The End of an Era?
On a recent Friday evening, in celebration of the much discussed recent birthday of mine (well, at least around these parts), we decided to take the dancing part of the evening to Opaline in the East Village. Opaline's Friday night dance party, Area 10009, is known as a bit of a trashy gay affair. However, clinging to an idealized nostalgia that this city seems to consider "The Golden Age of Trash," the 1980s of course, party promoters will do just about anything they can to up the smut. Ahh...to go back to the day when gays were gays and girls were girls. But how do we do this? What about charging women more to get in the door? Eureka!
Well, this may just be the Area 10009's rationale, as they charged a $10 cover for men, and $20 for women. That's right, the days of reverse discrimination are upon us, and how do I feel about it? Well, from where I stand, there is one promising change that could come of this. Could we have reached the end of the Fag Hag era?
The allure that gay dance clubs have had for (often straight) women, has consistently been that they provide decent, if cheesy, music, a safe space, and well...hot men. I'd have to chart the rise and popularity of the fag/fag hag relationship back to the middle to late 90s. With Will & Grace, and various other pop culture "landmarks" every girl had to have their very own fabulous gay friend. Where was the best place to see and be seen with your fabulously fruity friends? You got it, the dance club.
Now, I've always been opposed to male only or female only gay bars or clubs. It reduces everything to the sluttiest common denominator, and well, doesn't really make for a good night out with friends. However, what happens when large groups of women, as apparently was the case with Opaline, get wind of gogo boys and decent music, and start taking their bachelorette parties to get wild with the gay boys?
Well, if women are going to take advantage of the good music, the safe space, and, yes, the hot men - especially when gogo boys are involved, as it is a well known trend that most of them are heterosexual, boding well for the ladies in the crowd, provided they don't mind an STD or two - maybe they need to make a little sacrifice. It's that or continue to live vicariously through your gay friends and be a "convenient and friendly" way for the boys to get together.
Considering the years of self-hatred, coming out, and psychologial warfare involved with being a gay man going to these clubs, $10 more doesn't seem like that much of burden.
For a sample of just what you're "missing" by not paying the additional $10 to get in. Here's a sample pic of the dance floor and sex show that was going down on the night I was there. Thanks to Zander, official photographer of the moments that would probably have been better left undocumented, for the picture.
Okay,come to think of it, I wouldn't pay $20 for that either.
Carry on.
Well, this may just be the Area 10009's rationale, as they charged a $10 cover for men, and $20 for women. That's right, the days of reverse discrimination are upon us, and how do I feel about it? Well, from where I stand, there is one promising change that could come of this. Could we have reached the end of the Fag Hag era?
The allure that gay dance clubs have had for (often straight) women, has consistently been that they provide decent, if cheesy, music, a safe space, and well...hot men. I'd have to chart the rise and popularity of the fag/fag hag relationship back to the middle to late 90s. With Will & Grace, and various other pop culture "landmarks" every girl had to have their very own fabulous gay friend. Where was the best place to see and be seen with your fabulously fruity friends? You got it, the dance club.
Now, I've always been opposed to male only or female only gay bars or clubs. It reduces everything to the sluttiest common denominator, and well, doesn't really make for a good night out with friends. However, what happens when large groups of women, as apparently was the case with Opaline, get wind of gogo boys and decent music, and start taking their bachelorette parties to get wild with the gay boys?
Well, if women are going to take advantage of the good music, the safe space, and, yes, the hot men - especially when gogo boys are involved, as it is a well known trend that most of them are heterosexual, boding well for the ladies in the crowd, provided they don't mind an STD or two - maybe they need to make a little sacrifice. It's that or continue to live vicariously through your gay friends and be a "convenient and friendly" way for the boys to get together.
Considering the years of self-hatred, coming out, and psychologial warfare involved with being a gay man going to these clubs, $10 more doesn't seem like that much of burden.
For a sample of just what you're "missing" by not paying the additional $10 to get in. Here's a sample pic of the dance floor and sex show that was going down on the night I was there. Thanks to Zander, official photographer of the moments that would probably have been better left undocumented, for the picture.
Okay,come to think of it, I wouldn't pay $20 for that either.
Carry on.
posted by Phil at
12:40 PM
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