Gay and happy: (Proto-)homonormativity, emotion and popular culture

Abstract

To be happy has become an overwhelming imperative for contemporary gay men. Interrogating the shame-to-happiness narratives of British gay male celebrities, this article expands the concept of homonormativity by exploring its emotional dimensions. I argue that, in popular representations, happiness has become a form of proto-homonormativity, demarcated as a prerequisite to a ‘successful’ (homonormative) gay life. I conceptualize proto-homonormativity as an emergent paradigm of gay male subjectivity, which is shaped by broader valorizations of authenticity and self-therapy which permeate neoliberal media cultures. As articulated by gay celebrities, proto-homonormative discourses acknowledge the barriers to happiness that gay men face in heteronormative societies, yet reproduce heteronormativity by demarcating individualized processes of emotional self-work as the route to becoming happy.

Live streaming, intimate situations, and the circulation of same-sex affect: Monetizing affective encounters on Blued

“…The monetization of affective needs requires further critical attention, for it produces subtle tensions related to different forms of sexual normativity. As Lovelock (2017Lovelock ( , 2018 points out observantly, homonormativity is not only a sexual norm, but also an affective norm, which forces LGBT people to be happy and have pride according to an economic rationale (e.g. celebrity statuses and social media influencers).…”

“…disgust and abjection). In a manner comparable with the homonormative affects produced by western gay and lesbian social media influencers, who compel LGBT people to exhibit happiness and pride (Lovelock, 2017(Lovelock, , 2018, Blued gay streamers also wed positivity with sexual normativity.…”

“…On the one hand, these preferences make homonormativity plausible as a mode in which paid same-sex intimacy can be experienced in an idealized way. On the other hand, they anchor affective homonormativity in an economic rationale of online popularity (Lovelock, 2017(Lovelock, , 2018.…”

“…Economic value aside, the convergence of same-sex affect and social media also shapes normative sexual values in society. The homonormativity produced by UK's popular media culture, for instance, pressurizes gay men into being happy and proud to such an extent as to have become an affective burden (Lovelock, 2017(Lovelock, , 2018. A study in the US context also finds that the digital cruising afforded by Grindr reinforces homonormativity by confining sex to the private home (Ahlm, 2017).…”

Intersections Around Ambivalent Sexism: Internalized Homonegativity, Resistance to Heteronormativity and Other Correlates

“…According to Warriner et al (2013) , the integrated threat theory may explain how the transgression of the hypermasculinity established within the parameters of the sexism inherent in heterosexual desire is sanctioned through external and internal homophobia. In other words, among gays, the internalization of the construct of masculine femininity as a threat to maintaining social power generates a conflictive self-perception that holds the feminine in contempt and reinforces hegemonic masculinity ( Gimeno, 2005 ; Rodriguez et al, 2016 ; Murgo et al, 2017 ; Lovelock, 2019 ). Thus, despite the evolution of masculinity toward less hegemonic positions, it seems that when men see their masculinity threatened, they react by returning to those more retrograde and hegemonic positions ( Falomir-Pichastor et al, 2019 ).…”