I was over at towleroad where he's posted about the furor in Rome over this billboard ad. To be honest, I'm on the fence regarding how appropriate it is for general consumption. Does that mean I'm self-loathing? I just think kids seeing it might be confused. It'd be fine if they are at the age where it is appropriate to discuss it, but not so fine if they are too young, no? Am I totally off on this? What is MADDENING, though, is in this article detailing the hubbub, some spokeswhore for a "family organization" had this to say:
'These posters are vulgar and a bad example for our children,' said a spokesman for the parents association MOIGE, which wants the adverts banned. 'It's not a matter of sexual orientation. They would be crass even if they featured a man and a woman.'
Umm, if you are going to be a bigot, I prefer you be in my face about it. Bitch is totally lying. I've been to Rome and there are billboards all over the place showing models doing much more graphic and sexual things than this while wearing less. I don't think anybody pays much mind to the billboards there anyway. You're looking down the whole time trying not to step in the piles of dog poo that are everywhere, right?
20 comments:
LOVE the picture. Kids should be encouraged to ask, even if they're young. What's wrong with saying "It's when a man loves another man, just like mommy loves daddy"?
P/S I simultaneously hate/love/envy you for having been to Europe. Bitch (and I mean that nicely).
Wingedman, I totally agree.
And on a related note, there should also be more ads with women laying all over each other.
Of course you're both right. I've been thinking about it since I wrote that (even though I'm at work and should FOCUS!). "Sometimes two men love each other, Jimmy, and then they kiss while their dog looks on." Simple.
Jen, should those women also sometimes be astride each other? Or betwixt each other's thighs possibly?
Keep talking, baby.
Oh, and wingedman, you're so young. I have a feeling when it's all done, you'll have been more cool places than I, but I'm gonna die tryin' to see what I can. If I show you Italy, what will you show me?
PS Jen, I'm VERY gay, as you know, but I'm kinda like a str8 guy in that I love to see two women knockin' boots, especially if they are very Penthouse-y. Is that offensive?
Offensive? As if. I like the all-boy porn, too, honey. Y'all is teh hott.
I definitely like my ladies less on the Penthouse-y side, though. I don't have a type, strictly speaking, but I do have several not-types and that bubble-headed bleached blonde thing is one of them...even if it's also true that the first girl I was ever with was in the centerfold category and just the thought of her still makes me all gooey. Hm. Maybe I don't really have not-types either.
Ha, pardon me while I process my sexuality aloud on your blog.
I like to look at the Penthouse-y ones, but my girlfriends were always very strong and sporty and outdoorsy. One of my friends back in the day used to tell me I should just go ahead and date guys. Heh.
Jen, goes without saying, but I love it when you bounce shit off me/my blog.
I think this billboard design is lovely. Quite tastefull and sweet. I think we've come a fairly long way already, but shouldn't get complacent in the face of conservatism, so it is worth defending the right to push the envelope a little further with tasetfull images.
Looking back, who remembers the furore of the Cindy Crawford/KD Lang Vanity Fair shoot?... seems very tame now.
We have just as much right to representation as any straight person does, for goodness sake we are surrounded by straight images every day. If this billboard makes one little nascent queer feel better about themselves and the future, then I'm all for it.
You all are so right.
Tangentially, lately I've been daydreaming about living in the gayest section of the gayest city in the world where I'm flooded with gay imagery and the food is really gay. Oh, but TV is the same.
I do live in one of the gayest sections of one of the gayest cities - my neighbourhood of Newtown is known as the Second Ghetto (first is Darlinghurst where the Sydney LGBT Mardi Gras wends through the streets). Newtown is the sort of place where it isn't unusual to see guys or girls holding hands or being affectionate in the street. I heart that.
May I come?
I'll come many many times!
Maybe we could put the straights up at the boring parts of town...they do serve a purpose I guess though I'll be darned if I know what it is.
And Michael, what are you talking about! We're all young honey!! If you show me Italy and France will I have to show you my under---?!
Not sure what the furore is either. I find the billboard interesting, tasteful and just enough to be provocative without being crass.
paul
Well, I suppose we should consider that Rome is the seat of Catholicism, but even then, there is a marked double standard at work here.
PS Which of those would you do first. I'm digging Mr. Grey.
Hell, everyone can come and visit me in sunny Oz! Wingedman can maybe swing some cheap fares, Michael can bring the industrial strength eye creams (the sun can wreak havoc people)... is it a date?
Andrew takes on all comers.
I'm sorely tempted, dude.
PS. Which of those would you do first. I'm digging Mr. Grey.
I think I'm in agreement, but one at a time just lacks imagination Michael. Who's up for a game of Lucky Pierre?
Me likes the sound of that. Also, me has no idea what that means.
You've never heard of 'Lucky Pierre'? How do I put this?...
Imagine three men being, shall we say, affectionate with each other, well the person in the middle of the... ahem, sandwich... is known as Lucky Pierre because he gets the best of both worlds.
I would never leave you out, ya big hetero. Plus, remember the test. You are actually gayer than me.
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