A reoccurring issue in the MJFandom… (NSFW warning)
As we all know, Michael did not present himself within the normal confines of what is expected of masculinity, as he did embrace some aspects of femininity. His looks and demeanor were very androgynous, and he was comfortable in his sexuality. He didn’t feel like wearing makeup and being soft made him less than a man, but the public never gave him that grace. At age 18, the media already stirred up a story about Michael getting a sex change, and he had to clarify that he, in fact was not. For decades, he would get questioned about his sexuality, gender and would get called a sissy, a closeted gay man, or even a “danger” to young males by not fitting into the mold of what is expected from a Black man. Because he didn’t fit into their box of masculinity, they filled the gaps with their own prejudices and biases and attached those viewpoints onto him. In their eyes he wasn’t a man that just simply didn’t feel like conforming to gender expectations, but a man who secretly desired to become a woman. Michael Jackson never had the privilege of being seen as ‘just a man’ because the media and public viewed him as an enigma. A person who was ever-changing, so concealed, so different from everyone else they’ve ever been introduced to because he had the audacity to value his privacy and not conform to their beliefs of normalcy, all while being cherished across the globe. And because of that, they modified his image into something grotesque, never consistent but damaging nevertheless, as they stripped him of his humanity, which made it easy for them to manufacture lies and propaganda against him.
With all these in mind, we cannot simply treat Michael like any other celebrity and have the same fandom experience. What I want to touch on is something I see in fandom culture quite frequently, and it unfortunately is the ‘dehumanization’ of these celebrities or any real person. With fame, it is relatively easy to forget that the person behind the art is—a person. With idolatry and worship, many do see these people they cherish as a separate entity from them, protected and untouchable. However, throughout these past two decades, I’ve seen an odd phenomenon of people treating real-life people as fictional characters or OCs. I think this came into fruition with people heavily attaching actors to the characters they play, but I’ve noticed this bleed into fandoms where the individual they’re stanning is simply just a singer. While this behavior might seem harmless on the surface, I believe it actually contributes to further dehumanization. I had the unfortunate experience of being in fandom spaces at the ripe age of 9 and I got exposed to a multitude of things from brony nsfw, loli hentai, incest, deviant art, gore posing… I have truly seen it all. Likewise, I’m fully aware of how far people push their imaginative desires into fictional characters, and I do see some of these things happening to real people as well, and the MJ fandom is no exception.
Michael Jackson was a very attractive man, and there’s nothing wrong with desiring him; however, there has to be a boundary and a line. Simply writing about how sexy he is or thirst posting about him isn’t “bad” or “illegal,” but a problem does arise when this sexualization quickly turns into objectification. Things that breach this line would be looking at drawn NSFW of him (rule 34) or asking for drawn NSFW of mj, sexual AI-generated images of mj, creating NSFW fanfics of fetishes that include rape, incest, or pedophilia or asking for them, and sexually fantasizing about him having female reproductive organs/parts, and so on. I have had the misfortune of witnessing all of these things on more than one platform (yes, about mj), and that is why I really want to address the situation of the constant feminization of Michael Jackson in this fandom.
Circling back to the point earlier, Michael Jackson did embrace androgyny—key word: androgyny. Androgyny, by definition, is the state of being neither masculine nor feminine but rather a combination of *both*. While there’s nothing inherently wrong about acknowledging Michael’s soft/feminine traits, I do feel that many exaggerate it and fetishize it to the point where they completely disregard and erase any aspect of his masculinity and project him as being “womanly.” The issue with this is that during Michael Jackson’s lifetime, he repeatedly stated that he was uncomfortable with being viewed through this lens and clarified more than once that he is a man. Not a trans woman, non-binary person, nor a gay man, but a cisgender, heterosexual man who simply liked to blend the gender lines when it came to his outward appearance (despite the media labeling him as these things and heckling him for it). It’s one thing to be curious or not know about his gender or sexuality, but to continue to suggest or believe that he is these things while being informed that he’s not is problematic. It transforms a desire to support or relate to someone with a potential queer identity into morphing someone into something they’re not for your own desires. This behavior frequently happens on Tumblr, but with the influx of new fans after the biopic, more of it is appearing on Twitter and Reddit, along with the constant onslaught of sexual comments about impregnating, penetrating, and fingering Michael Jackson- along with doing these things with him having female genitalia…
Despite older fans trying to educate and inform new fans on why this behavior is unacceptable, the new fans have doubled down on their behavior and chalked it up to “prudishness” and “homophobia,” which is not the case at all. Many of these new fans who participate in doing these things argue that it’s just their way of expressing their lesbian desire towards mj or a crude joke at most, and they should have the freedom to do these things as other fandoms do similar things. Many older fans like myself disagree with this for a multitude of reasons. For one, not all fandoms operate in the same way, and most importantly, you should not treat your favorite celebrity the same way you do a fictional character. Going back to my point above, it contributes further to the dehumanization, as treating a real person like a fictional character removes consent and breaches boundaries. Secondly, I find the argument that being against this is homophobia really disingenuous and quite insulting. For one, the mj fandom has a multitude of people that are also queer (including lesbians) and are also not okay with this behavior. Sexuality is fluid, and while you might only be attracted to women for the time being, you can become attracted to men later down the line or vice versa. It’s one thing to see someone of the opposite gender as being attractive or understand why people are, but once you start sexually fantasizing or having the desire to date them, you are indeed attracted to the opposite gender. Once you *gain* attraction to a man, you are no longer lesbian but bisexual. The reason why many of us find the homophobia argument so disingenuous is because, if anything, we’re seeing a display of *biphobia*, many who are still clinging to their lesbian label to validate their queerness and excuse their fetishes- despite being sexually attracted to a man.
Labels have meaning, and claiming to be a lesbian when you’re attracted to men waters the lesbian label down and contributes to the incorrect narrative that lesbians are not real or just women who haven’t found that right man yet. I also find the excuse of claiming that their sexuality is the reason why it’s okay to feminize Michael Jackson in perverse ways disturbing and harmful. Regardless of your sexual orientation, not all kinks are acceptable—especially if they go into the field of racism, misogyny, or any form of dehumanization. Fantasizing about someone having the opposite genitalia can actually be clarified as being a paraphilia of gender bending or transgender individuals. I don’t think I need to explain why attaching queer labels to this is harmful but also opens the door for people to associate queerness with fetishizes that can potentially dehumanize people. It also glosses over the fact that it’s incredibly violating to do this to an individual. Imagine seeing someone post about you having the opposite genitals for sexual pleasure; wouldn’t you feel disturbed by this? So why on earth would you continue to do this, especially when the person in question would be very uncomfortable with this and is no longer here to speak their voice!??
Circling back to the point of the media heckling him for certain traits and attaching feminine labels to him, they also used this to push a certain narrative. The media often used this to push the idea that he was a “weirdo” or a closeted gay man, and when the allegations hit, that made it easier for them to orchestrate claims that Michael tried to seduce boys with his femininity or was a closeted predator (with the narrative that trans women/gay men go after children). With the knowledge of that, I most definitely wouldn’t feminize him, as not only was he uncomfortable with it, but it was used as a weapon to push a harmful agenda. Again, this is not about being against desire, homosexuality, or femininity in men, but instead a warning for wrongly attaching or projecting labels onto Michael Jackson and why you shouldn’t. I hope I presented my thoughts in an orderly fashion (I can be a bit of a messy ranter), and I hope that my points are comprehensible.
I also wanted to acknowledge that those that are straight are also guilty of doing this behavior (objectifying/feminizing him), and if you do, cut it out. No, we do not need to see you posting about his fluids taking up every crevasse of your body to the point where you would need to be fed through an IV because he deteriorated your gut microbiota… (please just be normal, my Lord).
