Attitude readers answer the question, ‘What does Madonna mean to gay men?’
Madonna. As the artist often considered the
greatest gay icon of all time unleashes the 13th chapter in her world-dominating saga with new album Rebel Heart, we thought we’d ask just what she means to gay men today.
As the new generation of artists like Britney and Gaga corner the gay-friendly market, it’s easy for the young among us to overlook the bond Madonna forged with the LGBT community, right from the very start of her career.
Madonna’s impact on the gay community runs so much deeper than the hot dancing boys in the Girl Gone Wild video and a willingness to prioritise Armani capes over her own personal safety – though they certainly help.
When we
asked readers to tell us what Madonna meant to them, the response was overwhelming:
the biggest response we’ve ever had in fact, and from all corners of the world. Perhaps it helped that we put the call out just hours before the infamous BRITs fall, which seemed to make many a gay man reflect on their lifelong love of the Queen of Pop.
It’s easy to pay lip service to Madonna’s enduring
popularity among gay men, but the responses we received show so many men have a
personal affinity with Ms Ciccone that runs much deeper than just her music. Men who have grown up throughout her thirty-year career and found her sound-tracking their lives, loves and losses. The uniting thread that stands out among all the stories is her tenacity, individuality and unwillingness to apologise.
Here are a selection of your most inspiring, touching, funny and frank stories about what Madonna means to you:
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Allan
“When I was very young, I always knew I was different from everyone else, that I was that weird kid (still am!) and I knew that I was gay (still am!) Madonna was one of the few mainstream artists that made feel like it was okay to be different, to be weird, to be sexual, to be gay, and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. It’s human nature. She pretty much helped my mom raise me without even knowing it. I will be a true fan ’til the end of my days. She saved my life, she is my hero.”
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Andrew
“What Madonna means to me is so hard to describe. She was like an older sister maybe, with the amount of influence she has had on me in my life. From the very beginning, when she was rolling around on the ground in her neon mesh, showing her (gasp!) belly button in Lucky Star, she has had my admiration. I was very dissatisfied with attending Catholic school at that time and she was exactly the salvation my soul needed. She made it okay to go against the grain, to want love, to be sexy AND smart, to be sassy, to be a complicated, ****ed up, funny, brilliant human. I watched her go through her sexual prime just a few years before I hit mine. She was panned by the critics during this time: it was the era of Sex, Erotica, Bedtime Stories and Body of Evidence, and her response to all the criticisms was ‘**** you, I’m not sorry’. She was crucified on the altar of public opinion and she LIVED. That made me a little less uncomfortable in my own human condition. She has given me the fight to keep going when all I wanted to do was curl up and give up. Thank god she’s still going.”
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Mayim
“To be honest I wasn’t too interested until 1990, but the reason for my discovery was quite profound. At the time I was being abused by a friend of the family. It had been going on for years and I was suicidal. He once took me to a shop in Newcastle and told me to get some CDs. I didn’t want anything but after threats I picked up the whole ‘M’ section. They sat in my room untouched until one day I decided to rifle through them and stumbled on The Immaculate Collection;, can honestly say it was an instant feeling of change, I listened and listened until I knew word for word every single song. I then started backtracking and within months had every single and picture disc she’d ever released.
At the time I was using her music as an escape from the pain I was going through. This progressed until I eventually plucked up the courage to tell the police and he was arrested and jailed. If it wasn’t for listening to Madonna and her positive attitude I would not be here today. So many of her songs are so important to me, but Oh, Father hits home in a different way because it’s become my anthem for this chapter in my life. 25 years later and I’m as much of a fan now as I ever was. I use her music in so many areas of my life to get me through the good and bad times. It’s amazing to think that Madonna’s had such an influence of me but has no idea.
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ATRL users What does Madonna mean to you?
A lot more of the readers responses can be found on the main article on Attitude's website. Such a great article all round.
http://attitude.co.uk/attitude-reade...an-to-gay-men/
but honestly she may be one of the most dedicated and disciplined people on Earth which impresses me very much.
