Meat Loaf is one of the only pop-culture touchstones for my queer identity. He's heartfelt and masculine. He's kind of a joke... and sure, he's in on it, but he puts his heart and soul into singing every goofy lyric nonetheless.
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I'm listening to the latest episode of Hit Parade (@cmolanphy's chart history podcast for @Slate) and feeling downright compelled to do a thread about transmasculine identity and the music of Meat Loaf.https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2020/10/jim-steinman-made-plethora-of-pompous-pop …
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The part of queer culture that alienates me is this sardonic, emotionally detached, performative, otherworldly aspect. (This is mostly applicable to gay men, but gay men have a lot of pull, being the closest to power and respectability of us all.)
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Meat Loaf isn't otherworldly. He doesn't float above it all. He... well, he can't. He's fat. But, he's also not traditionally masculine. He's over-the-top, both emotionally and in presentation. He's not stoic or withdrawn.
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This position of being in on the joke, and also the butt of the joke, of giving up your chance at being seen as cool to reach out to people, instead of closing yourself off, has a real resonance to me. And it has a resonance to AFAB masculinity, across the trans/cis divide.
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Lesbians are not, traditionally, cool. When I think about a lesbian aesthetic I think practical, heartfelt, maybe coming off as a bit of a joke at times, but having the inner strength not to give up on the heartfelt stuff over it.
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Trans men have that as well. Being against toxic masculinity and forging a path away from it, despite being quite literally dickless. Being willing to be laughed off the planet for trying to tell cis-men how to Man Better: That's a transmasculine approach to life.
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In my incarnation as a butch lesbian, I wrote about this once before, for the Toast: https://the-toast.net/2014/11/20/lets-make-meat-loaf-lesbian-icon/ … So, consider this thread a post transition update, to one of the pieces I most enjoyed writing, way back when.
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The Meatloaf piece remains my favorite of all your Slate articles!
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Technically the Meat Load piece was for the Toast (former home of current Prudence
@daniel_m_lavery) , but I really appreciate it!
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