Writes Polly Vernon in "Trudeau's going all Travis" (London Times)(about this Katy Perry Instagram post). The 2 counts:
1. "[I]t’s a flagrant challenge to Vogue magazine’s recent diktat regarding how embarrassing it is to have a boyfriend nowadays; a viral article that made specific reference to how 'no one' is doing precisely the thing Katy Perry, in fact, just did, ie sharing images of their boyfriend on social media."
2. "[T]he 'Travis Kelce-fication™" of romantic male partners. Travis Kelce... All photographic evidence suggests Kelce is even now incapable of so much as glancing at [Taylor] Swift without his entire facial expression melting into a mush of captivated swoony wonder that she could be interested in him… I would be so bold as to suggest that early signs are Trudeau has been, or is in the process of being, Travis Kelce-ficated by Perry...."
From the linked Vogue article: "There’s nothing I hate more than following someone for fun, only for their content to become 'my boyfriend'-ified suddenly.... [F]or so long, it felt like we were living in... a world where women’s online identities centred around the lives of their partners.... Women were rewarded for their ability to find and keep a man, with elevated social status and praise.... However, more recently, there’s been a pronounced shift in the way people showcase their relationships online: far from fully hard-launching romantic partners, straight women are opting for subtler signs: a hand on a steering wheel, clinking glasses at dinner, or the back of someone’s head.... Are people embarrassed of their boyfriends now? Or is something more complicated going on? To me, it feels like the result of women wanting to straddle two worlds: one where they can receive the social benefits of having a partner, but also not appear so boyfriend-obsessed that they come across quite culturally loser-ish...."
Ha ha. Complicated! Maybe it's just that the other person doesn't want to be in social media. And maybe it's a recognition that whoever is following you in social media isn't going to automatically be interested in this other person. It's not embarrassment so much as respect for the boyfriend and the readers. He doesn't want to be foisted on them and they don't want to be foisted upon.

26 comments:
Stuff no right thinking (dare I say misognynistic) male is thinking about. You have a girlfriend/partner/fiance/wife and you probably don't give two toots about this stuff.
Vogue: "or the back of someone’s head"
I usually announce a new girlfriend by posting the top of someone's head. CC, JSM
"... "There’s nothing I hate more than following someone for fun, only for their content to become 'my boyfriend'-ified suddenly......."
I have a solution, and it works.
Katy Perry goes thru men pretty quickly. Good luck, Castro's son.
Having a boyfriend makes one culturally loser-ish? Some culture.
Online PTSD triggered by their IRL friends getting a boyfriend and their friendships taking a hit.
"Oh no, not my BFF Katy Perry! She's going to have so much less time for me now..."
How far have women fallen that having a significant other in your life has become "culturally loser-ish"?
Feminism: It's a lifelong bachelorette party where no one is getting married!
To be fair, Castreau isn't really a boyfriend so much as a gay best friend who will let you be as AWFL as you like. One of the complaints about the Swift/Kelce thing is that he has Tradded her up. No danger of that with ol' SitsDownToPee here
Speed reading unfortunately keeps me from understanding the point here. I do object to "embarrassed of," which surely is wrong. It would be "embarrassed about" where my dialect comes from.
Or "embarrassed by" with a different meaning though.
So Castreau has a new beard, and everyone must know about it.
Per Adam Carolla, he’s the only man who crosses his legs harder than Gavin Newsome.
Any kids they have will probably look like Maduro.
No knows, is Castreau the beard? Or is Katy Perry the beard. Will anyone ever know?
They're not coming out. It's the gay reveal, a traditional tableau.
I'd rather think about the Roman Empire.
"Peachy said...
Katy Perry goes thru men pretty quickly. Good luck, Castro's son."
Well, so did his whore mother.
@chuck, “When a woman has lost her chastity she will shrink from nothing.” – Tacitus
To each their own, but for particular men Perry causes shrinkage. If you know you know.
She wanna be a commie frostback’s floozie, I say knock yourself out, katy perry.
“Katy Perry goes thru men pretty quickly.”
Given her reportedly rapacious nature, men “run through” Katy Perry fairly quickly, as well.
If a fella is going to be whipped he might as well be whipped by a major babe.
And Kelce is definitely whipped, or, for the more romantically inclined, "hopelessly in love."
Also, for those who will claim that Swift is not a "major babe," please.
What can we say Rabel...just like 'Castreau', everyone's expectations have been lowered.
All prepositions are now collapsed into "of." I cringed in excruciating pain the first time I heard "bored of," but it will be in granny's OED before you know it.
I wish both couples well, but am not optimistic about their chances.
Having Trudeau boyfriend definitely makes you a loser.
Vogue's dispatches from Heterofatalistland.
On The Delusional Diaries Podcast, fronted by two New York-based influencers, Halley and Jaz, they discuss whether having a boyfriend is “lame” now. “Why does having a boyfriend feel Republican?” read a top comment, with 12,000 likes. “Boyfriends are out of style. They won’t come back in until they start acting right,” read another, with 10,000 likes. In essence, “having a boyfriend typically takes hits on a woman’s aura”, as one commenter claimed. Funnily enough, both of these hosts have partners, which is something I often see online. Even partnered women will lament men and heterosexuality – partly in solidarity with other women, but also because it is now fundamentally uncool to be a boyfriend-girl.
When somebody says "they aren't coming back until they act right" they aren't coming back for her. Is it really about "acting right"?
Does Swift wear that tight, little skirt?
“ Kelce is even now incapable of so much as glancing at [Taylor] Swift without his entire facial expression melting into a mush of captivated swoony wonder that she could be interested in him…”
The way the Chiefs have been playing he may not have to worry about that much longer.
Post a Comment
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.