She Culture: Tegan and Sara vs. Tyler, the Creator

In one corner of the ring: The champions of equality activism through their music, presence in the media and community involvement are out-lesbian indie rock duo Tegan and Sara. In the other corner: Tyler, the Creator – the front man of hip-hop group Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All.

Odd Future is known for their energy on stage, “success” at early ages (their ages range from 17-24; Tyler, the Creator is 20) and outlandish controversy in their lyrics, the name of their game can be summarized in one word: publicity.

Yes, Tyler has gained national attention through his publicity stunts and through his desperate screams for attention masked as marketing ploys, apparent in his lyrics and public discourse. But from what I can see, that’s all he has going for him. He exudes no real musical ability or talent, rather, illustration of rape fantasies and homophobic slurs in his lyrics, and similar insulting slander via Twitter and in media interviews.

To elaborate, when asked in an interview with The Guardian about going vegetarian he replied, “Fuck no! That shit’s gay.” He goes on to address accusations of being a homophobe, to which he responded, “Somebody called me a homophobe. I’m not homophobic. I just say ‘faggot’ and use ‘gay’ as an adjective to describe stupid shit.”

Genius. Exactly how he has risen to fame is beyond me.

In Odd Future’s new album, Goblin, Tyler uses the word fuck 204 times, bitch 68 times, and fag or faggot nine times. Begging for attention through lyrical vulgarity and public obscenity is nothing new, nothing clever and certainly nothing worth regarding. The scheme is a gimmick, nothing more than a hype machine to promote record sales for financial gain and shallow fame of a naive, distasteful boy.

Tyler aims to offend; yet his behavior has generated little uproar from the LGBT community, the media, or anyone else involved in the entertainment and music industries.

He has, however, evoked a very public response from Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara.

Sara wrote an open letter, entitled A Call For Change, and it can be found posted on their website, TeganAndSara.com.

She describes her stance as “disheartened that any self-respecting human being could stand in support with a message so vile,” and finds it “impossible not to comment.”

I, among others, am more than pleased that she did.

She condemns Tyler as “an artist who can barely get a sentence fragment out without using homophobic slurs.”

A few highlights from the letter:

“When will misogynistic and homophobic ranting result in meaningful repercussions in the entertainment industry? When will they be treated with the same seriousness as racist and anti-Semitic offenses?”

She blasts Tyler and chides the rest of the entertainment industry as irresponsible, as the industry continues to allow him to deliver his ignorant and offensive message, without virtually any rebuke from the community of artists and colleagues, the media, or any other major public figures.

She goes on to say, “Who sticks up for women and gay people now? It seems entirely uncool to do so in the indie rock world, and I’ll argue that point with anyone.

… It is not without great hesitation and hand wringing that I enter into the discourse about Tyler, the media who glorifies and excuses misogyny and homophobia, and the community of artists that doesn’t seem remotely bothered by it.”

Well, add myself to the public dialogue on the topic as well as a good friend of mine, Emily Lacock, head of the GLBTQ committee of the Revolutionary Students Union at both Utah Valley University and the University of Utah. She shares similar passion on the matter and was glad to add her two cents.

“This is a very serious issue … I think it was incredibly important that Sara used the word ‘kid’ to describe him. Queer bashing, especially verbally, is very common among our generation and the one just younger than us.”

All sorts of pejorative words are popular in rap music especially are consistently unaddressed by consumers.

Pejoratives are ugly and hurtful, [and] leaving Sara’s response to dictate our own responses is also hurtful. Whether or not she was discussing his class or race, she’s still coming from a place of class privilege that I cannot even imagine living in.

It’s important that we (all members and allies of the GLBTQ community) take the prerogative instead of just leaving it up to people in places of power and privilege.

And it is essential that no matter what the class, race, or gender, if they are using these hurtful terms, it’s up to each of us to fight back against hateful language.”

Consider the state of current news and events: severe political backlash against bullying; continually more and more public figures coming out publicly as gay such as Don Lemon, anchor for CNN, and Phoenix Suns President, Rick Welts; companies like Orbitz refusing to advertise on Fox because of the network’s stance on LGBT issues; and entertainment moguls such as Lady Gaga defending LGBT rights.

Bearing in mind the recent phenomenal waves of support for equality and LGBT rights, not only is Tyler’s behavior revolting and careless, but it offends and therefore excludes the LGBT community, which is entirely unwise and certainly not the kind of attention that he tries so hard to arouse.”

Tyler responded to Sara’s letter without a lack of his usual misogyny, via Twitter, congruent with the rest of his objectionable, crude and hateful tweets, “If Tegan and Sara need some hard dick, hit me up!”

Tyler, the Creator continues to deny being a reckless homophobe to this day. Decide for yourself.