A couple of songs of the disco variety first made their appearances in the dance clubs of 1978. Cheryl Lynn’s “Got to Be Real” came first in April of that year, followed by “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” by Sylvester in October. For those old enough to remember them without having to look them up on YouTube, what Medicare supplement did you choose?
The idea of being real or feeling real was already a verbal construct in the gay world of that time, and it could be used as both compliment and shade. “Oh, honey, she’s real.” Now, that’s a good thing. “Oh, honey, she’s feeling real.” Well, not so much.
There usually tended to be an association, or at the very least a comparison, with the straight world in using the term. Relationships, love and even sex could be evaluated based on what some perceived as a heterosexual ideal. Kind of silly, wasn’t it? But it was a time when the gay demimonde was just beginning to emerge from its sub-rosa status in society, in America particularly.
At the time, there was a definite affinity for “real men,” which led to a rather hypermasculine ideal, often depicted by gay artists such as Tom of Finland. No wonder the “Men Seeking Men” personal columns of the day regularly specified no fats, no fems and a preference for a straight-acting male. Of course, that last one always gave me a case of the giggles, considering what the advertiser wanted this desirable “straight-acting” male to do was the antithesis of acting straight.
Eager to please, a subset of gay men worked really hard to achieve this rather artificial ideal—some still do—resulting in a package that was quite appealing to the eye, but sometimes with the disconcerting incongruity of having a body by Fisher and a voice by Mickey Mouse.
The desirability of this “butch” affect sometimes led to comical results, particularly if one actually went by the name Butch. I had such a friend, a darling blond boy who was usually the cutest thing in shoe leather with a bubbly personality to go with it. It’s been years, so I don’t remember what his last name actually was, possibly because he was almost universally called Butch Who Isn’t.
Is it the real turtle soup or merely the mock? We’ve asked that question for years, and it is once again moving into the political discourse. What is a real American?
Well, I suppose the politically correct answer would exclude most of us whose forebears weren’t originally to the continent born. Either of them. To get precise for a minute, Americans is a very broad term that can be applied accurately to anyone living in Canada to Chile, or anywhere in between. It’s just that, somewhere along the way, those who live in the United States of America have rather usurped the term “American” to mean only us. Which is not surprising as usurping things in something we do better than just about any other group of people on the planet. Not a criticism, mind you, just an observation.
But if we accept the more limited definition of Americans as being those who are citizens of these United States, there seems to be a tendency to further restrict it to a subset of “real” Americans. In the ongoing postmortem of this past election, I’ve noticed a tad of analysis indicating that the Democratic party has lost touch with these real Americans, particularly in the key swing states.
Now it is abundantly clear that the Democratic party is out of touch, but not with real Americans. Out of touch with working-class Americans—to be sure. Out of touch with the middle class—not entirely, but getting there. Increasingly, the Democratic party is viewed by many as being a bit elitist, a tad smug and a touch arrogant. Again, just an observation.
But the flip side of that coin is just how in touch is the Republican party. And, before we go any further, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. As a party, it’s sufficiently in touch to get the critical votes to achieve power, as demonstrated by this election. But the issues that affect real Americans—be they poor, working poor, working class, middle class, upper middle class—are also real. And, so far, unaddressed. (By the way, I didn’t include upper class, because no real Americans would ever admit or consider themselves as belonging to it. In public.)
We’re two months out from a new administration taking hold of power, so what will those who lost it do to try to get it back? And what will those who have gotten it, do with it? Not what they said they will do, but what they actually do do. So to speak.
All of us real Americans are kind of anxious to see.
