The Charmed Struggle

Before the turn of this century, queer people and culture were pretty much invisible. Aided by the Fourth Estate, the law, politics and religious doctrine of the time, served to keep the boundaries between public and private spaces thick and impermeable. Sex was easier done than said, was only natural and right between a man and a woman and deviants to this hegemonic discourse of sexuality were banished to their closets.

This Trend Snack was published in "The State We're In: The 2010 Flux Trend Review", available at leading bookstores now. A discount of 40% applies to bulk orders of 100 or more.

Over the past few years, the notion of “queerness”, as a derisive alternative to heterosexuality has been challenged by twenty to thirty somethings who matured as adults in a South Africa that underwent paradigmatic shifts in our perceptions of what’s moral and immoral. The mere fact that the word queer, which was originally a derogatory term used to describe homosexuals, bi-sexuals and transsexuals, is used so candidly in popular culture, is indicative of the way queer people have taken ownership of the way society views them.

Today, freedom of sexuality is a badge of honour that a growing number of urban youth dwellers, across all races, wear proudly for many different reasons. It’s not surprising to meet a person who tells you what they do for a living, how many pets they have and their sexual orientation all within the first hour of meeting them. Facebook is exemplary of this cut-to-the-chase approach to “selfvertising”, as one of the first fields you fill in when signing up, is whether you’re looking for men, women or both.

In 2010, the demographic of same sex couples vastly differs from that of 10 years ago, as a growing number of heterosexual women are getting into long-term relationships with each other or lesbian and bisexual women. Some do it “just to try it” as the lyrics of pop star Katy Perry’s hit song “I kissed a girl” go, while others, especially an increasing number of 20, 30 and 40 something urban black women, choose to because they are indefinitely ‘tired’ of dating men.

Culture hopping is another significant trend within this phenomenon, where people immerse themselves in queer culture, when they are not queer, the same way some people adopt and practice Jewish culture, when they are not Jewish. The popular annual Mother City Queer Project party is attended by some of these culture hoppers, many of whom are not homosexual or even bi-sexual.

Media such as television brought queer culture into our living rooms and consciousness, with gay or lesbian people being portrayed not necessarily accurately, but as likeable to those who were homophobic or clueless about queer people. But even more than television, the Internet has played the biggest role in how we communicate, what we have access to and who and what we associate with. It epitomises the notion of choice, which is what sexuality in the 21st century is about. Yes there are people who are naturally going to identify with one kind of sexuality, be it homo or hetero – but the really interesting trend is the increasing number of people who are openly oscillating between these various types of sexual identity.

What’s happening now and what will continue to happen is a reactionary deflation of the notion that heterosexuality is the only cornerstone of a moral society. Its “rightness” and “normality” is being challenged as more and more people, through interaction with cultures and lifestyles they previously would have feared and prejudiced, are experiencing the non perilous effects of “colouring outside the lines” and deconstructing their social conditioning around the subject of gender and sexuality.

Trend Observation by Milisuthando Bongela