David Bowie and “Gayface.” How pretending to be gay can make you rich.

[Shana A]

David Bowie and "Gayface." How pretending to be gay can make you rich.
By Jennifer Finney Boylan | Published: August 16, 2010

http://www.jenniferboylan.net/2010/08/16/david-bowie-and-gayface-how-pretending-to-be-gay-can-make-you-rich/

Back then, one of the amazing, and shocking things about Bowie was his gayness, his androgyny, his wildly morphing persona.  For me, being a musical snob then as now, I was less interested in "showmanship" than in the fact that he was a great musician, a great ear, a fantastic voice, and a remarkable ability to write songs.

But I've been thinking about Bowie the last day or so, even went as far as this Wikipedia article.  And was struck by the material in which he makes it pretty plain that he was never gay, or bisexual.  That it was pretty much all part of a big act to "shock" people.  He allowed as how it was an incredibly lucrative feint.

[tekla]

People in Show Biz 'put on an act'.  Stay tuned tomorrow when the author tells us all how water is wet.

[Kate Thomas]

People in Show Biz 'put on an act'.  Stay tuned tomorrow when the author tells us all how water is wet.

Are you saying the performing artist's  projected persona ain't true to his sole .... I'm getting rid of all my Alice Cooper vinyl records..

[tekla]

Well just to assist you in letting those Alice records hit the trash bin all I can say is that in the 3 shows I've worked with him, he's always been about the nicest guy you'd ever hope to meet.   Hope that helps.

[Shang]

People on stage are generally different they are off stage.  The singers of t.A.T.u. came out as lesbians originally then changed to bisexual then straight, and they've stayed saying they're straight from what I know.

It's really not that big of a shock.  Hell, Rob Halford is gay but almost no one would have guessed until after he came out.

[tekla]

Hell, Rob Halford is gay but almost no one would have guessed until after he came out.

Well, at least anyone who wasn't paying much attention.

[Shang]

Hell, Rob Halford is gay but almost no one would have guessed until after he came out.

Well, at least anyone who wasn't paying much attention.

A lot of people (from what I can tell--but I was young so I can only go off of shows like the ones on VH1 or VH1 Classic though it's been awhile since I've been able to watch them) a lot of people seemed to have said "It's so obvious now!" once he came out...He just wore clothes that a lot of bands wore during the '80s from what I can tell, though he didn't get to the point of Poison (who my dad thought was made up of girls until he heard the music; he's a Poison fan).

[RebeccaFog]

"gayface" sounds like the name of a serious porn film.

The hero isn't gay but he is consistently being caught with other men's sperm on his face.  Inconceivable as it sounds, the face shots are always by accident. He's sitting in a theater and gets splashed in the face. At an outdoor diner. Flying an airplane. It just goes on and on. The man struggles with his friends calling him 'gayface' until he snaps and starts selling gay male porn. Every film ends with him getting a thousand shots in the face.

His father is shamed but his mother stills loves her son.