In the world of celebrity, there is Beyoncé’s Beyhive, Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters and even Cassper Nyovest’s Tsibipians. I found myself a huge fan of the highly contentious Azalea Banks. The name of her fans is a very small part of the human body where the sun never shines that will get me a one-way ticket to the Press Ombudsman should it get published.
No, I am not talking about the Aussie-born rapper Igloo Australia. I am talking about the New York sharpshooter whose beef hit list includes heavyweights like Elon Musk and then-tween star, Skai Jackson. In one of her many interviews about her problematic rants, Miss Banks was questioned about calling a gay man the f-word during a Twitter missive. Azalea saw no problem with this for many reasons, but what stood out from her answer was the fact that gay men were just as oppressive as straight men.
To the straight eye, the gay gaze has a superior view on fashion. Gay men are allowed to dictate what makes you the best or worst dressed in the room. It comes as no surprise that this is enough to make women, who already exist under the male gaze, feel fraught by the fact that their clothing choices are akin to fashion terrorism.
As these voices in queer culture grow, they also get the opportunity to express their style. From television to the red carpet we get to consume more LGBTI+ entertainment that is often reminiscent of camp stars from the '80s. There are more members of the LGBTI+ community telling their stories through multiple spaces but are we scrutinising them just as much as their female counterparts?