Britney Spears: Why A Gay Male Icon

She was campy.

“Britney Spears” is a totally fake, artificial, cartoon female, and gay men admire that. Gay men have been historically drawn to pop culture figures whose image is defined by artifice and superficial glamour, which may resonate as a parallel between the shame queer individuals feel growing up and the longing to escape/conquer the shame.

Those are two good answers. Thanks!

Camp like Eartha Kitt and Charo.

R2 why “Britney Spears”? That is her legitimate name.

And she had great dance and pop tracks, as well as a young hot blonde who could move. Gays loved her. She had a lot of gay club bangers in her prime.

You left out "White Trash," as in "White Trash Gay Male Icon."

Britney appealed to millions. If she didn’t her first album wouldn’t have sold 25 million copies.

And her second wouldn’t have sold 20 million.

I’m a sucker for anyone who had a public nervous breakdown.

Because there is Britney Spears, the human being, and “Britney Spears”, the pop creation built by an army of other people. Much like Marilyn Monroe, the unhappy dichotomy between the actual and artificial self resonates with the experiences of gay men.

Camp, Barbie-esque and sad

R4, why did "gays love her"?

It doesn't make sense that this Republican white trash was a GAY MALE ICON.

Her music videos always had the best choreography

Young Brit with Max Martin

OP, I never understood this either. She has done absolutely nothing for gays.

The one disturbing thing to me as a gay man is the fact that so many gay men put these straight female celebrities on pedestals and worship them and declare them to be “divas” and “gay icons” just because they give “the gays” and occasional shout out. It’s ridiculous. Yet they never do the same for gay celebrities.

Brit was never a homophobe or anything. People should stop acting like she was some raging homophobic bitch.

R14

A loud and proud Republican is NO friend of the gays. She proudly endorsed and voted for W. Twice.

I don't get why gay men thought she was their savior. You know she called them "Faggots!" in her hick drawl in between puffs on her menthol lites.

R16 because many gays are Republicans also. And she was a small town girl who grew up in a Republican family. You’re shocked a she was a REPUG???

It’s hilarious how some of you think Britney was/is capable of holding political opinions.

It's simple, most gay men want to be women. Gay men are drawn to Hollywood and pop culture glamour figures.

Britney Spears is apart of that. She's cheesy, tacky, and campy and that's what gay men love. Britney fits the bill perfectly.

I don't know if I'd go so far as saying she was/is a gay icon. She was a major singer in my youth (so I was in her core market) and I feel like it was mostly girls that followed her. She undoubtedly had her gay fans, but whether they were so plentiful to a point where it would put her up there as a gay icon is debatable I think, at least according to my observations.

Yes, of course. She's the Judy Garland of millennials.

[quote]Her music videos always had the best choreography

Oh, honey, no.

In 2020, everyone is a winner, every famous person is an icon and every performance gets standing ovations. We live in a world of mediocrity and Spears is one the best examples.

[Reply22] I like Janet 's older hits, but damn some of her music I can't understand a damn word outta her mouth.

She's an icon for gay males who liked her music in that era. If you were in your teens or early 20s and gay you were either Team Britney or Team Christina. If you were over 30 you were saying that neither of them were fit to hold Madonna's cone bra.

^^And neither of them ever did.

Because OP she fucked a man who already had a girlfriend (federline) and many gay men in here love chasing after straight cock even married straight cock. OP she's talentless trash like a lot of silly little queens in here. She's not a threat. She's a mentally ill, cock chasing mess....like many of DLs brethren.

R9 that's a cute gif. What a dork.

I think for many of us she was the fantasy of what we wanted but could not have. She was an All-American Girl Next Door, y'all. She liked to chat on the phone with her girlfriends, shop at the mall, and be very goofy and girly. She was extremely country. But while she seemed like an ordinary girl, she was an absolutely extraordinary performer. She could belt out a song. She was extremely fit and had abs of steel. When she was on stage dancing, you felt it whether you were in the front row or the back.

She was one of a kid, and nobody will ever out-do Britney at her prime.

Because our world is just so nice!

It's simple. To make a long story short, younger gay men love Britney for the exact same reasons older gay men love Judy. Down to the last detail.

Sad that in 2020 gay men are still worshipping straight women who don’t give a shit about them instead of supporting other gay men.

R28 Here's the full thing, she looked gorgeous!

R33

Britney is a self professed Janet Stan and modeled her career after Janet down to the last detail.

R28 Interesting. Look how often her facial expression changes. She faked alot of that. At the end she looks bored, being ushered off to do something else. By the clip you would think she's in a great mood, but she's doing her job of posing, smiling, and modeling the dress.

Britney documentary Stages at the height of her fame.

Where is she now? Retired? I grew up with her music so much I’ll always be a fan. Sad how messed up her life has become.

R30 that video shows me she’s not stupid.

R38 no, she's not retired (although I think it would be good for her). She's doing shows in Vegas.

Gay men only started to idolize Britney when she went off the deep end (which happened very quickly---definitely already in play before she got together with KFed). yes, she was all of those things, OP (not sure why you think anyone would take issue with her being poorly educated, though---she was a child singer. not sure what her deal was, but finishing high school on an independent study plan with a tutor is a huge accomplishment that most of them can't take credit for). that's what made her implosion so spectacular.

I never really thought of her as a gay icon on par with Judy, Barbra, Madonna, Janet, Kylie and Cher. She's more of a late 90s/early 2000s pop icon. I feel like gay men liking her is just because she makes pop and dance music just like with Beyoncé, Gaga, Ariana and Rihanna. I think a lot of people still adore her out of nostalgia and pity. You would have to be delusional to think she's this amazing talent who changed music forever and not just a media creation that got lucky.

It helps she comes across as very sweet and innocuous. She simply crashed and burned too quickly, she could not maintain a long career nor could evolve as an artist. She is a shell of her former self. If she had her sanity, she could have pulled a Madonna and actually learned to sing and play an instrument of some sort and try to make more "mature" and "sophisticated" sounding music.

Also #FreeBritney is quite a selfish movement. We have no clue what is going on with her life. She does not seem mentally well and while I do believe her family is greedy and exploiting her. I don't think they can trick the court into placing her into one like that. Her breakdown was extremely intense and she was a danger to herself. She spent her youth as a performer to fulfill her stage mother's dream and never got to grow up as a normal kid. She has no identity of her own and is a walking talking example of why children should not be thrusted into the spotlight and used as a way for families to break out of poverty.

I think Jamie Lynn and Bryan do care a lot about Britney and are protective over her. They should be doing the conservatorship. Jamie Lynn still works as an actress and Bryan is a producer. So they have their own money.

It's really true what people on DL have said for a long time--AIDS killed most of the gay men with taste and talent. Now, younger gays have no idea about these deceased tastemakers and they are all screaming "yassssss" to Taylor or Ariana.

Some gays love loony bin like her. Gays are the reason why shows like News Housewives and no talents like her are successful.

[quote] AIDS killed most of the gay men with taste and talent

AIIDS was almost 50 years ago.

AIDs wasn't 50 years ago. It became an epidemic in the early 80s and pervaded through the 90s. It's still a big deal today.

Kevin Federline was NEVER hot.

Gross!

K-Fed was better looking than Timberlake but not as hot as Wade Robson. All of them are wiggas

Britney had a black boyfriend too. I'm sure some of her family was racist and didn't like that

What r5 said. It was only the trashy shopbottom-type gay men who were really into Britney Spears. The rest of us saw her as the talentless manufactured product she actually was.

[quote] If you were in your teens or early 20s and gay you were either Team Britney or Team Christina. If you were over 30 you were saying that neither of them were fit to hold Madonna's cone bra.

I was in my early 20s at the time and nobody in my circle of gay male friends could stand Britney Spears. We loved Madonna, though.

It's not all gays, just the mentally stunted ones like Andy Cohen, Perez Hilton, and the like.

Millennials mean born between 1980 to 1996.

Older Millennials were more into hard rock, grunge, house, techno, R&B and hip-hop.

Britney, Hanson, Destiny's Child and NSYNC was for younger Millennials.

Younger Millennials are more into dance-pop, EDM, gangsta rap, nu metal, pop punk and pop rock.

Both eras had manufactured celebrities.

[quote]she was an absolutely extraordinary performer. She could belt out a song.

Iny my group of friends, I am one of the few who has 0 nostalgia for the pop music from the late 90s and early 00s. They have nostalgia for songs like "I Want it That Way" and "Say My Name", neither of which I could stand then and I hate them now (at least Destiny's Child had some other good songs though). Those songs always sounded bland and shitty to me.

Britney never learned to sing on key as she grew older.

Child singers are given more leeway to be off key and over the too because they are young and cute. Britney had a good child pageant girl voice but she never developed a proper singing voice as an adult.

Christina Aguilera is annoying with her overwrought singing but she can sing in tune and properly when she wants to. Justin Timberlake is even a better singer than Britney and has better control and harmonies.

*top

To the black community. Britney is just seen as a corporate made white version of Janet, Aaliyah and Brandy. Just like New Kids, NSYNC and Backstreet Boys are seen as white copies of male R&B groups.

Brandy is all but forgotten now.

R59

True. But I still like her music and Moesha was a pretty good show. I dont like that she killed a woman though but thats a whole other story.

Today, someone as shitty and D-list as Erika Jayne is considered a "gay icon". That term started to lose its relevance once Britney Spears became a "gay icon". She hasn't done anything for gays yet beause she is a female pop artist, it's just assumed she is one. And now, every female pop star is assumed to be a "gay icon". Totally meaningless.

I think celebrity idolatry is a sign of low self-esteem. Why would you worship someone you don't know and be so obsessed with their lives. If you think they're attractive or talented that's fine to admire. A little infatuation is harmless. But these fandoms are like cults and become aggressive if you criticize their faves no matter how constructive you are with it

R62 I think celeb worship increased as the power religion people had over people diminished in the west. There's a part of some people that needs to worship something in order to give their lives meaning.

[quote] Brandy is all but forgotten now.

This is a ridiculous statement. Brandy is still very well-known. She was just advertising that her version of Cinderella with Whitney Houston will be on Disney+.

The Boy is Mine is still a popular song in pop culture and Moesha is still discussed to this day. Hardly forgotten.

[quote]I think celebrity idolatry is a sign of low self-esteem. Why would you worship someone you don't know and be so obsessed with their lives.

You can see that right here on DL. The endless Timothee/Armie threads and other assorted B and C-Listers whose names I can't remember. Crazy loser stans have exploded with social media and the internet.

r64 maybe Brandy is still known in niche circles but in mainstream pop culture she's disappeared.

Millennials and Gen Z don’t know or care who the fuck Brandy is.

She’s the millennial Marilyn Monroe.

[quote] Millennials and Gen Z don’t know or care who the fuck Brandy is.

What are you talking about? Millennials were Brandy's main fanbase. You remember that that Millennial is anyone born between 1980 to 1996 right? Brandy's mainstream popularity was from 1994 to 2001 and her target audience was kids and teens. And adult Millennials were buying her later R&B albums like Full Moon and Afrodiasiac and Millennials were excited for her new album that came out last year.

Most Gen Z doesn't know Brandy. That is true. But Black Gen Z still knows her and she's part of the y2k aesthetic they try to recreate. Black people stick with their stars even after white mainstream America ditches them. Look at Janet was still getting played on R&B stations and acting in Tyler Perry films when the mainstream media blacklisted her.

Brandy was more of a black thing. She wasn't anywhere near Britney's popularity.

Yes true. Britney would not have survived in black culture at least in the 90s and early 2000s because we expected girls to be able to sing or at least harmonize well.

Brandy couldn't sing either. She and Britney were both pretty talentless.

She’s not. Never was.

Next.

[quote] Millennials mean born between 1980 to 1996.

It’s 1981 now. It was originally 1982 per the people who coined the term.

Brandy can harmonize and use her voice to her advantage. She's not the biggest voice but she knows how to use it. Plus she sings in her natural tone and she sounded mature for her age. Britney sings out of her natural range, uses this fake chipmunk voice and often off key. Yes it made her distinctive but it sounds ridiculous that she still uses that type of baby voice when she's almost 40.

God, I haven't thought about Brandy in YEARS. I know she had a few hits, but I can't remember any of them offhand.

MJ's voice is shot and he's lip-syncing. Britney is singing live but she should have used this opportunity to sing in her natural deeper voice but sang in that fake babydoll voice and sounded strained.