What’s the Most Stereotypical Singer Stereotypical Gay Guys Are Into?

[Callum]

I thought Streisand...but...wasn't listed so I went with Cher.

 

[thiskidd24]

uhhh janet and mariah? more so than kelly clarkson or rihanna

 

[NineOfClubs]

Liza Minelli, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland. C'mon now! Those are the Gay goddesses!

What he said!

 

[MentalFirewall]

Damn!

I didn't even know she had that many albums...

She's got more. I haven't added some 15 - 20 others to iTunes...
There were about 63 or something on the folder where I have them, but that's counting movie and broadway musical soundtracks, compilations and live performances.

 

[CoolguyAT]

I for one have never ever equated Britney with the gay community - Britney is a talentless piece of trash and in my opinion is no where in the same league as Madonna, Gaga, or Kelly Clarkson.

Oh and I voted for Madonna! Although I do love me some Lady Gaga and Kelly Clarkson!

 

[wenchine-mahtapasikan]

Uhmmm, but she's not a singer, and most of the people listed don't command "booty girls". Nor does she - i mean, she's got some GREAT vids with great dances, but they don't all center on ass jiggling "video vixens". She's been featuring a couple of kid dancers since the fourth album; been doing general/group dances since the third.

Oh, and Missy Elliott became noticed for her finger waves and doing her first vid in a blown up trash bag suit... other than that, she's never been a fashionista - and i say this as a HUGE fan of hers. After the third CD, she's been a strict b-girl - nothing wrong with that, but she's never had a Gaga or Cher moment(or hell, even a Bjork moment) as far as fashion goes.

I mean, if all you have to do is be black, curvy, sing on a couple songs, know and love your body and be "thought of" as gay while still talking about men, lets add Queen Latifah to the fray as well.

I think that counts as singing, there's much more, but not all of those cuts make it onto youtube because the simultaneous rapper/singer thing can be little risky. I'm sure you know as a bigger fan though, I've just had Missy fever recently. I love her funkiness. However, while her voice is pretty solid, her sung lyrics are more boring (maybe because they lack the unique delivery of her rap) save Sock it 2 me and two others I can't name right now.
I think some gay people do iconize Queen Latifah, not as many as would Gaga or Cher because she lacks their avant-garde-ness (let's not forget whiteness), but I've known some whites who do the same. It's not exactly an inimitable formula for iconicity, same for the fashionista "it" girl formula (Miley Cyrus tried, Badu and Jill dabble in it with their hair, more Badu than Jill, Kesha, Roisin Murphy, Annie Lennox etc.) or epic singing diva formula (Whitney, Celine, Deborah Cox), I think it's just a matter of who gets presented in front of the gay crowd at the right time with the right pitch. I'm not saying all curvy women in love w/ their bodies who are mysterious sexually ARE gay icons, but they are easily predisposed to being so with the right pitch. I think (thinking, that's where the trouble begins) though, that the strong-black-woman archetype even with the possible lesbian element, is getting a little tired. I feel they're all starting to look like this to their audience:

I think her booty girls play pretty big roles as her sexuality surrogates, not all the time, but to a significant degree. Using them as sexuality surrogates not only puts their skin out a little more, it adds to this psuedo-lezz mystique of hers. I think the gays like the lezz mystique because it makes them unavailable to the straight men that bother us a lot (not universal, but a recurring pattern, straight guys not as in with gays) while simultaneous confident enough to appear desirable to these taunted guys.
There's also a Freudian (I mostly hate Freud though) argument for sexual ego ideals. A lot of effeminate gay men, according to this theory, see themselves in contrast with their formative ego ideal of "normal" man and compensate by seek female ego ideals with these same traits that they themselves lack. They do it in men sexually as well (ACCORDING TO THE THEORY!!!). I think there is some non-universal truth to this. A lot of queens enjoy manliness in their men, whose to say they don't like it in their divas?
Gaga has it, possibly too much. Cher has it, you just need to listen to her after the 70's. Britney may even have it in a form of sexual virility. Not biggest Britney fan, so I cannot easily substantiate this argument.
You say "If all you have to do" like it's a common occurrence for blacks to do that. While the curviness has caught on like wildfire, I think we're both well aware of the religiously seated homophobia in the black community. Queen Latifah's still hardly out, though she hardly talked about men while she was in to your credit. While, as Gloria Gaynor before her, she may not associate as closely with her gay fans, I think they wouldn't mind associating more with her.
Oh yeah, she has been a b-girl, no doubt. But being a b-girl doesn't mean you have no gay following, it's just proportionally smaller. While much of gay culture can be glued to the radio, there's culture queerness that looks deeper. At my school Missy Elliot is a staple of the flamer clique. The only thing that gets a bigger rise out of them on the dance floor was Party in the U.S.A.
In conclusion, not saying that Missy Elliot is a staple of the entire gay community, I just believe for a rapper she has a very significant gay following. She's not just a hollow gay stereotype with nothing else to her, but I feel it's there. Interesting profile pic btw, you've got a nice face, too, but you scare me.
See ya around.

 

[954dude]

Top Queens - Madonna, Cher, Judy, Liza, Barbara
Dance - Madonna, Janet
Latin - J.Lo, Shakira, Britney
R&B/Urban - Patti, Janet, Beyonce, Whitney
Pop - Britney, GaGa, Kylie

 

[bluedragon4]

You can't really say. It's a generational thing. 60's would be Barbara, 70's is Cher, 80's Madonna, 90's Britney, Than Beyonce, now it's Lady Ga Ga. And I don't think Kelly Clarkson is a big gay icon. Maybe for lesbians. She's 2 big a mess for the gays to follow. If you are looking for big queens in the audience than that would be my list above.

 

[wenchine-mahtapasikan]

^I think you missed the entire point of my post, and then - once again - blurred around the issue by adding WAY too many words and theories that quite frankly don't work.

I mentioned she sings on a couple of songs, and then you listed songs that she sings on... which doesn't do anything but enforce my point(if you want more, off the top of my head, there is Hit Em Wit Tha Hee, Crazy Feelings, Mr. Dj, One Minute Man, Toys, Pussycat, and then if you delve further into her career, you'll know she was in the R&B group, Sista. But all this still reinforces my point - as many songs are there are with her singing, there are near triple when she isn't). Telling me her sung songs are boring is moot; there are MANY, MANY, MANY pop songs that are boring, trite, and useless... but with a movable, dance-enabling beat, they get regular rotation(Telephone by Gaga, for instance).

You lost me on the whole "white girl fashionista" tip only because you're lost on how that relates to Missy Elliott, in which apparently, it doesn't. Again, enforcing the point that i don't think that she's a force in fashion - and she's not.

Using booty girls in a rap video does not lend itself to Freud. It's par for the course. It's possible to list SEVERAL female rappers that also have had female dancers in their videos - Mia X and Trina instantly come to mind. Some people may think that by casting females for a female performer suggests lesbianism, but to me it suggest that they're pulling in male watchers in a male dominated scene.

I don't know what the rest of your bullshit has to do with Missy Elliott, so i'll stop there and say, yes, i happen to scare a lot of people with my look; good for me. Shoulda seem with a REAL mohawk, i'd probably be even more scary.

Par for the course of hell.

First of all your face and look don't scare me, I think they're emo-y, but cute.
It's your condescending posts that scare me. I thought I'd make a compliment sandwich, but I don't know you well enough to make another compliment.
Just as I was apparently lost on your post, I believe you are lost on mine, you are counter arguing several assertion I did not make. I agree with some of what your saying though, but my point stands, not that you took the time to discern what the point was, though I did make it hard with my excessive theorizing. These theories didn't come out my ass though, I've heard them and synthesized them from other places.

What do you mean by par for the course of hell? If you mean that we're gonna keep arguing don't worry, you've clearly already written me off, so no point in further debating. You win as always... *bows to his dark chocolate superior*

To clarify a few of my points that you smudged:
I agree that the mere presence of booty girls is usually a ploy to to attract straight male attention, but not always. The girls of Top Model are pretty scantily clad, but the main viewership is the gaze of the gays. I cite the booty girls because they almost act as sexual surrogates for Missy as she herself is not as sexualized as, say, Trina or Lil' Kim.
I'm saying that the fashionista angle is just as played as the strong, sistah girl angle in the battle for gay attention. However, neither of these angles are rendered invalid for the volume of people playing at them. When you said Queen Latifah would be an icon as well, which I feel she may be to small degree, the way you said it connoted both that you thought that the number of curvy, confident black women out there made my categorization of them as icons less valid, and that you think I'm an idiot. Which I am, but I also have low self-esteem, so it hurts when other people imply it *tear*.
I know more of her sung songs than those, I was merely making a point that singing is significant, though smaller part of her career. Estelle is still a singer/rapper even though in the States her singing gets way more attention. This was merely to place her in the category of "singer", in addition to "rapper" as some bios have.
As for Freud, that was an argument more about the lack of sexuality she places on herself in videos as many other female rappers have. Before the weight loss and outside of Lose Control there really is not much of her sexuality in the videos. The lyrics are a different story, like Work It. However, this sexuality is aggressive and virile to match her other somewhat masculine traits. The ego ideal argument is old, so I won't go explaining it all over again because you obviously don't give a fuck, but basically this virile top-ish sexuality and masculinity in a women makes her the ego ideal pair for the typical bottom-ish, recessive effeminate gay. He seeks her masculinity while she seeks his effeminate-ness. This is Freud, not me. However, I think this reigns true in ways for some relationships of icons with fans.
Feel free to tear this post and me to shreds, this is not that important to me.
Oh yeah, and as a partial utilitarian, I liked a post you made some place about being compassionate or willing to help (or s/t) w/o being empathetic. But I think you meant sympathetic, because you seemed detached but willing to give advice or something (obviously can't remember the thread I was lurking on, I think the started needed help with something, I lurk a lot). Being willing to help but unsympathetic is more altruistic because you don't need to feel guilty or compelled in order to what's logically right, and that takes more motivation. That's the second loaf (to thick for a slice) of bread in your compliment sandwich, not that you care about my "bullshit" and irrelevance.
I'mma go do what brought me here anyhoo, listen to Missy. Thanks for reminding me about Hit Em w/ Tha Hee. But I still can't remember the name of the song I wanted, it was slow, the video was kinda Japanese-y and there was more Aaliyah than normal. There were two other featured artists. One was a... Never mind, that sounds like all her videos minus the singing. It might've been about death or s/t though. Ah well.
Par on the course of futility, you not giving a shit about what I said anyways (minus my crappy wording), and lowering myself esteem. I think I'll be in the negative before sundown, lol.

 

[exceeder]

Naturally most of the singers mentioned are indeed gay icons! However, I am increadibly SHOCKED that nobody mentioned one of the most famous ones! She is even coming to Pride Toronto this year to sing a live show in Queens Park! Does anybody know who I'm talking about? None other then the great CYNDI LAUPER!! Common' gays, she's a true classic! 'Girls just wanna have fun~'

 

[hungprep]

I'm kind of curious as to who everyone thinks the 'stereotypal' (please, note correct spelling, BTW; a stereotype is the very opposite of anything 'typical') singer/gay icon was before Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand.

Sarah Vaughn? Ella Fitzgerald? Billie Holliday? Bessie Smith? Ethel Waters? Pearl Bailey?

How about Patsy Cline in the 50s? Anyone else?

I'd rather listen to any of those singers before all of the others (and, BTW, I think Christina Aguilera is probably the best pure singer of the lot, in spite of her uneven output). Though I can appreciate what she does, I'm not gaga for Gaga either!

 

[Paws]

Where's Justin Timberlake?

 

[miketlow]

Patti LaBelle should be on there too...

 

[jdbadboy]

I've notice a lot of guys like Sarah Brightman. I'm a Grace Jones fan myself.

 

[scrapple]

How could you possibly not include the biggest gay icon of all? The Divine Miss M, Bette Midler!

And any poll that doesn't include Judy, Liza or Barbara is a joke.

 

[innocentbychoice]

Madonna of course.

 

[Spiffy]

Wheres Mariah, Janet... patti, arethra, Celine?


rihanna? ... fergie?.... ROFL

I voted for madonna.. i mean she takes the cake for biggest gay following i would say.