By Jim Edminster
Scientific American Mind (April/May) commissioned a poll regarding Americans’ opinions on sexual orientation. A previous article in the magazine by psychologist Robert Epstein, ‘Do Gays Have a Choice?,’ concluded that while sexuality exists on a hetero/homo continuum for people who fall near one extreme (exclusive attraction to the same sex) or the other (exclusive attraction to opposite sex), choice is very limited. This poll saw how Americans felt about those conclusions. The results were subtle and heavily related to age, sex and politics; the more conservative someone was, the more likely that person believed sexual orientation was a choice. Sixty percent of women believed sexual orientation was not a choice and 66 percent of young people believed that ‘all people have the potential to be sexually attracted to members of both sexes,’ but 59 percent of born-again Christians disagreed with that statement.
The New Yorker (5/8) says that Handel is undergoing a revival. The gay 18th-century English/German composer has always been known for his ‘Water Music’ and the ‘Messiah,’ but all of his operas and oratorios are once again being performed. Though Handel ‘…moved in what would now be described as gay circles,’ there is not much written direct evidence concerning his sexuality—although there is a fair amount of circumstantial evidence. The article doesn’t mention the famous ‘vest-button’ affair where Handel and his ‘best friend’ had words and fought a duel. (Handel’s death was prevented by the point of the sword of ‘best friend’ catching in Handel’s vest button.) They burst into tears after realizing their stupidity, fell into each other’s arms, made up—and, incidentally, the ‘Messiah’ was written some years later. Producers have lately realized, says the New Yorker, that a gay sensibilty fits most of his works well, as shown by the last trio of his opera ‘Acis,’ where the hero, Damon, holds his (male) companion in his arms singing ‘Consider, fond shepherd,’ based on a same-sex love poem by Alexander Pope.
The Chicago Sun-Times (4/28) highlighted Saturday Night Live’s ‘The Ambiguously Gay Duo.’ The cartoon pair, Ace and Gary, drive in a flesh-colored (‘peach’ for the censors) phallic car; dress super-heroish so as to show every pore and nipple to the nth degree; and host a ‘Funhouse’ show, with one sketch showing Michael Jackson floating through the air toward the scent of a boy at a window sill. Robert Smigel is the artist responsible for the pair.
The science section of The New York Times (5/16) reports on a study on human body odors that hints at a human pheromone, concludes that lesbians react pretty much the same as heterosexual men to a woman’s smell (that is, sexually) and says that homosexual men responded to a male scent much like heterosexual women. Hmmm … what’s that smell?