During a discussion of music and queer role models, a friend of mine said this: (paraphrasing, of course)

"When Bowie announced he was straight, did he realize what a let down it was to bisexual people? To have the criticism that their sexuality is just a phase or a trend, or a stop-off on the way to a "mature" hetero or homo sexuality very publicly affirmed? That perhaps if for him, it was just a phase or experiment, the announcement of his straightness should have been presented differently?"

I'm still gathering my thoughts on it, but I thought I'd throw it out here for all of you in Orgland to discuss. Any thoughts?

Hard to say with Bowie as he'll appropriate any religion, fashion, philosophy, art style, literary reference, writing technique and I'm assuming even sexuality into his worldview, lifestyle and work at any given time. So who knows?

i think throughout most of the '70s, even if he wasn't identifying as gay or bisexual, he still had an air of queerness about him...i think since then, he has still turned it on from time to time, especially around the time of 'earthling'. he's always been very pro-gay, even after "going back into the closet" so to speak - i just think his personal preferences drifted off into hetero-land, if they hadn't all along.

he said in one interview that his bisexual meanderings were his way of being "a sexual tourist". that makes sense. he was surrounded with so much gay culture during his glam years, i'm sure he immersed himself in it as much as he could.

meow85 said:

Maybe he got saved?

Anxiety said:

Plus, I don't see him having a lot of boundaries in his most coked out days.

I guess I can see where gay or bisexual people may have been a tad bit dissapointed, but by the same token, I think he was right to be honest.

As Anx and Gangsta pointed out, he hardly stopped being androgynous, and he certainly didn't become "anti-gay" or any such nonsense. I think for some people, bisexuality IS a phase, whereas it is much more for others. With Bowie, he moved out of that phase of his life. He was experimenting with MANY different things during this time, from various drugs to assorted philosophies. In many ways, I think he was trying to find who he truly was, and I think his art certainly reflects that. Nowadays, he still creates characters on his albums, but there isn't the sense that he is using them to externalize his own inner-struggles.

Anxiety said:

And....It's Iman! If were going to have sex with any man, it would be the Iman! I don't believe in that having sex with a certain person can change you...but she'd change all the gay people here (and confirm to the gay women that they are totally lesbians!).

VinnyM27 said:

Iman is one of the most beatiful women on the planet!

"...she can turn gay rock GOD in2 a sinner!"

JediMaster said:

All true, but I think the point my friend was getting at was that Bowie, as far as I know anyway, never indicated that it isn't a phase for a lot of people. And with the number of people who take everything stars say and do to heart, perhaps he should have.

VinnyM27 said:

very clever

I remember a letter referring to this article as stating that Bowie just used his excuse "that he was only experimenting" as a way to keep sales up.

DiamondGirl said:

probably. he sold out whole hog in the '80s, at the price of his creativity. i think that decade was the darkest point in his career, and according to interviews, bowie himself would be the first to agree.

The whole bi-thing with Bowie was I think half experimentation/half publicity stunt. While I have no doubt that he might have gotten some cock to get a feel of it, I also think that he knew the press he would get if he were to turn up the bi card.

Even when he did announce that he was straight, he still seemed to embrace queer culture to some degree. I guess he's a queer straight man.

Bowie Fans Remember what David Said..he said he isnt a rocker just a actor..with that let's take in this quote from Senor Oscar Wilde.."Life Is A Play..And Everyone is an actor...with that said....you can lead yourself to your on conclusions.

So it seems people here are content to re-hash what Bowie himself has said about the whole thing being an experiment/publicity stunt, but not the effect that his hetero announcement had on certain people. I know I for one have had the argument that "Well, Bowie said it was a phase for him, so it must be for everyone" thrown at me.




Oh well, I tried.
[Edited 9/10/05 17:00pm]

hmmmm. from what I understand, Bowie was bisexual, and then decided to just be straight in practice. At least according to some bios I read.

Well, as far as I've heard (I did use to be a gossip columnist after all ) he didn't "turn straight", he just stepped back into the closet while continuing to have the occassional male sexual encounter.

meow85 said:

well, i know this is hard for some people to wrap their heads around, but bowie never stopped being queer. oh, maybe he tried to "man up" in the '80s, but at what price? when he started immersing himself in art and underground culture again in the 90s, his work sprung back to life. i think it's possible for someone to be completely heterosexual but at the same time more "queer" than someone who's openly homosexual. it's an aesthetic, an attitude, a way of looking at things, and while it's largely connected to gay folks, it's not exclusive to us.

i liked 80's bowie.....

never be ashamed of your inner cheese.

i love the 'let's dance' album, and i'm one of the few people i know who actually has a soft spot for the 'tonight' album ('loving the alien' is one of my fave bowie songs, and i have a lot of love for his versions of 'tonight' and 'god only knows')...heck, 'never let me down' was the album that came out the year i fully got into bowie, so i even have some kind of nostalgic fondness for that album...but i can't look at everything from 'let's dance' to 'tin machine 2' without seeing a whole lot of compromise that hasn't been present in his work before or since.

my fav bowie track's are from soundtracks.....cool world and lost highway...and both of the songs sound more like his 80's stuff..well, to me at least.

not that big of a follower so i havent a comment about the whole "coming out" era.

Anxiety said:

True! Just look at my brother and I.

that lost highway track is great.

sosgemini said:

http://www.filmthreat.com...sp?Id=1559

anyone own or seen this?

Anxiety said:

Well hell, I do get that. But I don't think a lot of people do, and that's where the problem is. At a time when a star's words are taken by a lot of people as more reality than reality itself is, Bowie not addressing that bisexuality is not a phase for a lot of people made it truth in a sense.

Don't get me wrong; I have a lot of respect for him as a person and as an artist, and I do understand how he'll always have a connection to queer culture regardless of who or what he's sleeping with -but it frustrates me how he's validated such a wrong and hurtful opinion.

scififilmnerd said:

I've heard that too.

The problem comes in that he's publicly straight and has said numerous times he was just experimenting or going through a phase before. People take to heart more what they see and hear directly than what it's only vaguely rumoured a star may or may not be doing. It's not like his alledged boy-on-boy encounters are making the cover of People. (Not that I'd wish that, it'd be weird.)
[Edited 9/11/05 14:52pm]

GangstaFam said:

I totally get what your saying about being "queer". Tho for the most part, im heterosexual, I will admit that there's little things about me that are queer, like my interests in music and art, as well as the way I dress. After all, queer means strange, not gay. I guess that's why I hold Bowie in such high regard.

In general, I think we're all queer in our own little ways

Anxiety said:

VERY true. I'm an exeptionally queer straight man myself!

meow85 said:

Perhaps, but is it his responsibility to set everyone straight (no pun intended) about bisexuality? I think those folks who believe bisexuality to be a phase have got it firlmy cemented in their minds. If Bowie said that it was only a phase for himself, those folks would have just said "Awww, he's just trying to be PC".

Yes, he probably could have been more clear about this, but as it was I think he was just being forthcoming about his own experiences. I don't think he ever thought of himself as the spokesmen for all queerkind, even if many folks DID think he was.

I recall an interview where Bowie said that he is "tri-sexual"....I will try any kind of sex"