Hi James, thanks for writing such a thoughtful, incisive and relevant article.
I’m AMAB transgender, but went through the seemingly obligatory ‘am I gay?’ phase. Turns out not, but that is a whole other story. I’m still attracted to males sometimes, but only if I can mediate it through being and living as my actual identified gender. And that isn’t going to be happening in the foreseeable future.
One glaringly obvious thing I did notice, however, was the testosterone turbo-charged hyper-predatory toxic masculine sexuality that prevailed over all proceedings. Lots of users and abusers, but also judgemental and intolerant bigotry, too.
It comes as no surprise to me that the intersectional aspects of race-relations and the facets of being a sexual minority would MANifest as either outright rejection and exclusion (the ‘scene’ is grotesquely elitist on matters facile and trivial), or offensively fetishistic, as regards Black males based upon the crudest and most simplistic racist stereotypes. I feel genuine empathy for those who accidentally stumble upon this viper’s nest of eager, sexually exploitative males, hoping for acceptance and inclusion; instead finding rebuff and / or clumsy, predatory sexual interest that is not based upon getting to know the person as a person, but instead fixated upon real or imagined physical characteristics and attributes.
I have noticed the phase-shift in a given social milieu when previously male-exclusive situations permitted the introduction of females and, the aggressive proprietorial domination hierarchy game that would rapidly ensure: Total attrition for those who are not strutting, arrogant, aggressive social peacocks.
As regards the male-exclusive ‘gay-scene’, it is further entoxified by hyper-predatory sexual lust, casual though predictable bigotries based around the usual culprits of Race, Social class (money /socio-economic status are real drivers in the piranha pool milieu that is the gay dating scene), physical presentation layer (how ‘Good-looking’ someone is deemed to be), Age (are they ‘Young-and-Cute’ or a grandad/Old Boy), and of course, the rampant and boundless misogyny that characterises and defines the gay sub-culture. Anyone would think that upscale White gay men define themselves not in terms of whom they want intimate romantic and sexual relations with, but rather the extent to which they hate females. No wonder they want to purge us transfeminine-identified people from their poison party; hence LGB-drop the T reactionary grouplettes that are growing like poisonous mushrooms on the gay body-politic.
Once again, thanks for an article that further lays this toxic subculture open to further scrutiny.
