Aaron James is Taking on Tyra Banks and Her Ridiculous Analogies

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• Anonymous

  Oh yeah, I caught this yesterday, and, like with all Tyra episodes, I felt like I needed to take a shower afterwards. She always comes in completely biased and snarky.

  Also, since when was “gay for pay” not celebrated in the gay community? Sure, I think it’s scoffed at a lot, but straight boys are a huge fantasy; that’s why the market is so huge. It’s not straight boys who are buying gay for pay porn! I suppose I could understand more animosity for straight bartenders, but 1) everyone plays the flirt-for-money game; is it more offensive when the guy who isn’t going to sleep with you but makes you think you might is straight?, and 2) once again, it’s part of the fantasy, that idea that you could seduce him. But really, the whole bartender bit was odd to me. Yeah, they had the straight-guy-in-gay-venue thing in common, but bartending is not even on the same level of porn.

  But Kurt was very cute.

  Aw, well. I am quite scared of the upcoming “Bisexual!” episode . . . I fear I may bash in my TV in anger.

• Anonymous

  Madonna said it best years ago…”It’s just sex..”

  Good sex for sure, but it’s “just sex.”

  My extremely homophobic Aunt, who just came to grips about my sexuality says “It’s just a way people get their sexual gratification.” That the best that an old, 78 year old black woman can get to saying, it’s OK.

  It’s OK…

• Brian47

  I have started to realize that Tyra is doing more harm than just being harmless, bubble-headed entertainment, reinforcing stereotypes and fostering misunderstanding on many topics such as homosexuality, porn and sex in general. A town hall style setting as these talk shows could illuminate obscure topics for the uninformed, but instead Tyra seems to prefer to make terrifying what people already don’t understand.

• GayhawkAZ

  Cleopatra?!? Oh my lord, that analogy was so out there, I about spit out my drink.

  And methinks Sean Kennedy’s going to be getting a LOT of people (at the Advocate and probably when he goes out) talking to him about his opinions now that he’s shot his mouth off. What a queen!

• Anonymous

  I’ve just come to the conclusion that Tyra doesn’t really like sex at all, and if it’s not missionary between a man and a woman without a child (who might realize mommy and daddy are getting it on), it’s wrong, and needs not to be done. By anyone.

• Anonymous

  Cleopatra (VII, lover of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony) was Macedonian (northern Greek province), so not only was she *not* a black African, as Tyra suggests, but she also was not even Egyptian, ethnically.
  Dame, Buffalo NY

• Anonymous

  I did see this show, and it really pissed me off. For once, the dumbest statements didn’t come from Tyra, they came from Sean Kennedy.

  The idea that NYC homosexuals circa 2009 are so oppressed and marginalized that they need to seek refuge in gay bars is absurd – and the idea that this safety is compromised if, in a room full of gay men, there’s one straight bartender, is even more ridiculous. (All the bartenders seemed very sweet, non-threatening and genuinely comfortable with and appreciative of their clientele).

  That was dumb enough, but Kennedy really pissed me off with his repeated attempts to assert that these straight strippers, bartenders and gay-for-pay porn stars were “exploiting” their gay customers. These are by and large young guys with seemingly working-class roots, and their patrons are largely middle- and upper-middles class gay men (this is a semi-presumptuous statement, but I stand by it).

  These guys (the porn stars, at least) are doing stuff that’s fairly antithetical to their actual sexuality (no mean feat, I’d guess – as a gay man, I know I would have a tough time trying to fuck women for money). So I have trouble seeing how they’re the ones doing the “exploiting”.

  Don’t get me wrong – I’m pro-porn, and these guys are all making informed, adult choices. So I’m not trying to wave the exploitation flag on their behalf, I’m just pointing out the absurdity of the claim that they’re the ones with all the power in these relationships. They’re all working in a service capacity for willing – enthusiastic, even – gay consumers.

  Kennedy’s arguments were sniveling, pathetic and retrograde – based around the premise that gay men are ALWAYS the victims in any dynamic involving straights, and his ignorance of the obvious economic and class dimensions of these particular dynamics is really shocking. I guess that explains why he works in an increasingly irrelevant, single-issue journalistic niche.

  Oh, and one last news flash for Mr. Kennedy – porn isn’t real. Even when the on-screen activities align with the performers’ real-world sexual preferences, the actors aren’t usually having a good time. They’re working. You know, for money. So what difference does it make if the performers aren’t gay in real life? I’m pretty sure the guys in “Hard Cops 2″ aren’t cops either.

• Anonymous

  she’s an idiot. Cleopatra was greek as was her family.

• Anonymous

  Wow.
  This is really bad, but Cleopatra wouldn’t look like a Native Egyptian or even Africa woman. Her family was originally from Greece, and she thus had Greek features.

• Anonymous

  #
  Glen S.
  27 Jan 09
  4:14 am

  I don’t know what is the problem with questioning these performers intentions, and asking what is the driving force behind this phenomenon.

  This entire ep. is self promotional for all of the participants and the host. It’s tabloid trash TV at its worst. It really didn’t address these issues appropriately and and ask the above question.

  The logical person in me knows that sexual arousal and sexual behavior are two different things. So it is entirely possible for both genders to participate in sexual activities without having to be aroused. So yes, there may be gay for pay in reality.

  But as a gay man, I want desperately for people to understand homosexuality is no more unusual than heterosexuality.

  It becomes a gripe when you hear the terrible stories of LGBT youths who struggle. The tales of youths subjected to rehabilitation centers to address homosexuality – because after all it is a choice, right? The parents of a friend of my thought so. Under this delusion that it is a choice, they kidnapped my friend and forced him into those centers. He committed suicide a year later after “successfully” achieving heterosexuality.

  So gay for pay hits that nerve for me – it reinforces those feelings of shame and the idea that gays are really heterosexuals with psychological issues. This talk show really didn’t help anyone.

  That Matt Sanchez is a total tool – after the whole incident about his gay porn past, I took solace in the fact that he would disappear into obscurity. But no, he had to rear his face in public again. If a recall correctly this whole fiasco is his fault, he basically made comments about gays in the military. So of course, when the discovery occurred of his gay porn past, people were going to out him. He is such an opportunist, basically stating for public record that sex on camera wasn’t intimate and therefore doesn’t count – Matt was insistent of his straightness when this conservative media blitz against gays, and protesting the war backfired. This was just another attempt to make the point further.

  Why would this guy be on the show?

  Nice one Tyra – thanks for looking out for us gays.

• allnude4u

  Listen,
  I hate to say this but this woman is a total buffoon!! Why they gave her a talk show in this format is totally beyond any sensible logic!! I was a Tyra fan when she was on the runway, and posing half naked on sports magazines. But the minute she open her mouth I was totally turned off. This narcissist has really crossed the line now!! Yes she has done more harm than good. She always does. She doesn’t know what she is doing. She has little education, little experience and a really warped perception of life. I want her off!!!! PLEASE!!! Stick to modeling stuff. OMG!!! TYRA you are not and will never be OPRAH! Stop.