I have long contended that there has been a dramatic shift in the set of circumstances which currently bring a young man or woman into homosexuality. For those who “came-out” in the 1960s and 70s, the gay Baby-Boomers,” they overwhelmingly conformed to what I call the “classic-gay-boy-syndrome:” unloving and alienated father, over-bearing and protective mother, and or a lack of masculine self-identification. The second wave, my generation - who came out in the 80s and early-90s, were a mixture of classic gay boys, and an emerging sub-group, which I was a part of, those raised on pornography, MTV, and Madonna. Some of us had family and peer dynamics which were troublesome, but, oftentimes, not to the severity seen in the gay Baby-Boomers. What set us apart was our early exposure to soft and hard-core porn; for, we were children of the home-video revolution. Pornography, even gay porn, was no longer relegated to the cheap and sleazy back-alley theaters, but, through technology, was brought into the home. In addition, the new pop-singer Madonna took much of the iconography from porn and transformed it into middle-class American entertainment; this process would reach a penultimate high-point with the release of her book “Sex” in 1992; Madonna had, just two years earlier, appeared in the heavily marketed as a family-friendly kiddie-flick, “Dick Tracy.”
The third-wave emerged in the late-90s and into today: they are those post-Madonna neophytes who like to label themselves fashionably bi. Their memories were filled with images of Madonna and Sandra Bernhard clubbing, the advent of lesbian or bi-chic, and the incredible stir made by the music video for “Justify My Love.” Later, their choices would be affirmed and glorified by such luminaries as Katy Perry, kissing a girl and liking it, the homages to homosexuality made by Lady Gaga, and the porn-sensationalism of Miley Cyrus. The once sweetly saccharine Country music cutie Taylor Swift is in the middle of this phenomena: her childhood and home life were unremarkable, yet, she has remarked that pedo-pop-princess Britney Spears was and remains a major inspiration – in her own words, an “unwavering devotion.” Now, as of late, she has consciously remade her image – aping the likes of her idol Spears, who also started out as a rather provocative, but still coolly innocent teen-queen. And, Swift’s passage to major stardom has been unmistakably pornographic: hosting the Victoria’s Secret Fashion [Striptease] Show, partying with the likes of Selena Gomez and Lorde, and jumping on the twerking craze in her videos. The consummation is presently completed with her lesbian kiss at a recent concert. The transference from childhood exposure to porn inspired pop-culture to homosexuality is blaringly obvious.