Hence, a common refrain from a certain faction of straight people is that gay men and queer people “shove it down our throats,” with “it” being a euphemism for sexuality. Alts, for some, represent freedom from that response and maybe even certain norms within gay male culture.
One man I spoke to explained that nudes are already swapped on Grindr chats and that his alt is nothing you couldn’t find there. “There’s still moments where I think maybe gay men are not always 100 percent with our peers on all the stuff that we’re into,” a man I interviewed said. “There’s still the radical faerie in me that feels like there’s still some aspects of a heteronormative life and that we still allow our sexuality to be shamed even with ourselves. And the alt peels that layer back even more.”Įach week we’ll send you the very best from The Goods, plus a special internet culture edition by Rebecca Jennings on Tuesdays.
