DAVID BOWIE: QUEER ICON

David Bowie was a complete rock star in every conceivable way. From his revolutionary personas, characters and costumes, Bowie created an environment for queerness to be represented and eventually celebrated!

During the 70s, when Bowie reached a ‘peak’ of fame, there was still rampant homophobia/transphobia/misogyny everywhere you looked. The portrayals of queer people were majorly negative stereotypes and cynical imagery. So, when a person with a platform like David Bowie broke these gender barriers by wearing makeup, wigs and dresses, there was a widespread acceptance and appreciation for these queer styles. It had only been a decade since the sexual revolution of the 1960s, which was also a big contributor to the self liberation of queer people. Bowie was not specifically responsible for this, but he defintnley contributed to the queer aesthetics of the time.

His music details the lives of these characters and the situations they often find themselves in. His other-worldy, alien like presence blends itself so well with the idea of being queer, or just being different.

Bowie was fluid with his identity and experimented with styles and aesthetics that primarily associated with women. The art he created will transcend time because of his contributions to queer aesthetics and gender expression.

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