An Editorial Isn’t Representation, It’s Marketing
Recently, I have been discussing with my straight friends the sudden surge in straight, cisgender people wearing heels in editorials, and I wondered what they thought of it. Their general response was along the lines of “it’s amazing!”, yet I found myself unable to agree. These editorials left a sour taste in my mouth and I couldn’t work out why. For years, I have seen generations of gay men delve into the world of femininity, and I praised their contributions to queer liberation, but seeing straight, cisgender people do the same makes my stomach turn. Was I trying to gatekeep something highly representative of queer people?
After researching meticulously for the answer, I slowly realised why I didn’t like it. Simply being, that heterosexual people were appropriating queer identities to profit off the ‘trendiness’ of homosexuality.
One recent example is TikTok personality Noah Beck, an individual who has no public connection with queerness or the LGBTQ+ community (and who has actually been involved in a series of controversies surrounding his queer baiting), but who was put on the March 2021 cover of popular fashion magazine VMAN, wearing heels and makeup. There has been an uproar surrounding the spread, with consumers confused with how out of place the photo looks compared to other images on the shoot. One individual commented that “it looks so fake. There is no connection towards the other photos taken that day - it’s clear that this has been a campaign to try to profit off the identities of queer lives. It’s sick to try and capitalise on the growing demographic that enjoys the interaction between masculinity and femininity. Noah Beck does not relate to this. He is known to be problematic towards queer people.”
These opinions stem from a series of controversies, including a collaboration with Beck’s flatmates on TikTok in which they walk purposefully – and mockingly – in a camp fashion whilst playing the lyrics ‘Look at the way that I walk’ from Ayo Eisha’s ‘Eisha No!’. When this was met with backlash from the TikTok community, since Beck was projecting a stereotype known to incite violence against queer people, he commented that it was a move made on purpose to look gay: “that’s the point”.
This is someone who should not be profiting off the back of queer identities. Beck’s actions – and the validation his VMAN cover implicitly provides – perpetuates the idea that there is profit to be gained from the ‘trend’ of queerness, with no consideration into the generational trauma the LGBTQ+ community has had to endure, especially with regard to fashion and identity. Cisgender, heterosexual men have long struggled to tap into their feminine side, and it is queer individuals who have encouraged and popularised it to their now great fortune.
So, why shouldn’t we allow straight people to participate? Surely it’s still a form of representation? The reality is that the definition of a trend indicates that at some point it will stop being trendy. Does that mean we will go back to attacking and terrorising queer people for their identities? Hopefully not. But it is unhealthy to categorise identities as trends or trending patterns. This consents to appropriating queer ideologies and stereotypes for profit, and in the process damaging the queer community and the progress queer people have made for visibility.
This is not to say that straight men should not be pushing for intersectionality, but there should be a greater understanding of fashion’s origins. For instance, when the popularity of women’s suits rose and they began to be tailored in more feminine ways, this did not detract from the significance of the original design. It was empowering for both men and women to participate in wearing suits, successfully intertwining femininity and masculinity without damaging each community of people. By contrast, the queer-’motivated’ choices of cisgender individuals wearing skirts, heels and fishnet tights is purposefully enacted for profit alone, damaging the LGBTQ+ community in the unprecedented level of support received by those appropriating.
Some straight people have now started to believe that intersectional representation is a pro-queer agenda, but the queer community has pushed considerably to create distance between the two ideologies. Garment choices are fashion choices, not queer choices, but because straight people have designated specific garments as ‘gay’, they have labelled themselves popularists for the queer movement by delving into fashion, which isn’t necessarily the case. This is clear when media outlets label Harry Styles the king of intersectionality for his gender-fluid fashion choices but overlook the contribution of figures like David Bowie and Jean-Paul Gaultier (who first constructed male skirts in 1985), who came before him.
It’s important to recognise that I am not telling straight people to never wear skirts, makeup or heels again. Rather, I’m asking that people consider the historical context behind their choices and appreciate the path that enabled them. Homophobia is still prevalent, with over 85% of students experiencing homophobic violence at schools and more than two thirds feeling that they are more likely to be intimidated, harassed or insulted than their heterosexual colleagues. These are important statistics to take into consideration when making choices that potentially profit off such a community’s history.
We are constantly making developments in fashion and gender, and with renewed anxiety about queer acceptance, it is scary to consider where the road of mass profit might end. And all this from a man wearing pumps? This is just one example of why fashion matters: we cannot simply take covers at face value but must recognise their social impact and reach.
Noah Beck for the VMAN front cover spread labelled ‘NEW RULERS’.
“I do appreciate straight men wearing heels and being on the cover of something. That being said, only buff masculine men ‘get away with it’ and get praised for ONE photo they do for a magazine. I would appreciate seeing a queer man wearing heels more - someone that actually does it in real life and even probably experiences a lot of negativity or even violence for it. We all know that the second this photo was taken Noah Beck took those shoes off and never wore them again. So I don’t think it means anything for the acceptance of men wearing heels.”
“Boring and predictable TikTok boys banking on femininity. Men have for thousands of years made women the inferior type, only to now start appropriating that.”
“The heels are ugly and black queers have been doing this for the longest time. It is not as groundbreaking or impactful as the editor once thought it was.”
Harry Styles in Vogue magazine, November 2020