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fun thread on louis/harry/rbb/sbb and queer history from your local women, gender, and sexuality studies major!
for context, you should read my first thread on queer history where I talked about the clocks in the WMI mv and started talking about other queer artists that harry and louis have mentioned. this thread will continue where that one left off! https://twitter.com/hazsunflowerlou/status/1314715490275790848?s=20
so just to start it off, I want to say that none of this stuff is confirmed, but I think that there is so much stuff that we still haven't caught from rbb/sbb because they referenced so much stuff. so i want to make this thread to show references that i have seen in my studies.
ok so I will start off by introducing Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989). He was an American photographer who was best known for black and white photographs, nude images, and still-life. one famous event is that he was supposed to have a show at the Corcoran Gallery of Art +
in 1989 but it was cancelled because of the intense homophobia by the Bush administration and the conservative Senate. This cancellation resulted in huge protests because it was also the height of the AIDS epidemic and Mapplethorpe had recently died of AIDS.
we know that Louis likes Robert Mapplethorpe because he has worn a sweatshirt multiple times of a Mapplethorpe image from 1987. at the time, many queer people felt betrayed by the American government who let so many queer people die and did not have mercy.
so one of Mapplethorpe's famous photoshoots was a BDSM photoshoot.
and we all know that the names of rbb/sbb are actually rainbow bondage bear and sugar baby bear, which is a direct reference to the bdsm community. the bdsm community has historically always lived within the queer community because their lifestyle is queer.
so many pictures of rbb/sbb are reminiscent of Mapplethorpe's pictures and the bdsm community. im not saying that h and l are part of this community, but im just saying that they definitely referenced it with rbb and sbb
there are also many photographs of harry that are reminiscent of Mapplethorpe's pictures, particularly the beauty papers shoot and the another man shoot.
as we all know, harry has a star tattoo on his arm. it was actually the first tattoo that he ever got back in 2012 which he later filled in. star tattoos are actually really famous in queer history. in the 1940s and 50s, having a star tattoo was code for being gay.
queer people would use the star tattoo to identify each other. there is also a nautical aspect to this, where many queer sailors would get star tattoos as a reminder of home.
Mapplethorpe also referenced the star many times. here is an image he took where the subject had a star tattoo on their thigh ( kinda nsfw). Mapplethorpe also did a self portrait in front of a star wearing leather.
now moving on to another more famous queer artist from the AIDS epidemic: Keith Haring (1958-1990). Haring was an American artist who is famous for his cartoonish figures. He also was an AIDS activist and died of AIDS related complications in 1990.
both harry and louis have worn Keith Haring shirts.
Haring was well known for his activist art during the AIDS crisis. he often used the pink triangle. the pink triangle was used to identify queer people by the nazis and was reclaimed by activists in the 1980s. first three are haring, last one is the poster for NYC AIDS collective
and we all know that Louis has a triangle tattoo. this is not because he likes geometry. a triangle tattoo is a famous queer tattoo that many people have in reference to not only the AIDS crisis but the struggles of queer people over all of history.
well, if you are still here, im grateful. i hope you enjoyed reading this thread and learning more about queer history. harry and louis have referenced so much through the bears and through their tattoos, and i truly believe that there is so much more to uncover among the bears.
ALSO im compltely obsessed with rbb/sbb. should I get a an rbb/sbb tattoo
I guess I should give the same warning that I gave on my previous thread: just because I think that harry and Louis reference artists from the AIDS epidemic, I obviously do not think that they have AIDS but it was a huge time in queer history that many people reference today.
