- Another major influence on today’s gender narcissism is Judith Butler, a Berkeley professor who uses the pronoun “they” and whose 1990 book Gender Trouble encourages readers to view gender as a performance. Well, Butler has won. Years ago, seeking gay rights was, quite simply, about wanting to eliminate discrimination on the basis of a fundamental and profound aspect of one’s personal identity. Today’s alphabet soup of gender labels is, more often than not, nothing more than a very shallow way for otherwise uninteresting straight people to be noticed. In short, it’s all performance.
As a hopelessly straight male who had power of attorney for a gay couple I can vouch for what Bawer says regarding gayness many years ago. Philadelphia when I was growing up was closeted, of course, but the closet door was often ajar. So many straight people frequented the Venture Inn, a gay bar that happened to serve the best martinis in the city.
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