This past summer, incredibly gay singer Troye Sivan released his new dance pop hit entitled “Rush” and it is unapologetically queer and sex positive. However fans, listeners, and even I noticed one glaring detail about the music video: the lack of body diversity.
For those who have not seen the video or those who are not on the gay pop music areas of the internet, the video follows suit of other contemporary dance pop videos, referencing 90s and 2000s pop culture, specifically referencing shoots from the popular gay lifestyle magazine, XY. Throughout the video, Sivan and his co-stars dance and interact sensually in various locations and the most noticeable detail is the types of diversity shown throughout the video, including many versions of queer stories in a variety of racial identities, gender expressions, and sexualities. This is something I applaud the video for. Many other popular queer and ally artists who make videos or content related to queer culture or pride, they often show it from heteronormative lens or point of view that excludes a many queer perspectives.
The video is so immediately iconic for its variety of types of queer individuals shown yet it is extremely shocking to me that a very large (pun not intended) part of the LGBTQ+ community is completely ostracized from the liberated queer experience that is this video. The video includes many dancers and models that have a similar body type, either thin and lanky or lean and toned. This to me is just another glaring example of the “gay male gaze” that often adds extreme pressure for plus, or even average, size gay men for not looking the way that gay men most often appear in the media. The closest thing the video gets to this is a man who walks across the frame for less than a second at the beginning of the video.
I really enjoy this song and its music video. It is a perfect fun queer summer song to blast in the car with friends and the video really appeals to me visually, especially the shots inspired by XY magazine photoshoots as I am a huge fan of the publication. However, part of me feels a bit off-put by the notion that to have fun, be included, and enjoy sexual liberation, I have to have less than 2% body fat.
I am happy with the representation of queer joy shown in many ways. However the way “Rush” is celebrated would not exist, or at least not be as prevalent, if Troye Sivan was plus size. Sam Smith recently was criticized online by the masses for being a plus size queer individual expressing their sexuality; (instead of being criticized online for making mediocre music). The worst part about this discourse online about the lack of body diversity in the “Rush” music video is being stoked by a very specific demographic on the internet of entitled, narcissistic gay men, specifically twinks, who exhibit an extremely rude display of aggression towards anyone they feel superior over. These “Regina George Gays” are attempting to shut down any critique over the lack of body diversity with the same tired arguments that thin people use to exclude anyone who does not look like them or appeal to their standard of beauty.
At the end of the day, “Rush” is an enjoyable pride anthem and it’ll be in my summer rotation until I bring out my moody Autumnal music. I just feel that if queer people want to actively include all kinds of queer visions and points of view in their art, they need to start embracing the idea of depicting queer joy in all sizes, even if it means including realistic average bodies for now.
