Harry Styles first rose to fame as the member and lead vocalist of the British-based band, One Direction. The five-member band was the biggest boy band in the world during the years 2013 to 2015 and eventually became inactive in 2016. In his solo career, the pop singer has managed to become the most successful amongst his former band members. His ‘As It Was‘ became the number one song of 2022, and the fastest to reach one billion streams on Spotify. Last year, he even won his first Grammy award for his song, ‘Watermelon Sugar‘. The fans couldn’t be more proud of him!
In his recent interview with Rolling Stone, the singer addressed many issues, from his days with the band to making music and the love he has for his fans. One of the things he also talked about was the accusations of ‘queerbaiting’ that the singer has recently received because of playing the role of a gay man in an upcoming movie, embracing gender-fluid fashion, but at the same time refusing to label his sexuality.
The Pop Singer And His ‘Queer Aesthetics’. How Is He Profiting Off Of The LGBTQIA+ Community?
Harry Styles has had several jaw-dropping photoshoots for a variety of magazine covers, and in most of them, the pop singer’s outfit has been ‘feminine’ and not necessarily restricted to the definition of ‘male’. Many have seen these as ‘queer aesthetics’ which some claim the pop singer is using to gain benefits and coverage.
More fuel has been added to this discussion with his recent role in the upcoming film ‘My Policeman,’ where he plays a cop who develops feelings for another man who is a museum curator. The film is set in the 1950s United Kingdom when same-sex relationships were illegal.
The critics have challenged Harry for adorning himself around queer concepts and getting pedestalized by his fans for it. As a ‘white privileged man’ who hasn’t labelled his sexuality yet, and seen only dating woman, Styles’ sexuality has been assumed to be ‘straight’. Therefore, the idea of him playing the role of a gay man as a straight man is yet again viewed as taking the space and mic away from the LGBTQIA+ community which he says to be representing, but also not openly claiming to be a part of it. In recent interviews, Styles has given a sound answer to all of these allegations.
Harry Styles Responds To The Allegations
The ‘As It Was‘ singer has swirled around the topic of sexuality for a long period now, and it was time that we heard his opinions on it. Talking to Rolling Stone, he said, “Sometimes people say, ‘You’ve only publicly been with women,’ and I don’t think I’ve publicly been with anyone. If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re choosing to have a public relationship or something.” Styles is not ready to give outsiders the authority to label him and his sexuality when they’ve never known his personal life.
He also addresses the thin line between public and private spheres, and he has chosen to remain private about his sexuality as well. He is of the opinion that giving labels and tags is merely old-fashioned now. “I’ve never talked about my life away from work publicly and found that it’s benefited me positively,” he explained. “There’s always going to be a version of a narrative, and I think I just decided I wasn’t going to spend the time trying to correct it or redirect it in some way.”
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