"Nas’s project, though, is to move past the mainstream and publicly acceptable practice of queerness, which is often so divorced from actual sexual pleasure that it can feel neutered. It’s one thing to accept a gay person, as many do, by ignoring what we do behind closed doors. But it’s quite another to embrace gay people as sexual beings, who can also enact an identity — just as straight people so proudly, publicly and lucratively do — in part through sex itself."

Jazmine Hughes on Lil Nas X for the New York Times

https://nyti.ms/3wrkYLf

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@queerstudies

The Subversive Joy of Lil Nas X’s Gay Pop Stardom

A peek into a hot boy summer filled with new highs, disappointment and growth.

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Contd.

"Unlike many of his predecessors, Nas’s claim to his sexuality is explicit. He does not, say, sing love songs with elided pronouns. This is a man who has sex with other men. Even within the queer community, to have a young, strong, Black man openly identify as a bottom — a feminized position that’s often the target of misogynistic ire — is rare, a subversion of both power structures and social codes. It’s one thing to claim it; it’s another to brag about it: 'I might bottom on the low,' he has sung, 'but I top shit.'"