02/07/2008
Cher: Gay Men Understand What it's Like to be an Outsider
She's back...
Cher is returning from the 'retirement' she took three years ago, taking up (literally) where Celine Dion left off at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, USA Today reports:
"The indestructible diva, who retired from touring in 2005, will star in a song-and-dance spectacle starting May 6 at the 4,100-seat Colosseum in Caesars Palace. She'll perform four shows weekly for one month, then return mid-August through early October, leapfrogging stints with Bette Midler. Her pact with promoter AEG Live extends three years.
Says Cher: "Creatively, we're doing something that's never been done with sets. Getting the whole thing in book form, in pictures, has taken months. Our set moves down from the ceiling, in from the sides, up from the floor. We have screens in the foreground, the center and the back. We can change a city into a forest in two seconds. You'll see a different stage for every song."
The show plans to cover "all chapters of Cher's career, from her Sonny & Cher start to her recent dance-pop phase" according to the paper.
She also talked to USA Today on a variety of topics, and gives a nod to a devoted fanbase:
"On every list, I was always on my way out. Gay men understand that I understand what it's like to be an outsider. To singers, I wasn't a singer. To actors, I wasn't an actor. I know what it's like to fight for your place. Besides, gay men are very choosy, and they have great taste."
On her age (61): "How did this happen? I used to be the youngest one around. I remember talking to my grandmother when she was in her 80s, and I said, 'How does it feel?' She said, 'I only notice it when I go to the mirror.' She was up for anything. So am I. I'd better do what I can do while I can do it."
On her public persona: "I find that men are intimidated by who they think I am. One night, Michelle Pfeiffer and I wanted to go out dancing, so we went to a club, sat down, and no one asked us to dance. I thought, this is crazy. Two of my gay friends came in and we danced with them for an hour. You have this baggage that comes with your image."
On tattoos: "I might take some more off. When I got tattooed, only bad girls did it: me and Janis Joplin and biker chicks. Now it doesn't mean anything. No one's surprised. I got a tattoo right after I left Sonny (Bono) and I was feeling real independent. That was my badge."
On the paparazzi: "I used to be able to run around in my sweats. Now I'm a prisoner. I think 'scum' is a perfect word for these people. They're meaner now. Before, they would be happy to get a picture. Now they want something salacious or to make you look bad. "Everything's more mean-spirited now. My sister was telling me about a show that hooks people up to lie detectors (Fox's The Moment of Truth). I don't like reality shows. I saw American Idol one time and said, 'Well, I never need to see this again.' I thought it was boring. I wasn't entertained."
Cher also says she's supporting Clinton this election cycle: "I'm supporting her because I know her and I like her and she's smart and a tough girl. But I don't have much respect for either party. I just think Republicans are worse."
Cher plans 'visually unbelievable' Las Vegas gig [usa today]
Cher shares: Life, love, tattoos, politics, paparazzi [usa today]
Posted 8:57 AM EST by Andy in Cher, Las Vegas, Music, News | Permalink
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Posted by: 1♥ | Feb 7, 2008 9:13:06 AM
that girl's got a lotta wigs
Posted by: bmac | Feb 7, 2008 10:32:51 AM
Cher's got this one wrong, much as I love her. Gay men understand what it's like to be an outsider, true, but they understand what it's like to be an outsider because they understand what it is to be feminized in a culture that hates women. That's why it is so disappointing that so many gay men are such misogynists, just like the straight dudes.
Posted by: Wreck | Feb 7, 2008 12:20:56 PM
Sorry WRECK, I think that that's a crock and I say that as a long time feminist.
The misogyny card played for every damned thing is getting SO old and tired.
Posted by: ZEKE | Feb 7, 2008 3:00:31 PM
She could sing duets with Barry Manilow.
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Feb 8, 2008 12:27:50 AM
So, ZEKE, your feminism consists of what? Other than your claim that misogyny doesn't exist in a case where it obviously does? Or in your repetition of a right-wing talking point about, in essence, playing the "gender card"? It's a pretty well established claim in feminism and queer activism that gay men are feminized in American's heterosexist male-dominated society and thus lumped in with women as targets for disdain. The response to this can be "look, we're real men, like you" in an effort to preserve masculine privilege, or solidarity with women and a critique of gender norms.
Think about the substance of most gay bashings -- the attacks are usually aimed at the traits that are described as feminine by dominant society and exhibited by certain gay men: such as concern with personal appearance, heightened emotionality, artistic skill, and lack of prowess at some physically demanding activities -- lisps and limp wrists. Dykes get bashed and ignored for looking and acting like dudes; lipstick lesbos tend to have it "easier" in this regard because they're maintenance of certain gendered norms doesn't necessarily register as a threat to patriarchal norms of how women are supposed to behave.
In any case, the hypermasculinity of some aspects of gay male culture, such as the caricature of the male body presented by enormous steroid infused Chelsea boys, as well as the hyper(un)femininity of other aspects, for example, drag -- of CHER! gasp, no less -- indicates that something more complex is going on with Cher, the gays and gender than perhaps your easy dismissal concedes.
Cher is clearly gender non-conforming herself (her tattoos, for instance, along with "Janis Joplin," a widely reputed lesbian, marked her as a certain type of woman at one point -- you'll notice that her "everyone" is very gendered). Moreover, she at least tacitly seems to attribute this in part for solidarity with gay men. In her interview above, she says that while out at the club with Michelle Pfeiffer she "find[s] that men are intimidated by who they think I am." There's something, whether it be about her fame, her success, her hotness that threatens "men," in a specifically gendered/sexualized way. But her "gay friends," who are not included under the category of men (Cher uses men and gay antonymically), however, dig that very thing about her and wanna dance.
Posted by: wreck | Feb 8, 2008 9:11:16 AM
Look WRECK, there is no doubt that misogyny plays a significant role in homophobia but there are MANY other factors. It would take pages to get into all the factors and nuances that influence homophobia but not all of them are based in misogyny.
To pretend that homophobia has a single source based in a hatred of women is narrow, ignorant and counterproductive.
Some men AND women, even people who believe that women are not equal to but superior to men don't like men or women who don't look or act in a traditionally masculine or feminine sort of way. Their bias and bigotry is based in ignorance and stems from many sources that often have nothing whatsoever to do with a "hatred" of women or a feeling that women are somehow inferior or lesser beings.
That's just a fact. If we don't recognize that then we handicap ourselves in fully and most effectively challenging bigotry by being fully informed about the various sources and misconceptions that produced it.
Look, we're on the same team here. I used to have more narrow and ideological views on the simplicity of cause and effect relationships. After many years of life experience and paying attention to what I see and not what people tell me, I discovered that nothing is so simple. That realization has made me much more effective in challenging bigotry and changing hearts and minds.
Posted by: ZEKE | Feb 8, 2008 3:17:58 PM
ZEKE -- what makes you think I don't listen to what I see and hear? Or have "experience" and "observations"? And why are yours more valid than mine? All I'm saying is that some of Cher's appeal to gay men is based on their mutual contempt for gender norms, a claim justified by a close reading of Cher's comments and a study of what's up. Some might like Cher's singing voice, some might like her acting. But Cher was talking about being an "outsider," and that being the basis of the gay love for her. What I'm saying about the equation of outsider and gay is that this is based on violating gender norms. Cher isn't a typical woman -- she has tattoos, wears slutty clothes, likes sex, is divorced, outspoken, dates younger men , all things proper women aren't supposed to do. Gay men like to have sex with men, which isn't gender appropriate behavior for men, unless you go to British boarding school.
All homophobia is not about misogyny, but there's definitely some. And until queers acknowledge that, we're not all in this together. Just look at the way the big gay organizations like HRC, an org. run and funded predominantly by rich, white, gay-identified men, jumped ship on trans people when it came down to it. If people's "bias and bigotry" towards gender non-conforming people is based on something other than their gender non-conformity, I'd love to know what the other "many sources that often have nothing whatsoever to do with a "hatred" of women or a feeling that women are somehow inferior or lesser beings" are. Tell me, give me an example -- I gave you plenty. Extend me the courtesy of reading my post without getting defensive.
Posted by: wreck | Feb 8, 2008 5:42:41 PM