Opinion piece criticising gay men who say ‘women can’t go to gay clubs’ divides Twitter
By Joshua Haigh
It’s Monday morning, and Twitter has already gone into meltdown over an opinion piece.
Over the weekend, OUT Magazine published an article online titled: “Dear gay men, stop telling women they can’t go to gay bars”.
While the writer did acknowledge that some cis straight women do tokenise gay men and that their behaviour is not okay, many on social media took offence to the article’s overall tone.
In particular, this paragraph:
I know this might surprise you, but in 2017, women can go anywhere we want to! And furthermore, we don’t need your approval to do it! When I see these kinds of discussions on social media, there are usually a few men who comment something like, “I love bringing my girls to the club!” Well, that’s nice, but not only do women not need your approval to be somewhere, we also don’t need you to take us anywhere. We know how to drive, get on the subway, flag down a cab, or download Uber.
Many rushed to Twitter to criticise the piece:
Poorly written and totally out of context. Nothing wrong with women in gay bars but they should respect the intended clientele.
— Ross S Purves (@RossSPurves) July 30, 2017
🙄 Tell me more about how straight women should exotify, tokenize, & take over spaces meant for oppressed minorities to congregate?#donttryit
— #Biophilia (@mikealbeland) July 30, 2017
Dear straight women, we’re not your wild card for discrimination. They’re safe spaces for queer people, not venues for you to get tanked in.
— Cam ಠ_ಠ (@urbanpitch) July 30, 2017
However, some people did see the point that the writer was trying to make, which seemed to be to discuss misogyny in the gay community – which is absolutely something that must be discussed.
Truths not mutely exclusive:
1) some straight women exoticize gay men for entertainment
2) the cis gay men community has a misogyny problem— matthew starwind (@mmmontycarlo) July 30, 2017
There’s a difference between straight women respecting gay culture and groups of women that see gay bars as a gimmick for their parties https://t.co/QAdBIAU2tj
— Joe (@JoePassmore) July 30, 2017
there is absolutely room to discuss gay men’s misogyny, or “gay bar” etiquette, or spaces for women but … what is THIS? pic.twitter.com/rFSNdCfbpx
— mat whitehead (@matwhi) July 30, 2017
What do you think about the piece? Does the writer have a point?
Let us know on social media.