Okay kids, I hate to say it, but with tonight’s episode (episode 201, I would think), I found part of Queer Eye that I completely do not like. At all.
I’m sure you all noticed this as well, during the hip tips at the end of the show. For those of you who missed it, Kylie Minogue made a guest appearance of sorts. She “assisted” each of the Fab Five in their tip of the day. It was...traumatizing. Each hip tip, no matter how average it should have been, was clearly meant to be portrayed as “sexy” and “appealing.” (I use quotations here because they were not sexy or appealing, despite the producers’ intentions.) Minogue helped Kyan into a shirt (Kyan then said, and I quote, “rowr”), rubbed Carson’s ass with sandpaper (no, I’m not joking), turned down Ted for a second date and chopped up a cucumber (and something that looked very suspiciously like an erotic toy) with him, and clung to Thom’s arm like rumpled Cling Wrap.
Now, I realize that she is on their soundtrack and was there for publicity and therefore had a purpose, and I also realize that she and the Fab Five were just doing as they were told. Unfortunately, there was one small detail the producers managed to overlook in this publicity stunt.
The Fab Five are gay. Homosexual. Attracted to persons of a similar sex to themselves. They do not like girls.
I don’t find this an overly difficult concept to grasp, but it seems to me that most people do. From fans wishing the Fab Five were straight so they could fall in love with said fans (see www.kyanfan.com for proof in the “our dreams” section) to the music video in which Jai grinds with a woman to this blatant display of heterosexuality, it has become clear that the fans do not appreciate the fact that the Fab Five are not attracted to women.
To me it seems degrading that the Fab Five are forced to do things like this to keep their show popular with society. Society is setting up standards that they have to fit in to succeed, which is contradictory to the entire gay rights movement! The point of the entire show is that the Fab Five are homosexual. There would be no show if they weren’t. Why do they have to adapt their advertising to make it acceptable to the straight viewers?
And for that matter, what was up with the close-ups of next-to-naked women in this episode?! It was obviously a publicity stunt, but the Fab Five have pointed out numerous times that they reach a huge range of viewers from all age groups. What must those old women from central Illinois (who Ted mentioned on the making of the music video) be thinking about their favorite show now? What about the families watching? And I’m sure plenty of the viewers are women. Are the producers trying to appeal to the straight men? I don’t know many straight men who would even consider watching this show, so even if they are pleasing a few people with shots of naked girls, I think they’re not doing much for the majority of the fans.
This is just another example of how Queer Eye for the Straight Guy contradicts itself. It absolutely infuriates me that the Fab Five have to put up with so much of this stuff. Maybe they aren’t offended. Maybe they’ll do anything for money. I hope that’s not true, but whatever. I don’t know them. However, I think it’s terrible and a travesty. I feel like the moral of the show is being lost. Perhaps Queer Eye does nothing to alleviate the stereotypes, but it does give the straight population more access to gays and perhaps gives them further insight to what they once condemned. Or rather, it did. Now it isn’t accomplishing that. People are trying to make the Fab Five straight, and that’s the complete opposite of what gays have been trying for decades to accomplish! It seems that the show is compromising, and they shouldn’t have to. It’s a huge injustice, and I hate that this is happening to my favorite show. Why can’t straight people accept that no one should have to change who they are to fit into someone else’s standards!?
I feel like the show has been cheapened, and it really wrecked the night for me. I will continue to watch Queer Eye because I love the Fab Five, but I hope the producers wake up and see what they’re doing before the show is ruined beyond help.