Kristen Stewart may be gay, or not.
As a celebrity, she faces pressure from the public to say, but what if you don’t really know what you are?
In an interview with Nylon Magazine recently, Stewart said she believes in sexual fluidity and predicted that “in three or four years, there are going to be a whole lot more people who don’t think it’s necessary to figure out if you’re gay or straight. It’s like, just do your thing.”
Stewart isn’t the only celebrity to share the sentiment.
Miley Cyrus told Paper Magazine recently that she is “literally open to every single thing that is consenting.”
Cyrus said, “I don’t relate to being boy or girl and I don’t have to have my partner relate to boy or girl.”
Is it possible to live in a society where sexuality is accepted as fluid?
Lisa Diamond a professor of psychology at the University of Utah and the author of Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire, says “Our language is finally catching up to the real complexity that was always there.”
While many people have very stable sexual preferences, others are much more in flux. Diamond says that not everyone is equally fluid and sexuality can change over time.
“What we’re seeing now is a lot more autonomy in people figuring out exactly how to interpret and describe their sexuality to themselves and others,” says Diamond.
Maria Gurevich, a professor of psychology at Ryerson University, says the idea of linking one’s sexuality with their identity is a mostly Western phenomenon. She says that at certain points in history people were having all sorts of different relations. And that before the Enlightenment, sexual behaviours did not define who somebody was. Now, society has the notion that sexual preference is engrained in a person’s identity.
“We are certainly more interested in the notion of sexual fluidity,” she says, explaining that the media and celebrity culture have definitely played a role in the change.
“Celebrity culture reflects ordinary culture and vice versa,” she says.
Faith McGregor agrees. McGregor, who identifies as lesbian, was denied a haircut at a barbershop in 2012. She filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal after Omar Mahrouk, owner of the Terminal Barber Shop, told her he couldn’t cut a woman’s hair because of his religion.
She applauds celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox, who have championed transgender rights in the media.
“They provide weight and leverage to certain individuals and have a voice that reaches far and wide,” she says.
She believes that what Stewart means is that the binary split between male and female, and the sexual expectation that comes with it will vanish.
“It’s the dodo bird. From a societal perspective (sexual identity) will matter less and less.”
But Steven Little, manager of education and training at the 519 Church Street Community Centre, has doubts. While people should be able to come out and say who they are, Little says the reality is that discrimination still exists. Some environments are far more tolerant than others. He points to little acceptance for homosexuality in professional sports as an example. He says the same applies to Hollywood.
“We know many actors are not out. Why? They obviously think it would damage their careers,” says Little.
Sexual orientation is a very large part of his life and how he defines himself.
“I can’t see it not being part of the character of people,” he says.
Ryerson sociology professor Doreen Fumia, a member of the Triangle Program School Community Council, Canada’s only school for at-risk LGBTQ students, says that sexual identity is very important on a personal level, but it may be less useful in the public sphere.
Fumia believes that Stewart’s response to Nylon was her way of shutting down the conversation about her own sexuality.
“She didn’t want to get caught being disempowered by that question.”
Fumia says that for Stewart to admit she’s anything other than heterosexual, would be to associate herself with the lesser.
“That’s where we start to be concerned about these questions,” she says.
news@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto
