On Tuesday, like every October 11, the national day of coming out of the closet was celebrated in the United States. But Madonna, who has been hardened in anticipating trends, posted a video a few hours earlier on her TikTok profile: “If I fail I’m gay!” It could be read in red letters on some images in which the singer, 64 years old, throwing a pair of panties into a garbage can. She was failing. Although the interpreter of fashion has alluded to his sexuality in the past (“I think everyone has a bisexual nature,” he told the magazine in 1991). advocate), in the public eye she has only dated men. The TikTok video it was explicit enough and lacking in context at the same time to leave many of his followers disoriented. Did the queen of pop just come out of the closet or was it a joke?
Madonna is not the only one who has used TikTok during the event to declare herself non-heterosexual through a game. Shay Mitchell, 35-year-old actress popular for her role in the series Pretty Little Liars in Spain), published a video with the following printed text: “If you are bisexual, do you have a green velvet sofa?”. Her video showed her looking at the camera before showing off her green velvet sofa. The also actress and model Emily Ratajkowski answered with another similar video. Like Madonna, the two of them have only had public relations with men, something that can be attributed to the presumption of heterosexuality or the need to protect their careers in a work environment that can still be hostile.
For years, celebrities came out of the closet through interviews. His publicists would call a reporter, tell him he was ready to answer the question, and explain his story. Over time, the figure of the journalist, in these matters, began to be expendable. In 2010, singer Ricky Martin starred in the most mediatic coming out of the decade with a writing on his website. The artists then began to tell themselves, to dictate their narrative. Today nobody consults the website of a celebrity, but it is very likely that they follow him on social networks. It was there, on Instagram, where the singer Pablo Alborán explained a couple of years ago that he was homosexual with a seriousness that some of the younger users criticized. Being gay shouldn’t be a drama in 2020. Since then, social networks have mutated to be more and more visual, faster, less reflective. This has made coming out of the closet less dramatic and solemn today than it was a few years ago. It has almost become a trend or TikTok trend.
“Coming out of the closet should be treated with all the naturalness in the world,” explains Paula Iglesias, vice president of the LGTBI + State Federation, in a telephone conversation. “But you also have to be aware that there are environments in which this is not possible. One thing is to come out of the closet being a public reference without making a drama and another thing is to trivialize, border on mockery, without taking into account that there are people who suffer from being in the closet and not being able to be who they are. The most extreme case in this sense was carried out over the weekend by soccer players —heterosexuals— Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol, when they pretended to confess a love story through Twitter. When the criticism intensified, Casillas assured that his account had been hackedwhile Puyol apologized publicly.
Madonna’s case is very different. She has been a reference for the LGTBI + collective since before it brought benefits to the career of an artist. She talked about rights when these were not on the agenda of any Western government and she raised awareness about the scourge of AIDS or homophobia in Russia when those issues were not in the conversation. For this reason, on social networks, many have defended the diva and contextualized her video, while younger users who are unaware of her career have criticized it as a way of trivializing a difficult experience that she, from her privilege, has not had to to live.
“The line is fine”, concedes Iglesias. “Coming out of the closet is not that simple, it is not something like throwing a ball and if it falls to one side I am LGBT and if it falls to the other I am not. “Each one has its forms, its times and its spaces and you cannot judge the way in which people come out of the closet, but when you are a public reference you have to be aware of the media power you have.” Going through the newspaper library and social networks, we come to the conclusion that you never come out of the closet to everyone’s liking. For some, Alborán was too dramatic. For others, Madonna, Mitchell and Ratajkowski are too frivolous.
Ana Amigo Ventureira, researcher and author of Biciosas, or the need to queer what is queer, believes that the unprejudiced videos of these artists also contribute. “We must empathize with the tears and the difficulties, because they have been and continue to be there. But we also need to do it with euphoria and joy, because they have enormous revolutionary potential and also reflect many of our experiences, ”she explains.
But the messages of Madonna, Mitchell and Ratajkowski do not lose strength because of their festive tone, but because of their decontextualization. For not being accompanied by a political speech, or a simple explanation beyond showing a green sofa or pink panties that do not fit in a wastebasket. It is the difference between the declarations of actress Jamie Lee Curtis to Cadena SER saying: “I have a trans daughter. There are threats against her life, just for existing as a human being. There are people who want to annihilate her” and those of actress Susan Sarandon explaining to presenter Jimmy Fallon that she can have cats and dogs: “I’m bi, so…”.
“Personally, I would have loved it if Susan claimed the bisexual label again after that program and that she had done it with a clearly political discourse,” concedes Amigo Ventureira. “But I understand that each person is different, she has gone through very different experiences and approaches these issues as she considers. Or how she can.”
There are more and more references that are presented to the public in a natural way, without the need to make a big announcement. In Spain, young artists with projection for the general public such as Guitarricadelafuente or Natalia Lacunza have spoken openly, confessions or dramas about their relationships with people of the same gender. They have not needed trends on TikTok or a national coming out day because they’ve never been to one. Paula Iglesias points out that this would be ideal. He is aware that non-heterosexual people have to come out of the closet, and never finish doing it throughout his life, but he believes that the focus should not be on them: “You should not focus on promoting coming out, but in eradicating the presumption of heterosexuality”.
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