Methinks the author (Jake Myers) is a bit too much a self-appointed apostle of the gehs. He couldn't even avoid using a Dorothy refernce for creds.
This paragraph is a good example.
"As exemplified in
The Velvet Rage, the gay man’s Bible that unfortunately still holds up today, gay men are often unconsciously driven for success and wealth as a way to overcompensate for feelings of unworthiness. After all, we can’t help but absorb messages in childhood that being gay is “different”, and sadly, “different” is often treated as 'less than' in our culture."
Where is the proof that this highly prejudicial statement from a licensed therapist is true? "Unconsciuosly driven for success" being attributable to self-esteem issues unique to gays? Shall we skip over all the obvious motivations in common with straight men, including low self-esteem, and blame the gayness? Ambition and drive are the hallmark of the "American Dream." Social success is a part of it.
Maybe gay men, predominantly single for the most part, for the 20th century and even now, might have even
more incentive to become financially independent, knowing we have no partners or progeny to fall back on in old age, and many having been shunned to some degree by family. But we don't have data to prove that either. More speculative navel-gazing.
And I eagerly call BULLSHIT on any book claiming to be "the gay man's Bible." How arrogant and insipid a claim is that? I'd wager over half of men identifying in 2023 in the US would not even accept the term "velvet" as a word they'd accept to describe them. It's unsurprising to find this author as a Californian pontificating about the larger, very diverse gay population.
On the other hand, it's good to read a variety of gay perspectives, but not have to ascribe to them.
The use of the term "power gay" just sounds like more diva slang, a type of virtue signal among urbanites.
www.queerty.com
