality is on the right track.

In the night I call you up and / wanna know when you’re coming home. / Don’t deny me; call me back, / I’m so alone. // In the night I wait up for you, / even though you don’t want me to. / Go to bed and leave the lights on. / What’s the use?