Author: lerdaur

Carnivore diet people keep showing up on my Instagram and I’m not entirely sure why, especially given that I don’t eat red meat. The Carnivore Diet is a diet where individuals eat only animal products. This includes meat, dairy, and eggs, and excludes any plant products. The carnivore diet as we know it was first brought up in the mid 19th century, and then in 2018 gained massive internet traction through a book entitled The Carnivore Diet, by Shawn Baker, a former orthopedic surgeon and current diet influencer. It has become increasingly visible on social media, particularly as it has been taken up and made popular in far right movements. From my research on the carnivore diet, and its connections to the far right, it seems like it is most popular with white men.

The Carnivore Diet claims to be highly beneficial. People all over the internet talk about how it cured their eczema or acne or autoimmune disease or facilitated their weight loss and muscle gain. Medically and scientifically speaking, the carnivore diet is likely not safe for most people, due to the high risk of nutrient deficiencies and risk of kidney issues from consuming almost exclusively protein. The carnivore diet is one of the many fad diets trending on social media right now. 

Meat and masculinity have long been tied together for American men. Meat, especially the consumption of it, is associated with strength, virility, and power. Meat consumption’s masculine associations also come from the way that meat consumption involves a violent power dynamic between the person eating the meat, and the animal they are consuming. Again, a reminder, I do eat meat, and I think eating meat is generally okay. To be a red-blooded American male, one has to eat meat. Conversely, vegetarian and vegan diets are considered feminine diets. 

The Carnivore diet has emerged as the latest iteration of this meat centered masculinity and has been pushed heavily by male right wing influencers such as Joe Rogan. For the far right, masculinity is in crisis. “Real men” and their “manly” lifestyles are under attack. Eating meat and only meat is seen as a solution to this masculinity crisis. Men can get stronger and more powerful. Masculinity is not the only reason for the right wing enthusiasm for the carnivore diet. It is also seen as resistance to the left’s environmentalist goals. The carnivore diet is being used as a way of expressing political ideologies. 

While there are women actively participating in the carnivore diet trend, it is still firmly based in patriarchy and white supremacy. The carnivore diet is also classed, eating exclusively animal products is expensive, and oftentimes not accessible. The narrative around the carnivore diet saving “real men” has gone as far as individuals claiming that the carnivore diet “cured” them of being transgender and/or homosexual. The carnivore diet trend is tied to this class in how it is connected to hyper-masculinity and patriarchy. The Carnivore diet and the dangerous rhetoric that comes with it is the latest of far right pipelines that continue to harm us all. All that in mind, the carnivores invading my Instagram have certainly not convinced me.

Firstly, I think speculating on the sexuality of a real person is not the right thing to do. And while the title of this post is attempting to do that, my goal is not uncover Katy Perry’s “true sexual identity.” It’s really none of my business. I want to explore Katy Perry’s song I Kissed A Girl as a piece of LGBTQ representation. From my limited research on Katy Perry’s sexuality, as well as only slightly more informed knowledge of her music, she seems to identify as heterosexual but has kissed a girl at one point.

It’s a good song. It’s catchy, the chorus is easy to sing along with and it has a thumping, danceable beat throughout. It came out in April of 2008 as a single by Katy Perry. It had massive commercial success, topping charts for over a month post release. Interestingly enough, it came out only a few months after her highly problematic song Ur So Gay, in which she sings her frustrations with a boy who fits all sorts of gay stereotypes but isn’t gay. A brief diversion for this song, it came out in 2007, when discourse around gay people in media was pretty different than today, it still seems mysterious to me that a song that begins with the lines “I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf while jerking off listening to Mozart” would do as well as it did and also generate any popularity at all. But what do I know, I was four years old in 2007. Anyways, Ur So Gay was a crazy song, and its fascinating that it came out right before I Kissed a Girl. Equally fascinating is the fact that this information was edited off her Wikipedia page. I should also note that in the music video, while a cat is petted suggestively and several scantily clad women dance together, there is no actual kissing.

I Kissed a Girl is sung from the (female) singer’s perspective and is about kissing a girl (duh) and liking it. It frames kissing girls and enjoying it as something taboo, something that while perhaps is just an “experimental game” also “felt so wrong” and “felt so right.” The singer hopes her “boyfriend won’t mind it,” but she doesn’t seem that concerned about what her boyfriend might think given that it “ain’t no big deal, it’s innocent.” It trivializes and dismisses a non-straight feminine sexuality. It seems to play into the fetishization of wlw relationships that is still pervasive in popular culture. Katy Perry appears to utilize the taboo nature to gain more plays, it is tempting because it is not quite allowed. Katy Perry can make this song because in all other ways she is normative. I Kissed A Girl perhaps cultivates something homonormative.

I Kissed A Girl is obviously not perfect representation. But I don’t think it should be completely dismissed. It was one of very few explicitly LGBTQ pop culture moments when it came out. The song rose to fame at a particular moment in LGBTQ history in America. It was a time of new visibility and acceptance in straight popular culture, but only partially. I think there is still something to say for the ways that the song made visible female lesbian/bisexual sexuality in such a popular way, even if it is perhaps flawed. 

Further complicating context that I don’t get into is that this song was co written and produced by the now infamous Dr. Luke, and I don’t know how that factors but it seems like there could be something there.

c.w. use of a gay slur in dialogue

True Blood is one of the classic vampire TV shows. Created in 2008, it’s set in a fictional small town in southern Louisiana and revolves around Sookie, a telepathic waitress. While not necessarily current, it remains relevant today. In many ways, the show was progressive for its time, yet watching it now, one is also reminded of its many flaws. This scene focuses on an interaction between the character of Lafayette and three restaurant customers. Lafayette is a black gay man who is open about his sexuality. He works as a cook at the restaurant, as well as in construction, and as a dealer of V (vampire blood is an illegal drug in this tv universe). Lafayette is unique as an on screen queer character. He is never shown in a stereotypical, hyper-feminine way, nor an aggressively repressed masculine manner. He is almost always portrayed as both loudly feminine and masculine. In the scene below, there is a clear juxtaposition between his more feminine outfit, jewelry, and makeup, and his aggressive style of confrontation and his ability to best three men in a physical altercation. 

The scene opens with a view from within the kitchen facing out towards the window into the dining area. We see Lafayette stirring something on the stove as Arlene, one of the waitresses, brings a plate up to the window. Lafayette asks if there’s a problem with the burger. Arlene responds by attempting to brush it off, saying “it’s just a couple of drunk rednecks.” Lafayette seems to sense it’s more than that, presses again, asking what the problem is. Arlene tries to say that it’s not worth it. As they speak, the camera flips back and forth between them. Lafayette continues to ask Arlene what the issue with the burger is. She eventually tells him. As she begins to tell him, the camera briefly flashes over the group of men, then back to Arlene. The men’s issue with the burger becomes apparent when Arlene says that they told her that “the burger might have AIDS.” As she says this, Lafayette develops a serious expression. He pulls off his clip-on earrings and his apron, clearly preparing for confrontation. As he does this, the music gets louder. As we see him leave the kitchen, Arlene begins to look nervous. 

Lafayette walks out into the dining area carrying the plate that had been returned. He saunters up to the table and asks, “Scuse me, who ordered the hamburger *pause* with AIDS?” The men at the table begin to snicker. The camera moves shakily onto a white, blond man wearing a camo shirt who claims that he ordered the hamburger deluxe. Lafayette responds, getting louder as he goes, “In this restaurant, a hamburger deluxe come with French fries, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and AIDS.” Shouting, he continues, asking the whole restaurant, “do anyone got a problem with that?” The man he was speaking to responds that yes, he does have a problem, because he’s “an American, and [he] got a say in who makes [his] food.” 

Lafayette responds, telling the man, “Well, baby, it’s too late for that. Faggots been breeding your cows, raising your chickens, even brewing your beer long before I walked my sexy ass up in this motherfucker. Everything on your goddamn table got AIDS.” As he says the word beer, the camera flashes to one of the other men drinking his beer and then slowly putting it down as he hears what Lafayette is saying. The camera then returns its focus to Lafayette as the man still says he won’t eat “no AIDS burger.” Lafayette then leans down and says softly, “Well, all you gotta do is say hold the AIDS. Here.” He then licks the bun and shoves it in the man’s face, saying, “Eat it.” Another one of the men gets up to try and punch Lafayette, but Lafayette is faster, and knocks two of them down before they can get to him. The men stop trying to attack Lafayette and sit back in their booth as he says “Bitch, you come in my house, you gonna eat my food the way I FUCKING MAKE IT! Do you understand me?” He then softly tells them to tip their waitress and walks away. As Lafayette walks back into the kitchen, he high-fives Jason, another customer at the restaurant. 

In this scene, we see several complicated dynamics. Lafayette’s character stands up to men who seem to have an automatic association between gay men and AIDS. This group of men assumes that food made by a gay man will have AIDS. Lafayette doesn’t tell them they’re wrong; he leans in, pushing them to be even more uncomfortable. In his assertion of dominance over this group of straight men, he challenges and subverts the norms expected of gay men. He is not trying to change anyone’s minds, he’s not trying to be gentle, or kind. And that is significant in itself. Gay men are not often shown as non-sexual aggressors. Lafayette is loud and physical in his aggression, but his aggressiveness is not sexual. 

In this scene, and many others, Lafayette is portrayed as hot-headed and confrontational. In this way, the character also plays into existing stereotypes of black men as aggressors. Lafayette is one of two black leading characters, the other being his cousin Tara, and the only black man. In this scene, which puts one black man against three white men, his race, while not meant to be the identity in focus, is evident. The viewer assumes, likely accurately, that the group of men he is interacting with is racist as well as homophobic (given the setting and previous scenes on the show). His race and sexuality together inform how he is seen and treated by the customers.