camp
it isn't just a row of tents!
i know i am not the first person on the internet to say this, and i know for certain i will not be the last, but our culture has lost sight of what camp is. camp has become synonymous with anything candy colored and a little bit tacky, but we shy away from acknowledging the key defining factor of camp that sets it apart from the “campy” pieces of work that we often see getting called “camp” by letterboxd users’ one-liner reviews.
camp is solvent of morality. it neutralizes moral indignation, sponsors playfulness.
in notes on camp, sontag frequently references ideas about morality, homosexuality, vulgarity, and artifice. we’ve reached a point where moral purity has become a status symbol celebrated on social media. today’s twenty-somethings are celebrating 9pm bedtimes and drinking significantly less than the generations that came before them. and in the queer community, this puritanical attitude extends to how you express your sexuality. wear a rainbow flag, change your pronouns, but don’t talk about call me by your name or you’ll start a week’s worth of age gap discourse.
we’ve begun to embrace the same rhetoric and puritanical dogwhistles that were used to oppress so many of our elders. gen z queers on twitter gang up on older gay men, calling them groomers for talking about sex online, and continue to perpetuate harmful right wing talking points. and while i might only exist in some sort of sexually repressed microcosm of gays on twitter, i’ve also seen this play out in real time on the dance floor at the club recently when i watched a group of twinks in their mid-twenties gang up on a gay man in his early 40s, and bully him off the dance floor. where else is a gay man supposed to be on a saturday night?
if you find yourself answering that question with any variation of “at home with his husband/family/kids,” you are part of the problem, continuing to project the idea of a patriarchal family structure onto queer folks. the sanitization of queer culture and camp ultimately go hand-in-hand because camp is queer culture.
our inability to acknowledge and accept true camp lies in our inability to climb off of the saddles of our moral high horses that have been heavily influenced by the puritanical ideals and rhetoric that the patriarchy has been cramming down our throats for decades. for example, may december (2023), a todd haynes film, uses melodrama to explore a relationship between a former teacher and student who are now married and have a family. if we are going off the textbook, notes on camp definition, may december is camp.
however, trying to make that point on the internet in 2023 would have people in your replies accusing you of laughing at and supporting pedophilia. instead, we put barbie on a pedestal and called its candy coated feminism “camp.” while barbie was campy, it is not solvent of morality. in fact, it is quite heavy handed with its morality.
and while i don’t really like to dwell on the past, it’s clear that this issue continues to be widespread in our culture and goes beyond the misidentification of camp. we continue to see essential queer films like blue film (2025) and pillion (2025) censored and/or altogether rejected by major festivals and distributors. it’s critical that in an era where censorship is at an all-time high, we find ways to actively rebel and continue to push the envelope, because the sanitization of queer culture is the erasure of queer culture.
this mass sanitization of queer culture extends far beyond film, tv, music, and art. this year in philadelphia, they are taking our annual pride festival out of the gayborhood and moving it to the parkway near the art museum so they can charge a $10 dollar entry fee and overly police behavior under the guise of “safety.” for those of you that read my substack and are not from philadelphia, they are essentially taking all of the queer folks out of downtown and forcing them to a less accessible part of the city. they are trying to make the queer community of philadelphia less visible to the tourists they are anticipating from the impending world cup and 250th anniversary of america double whammy.
this is not the only step they have taken to erase the gayborhood and queer culture in philadelphia. suddenly, official city government social media has started referring to the gayborhood as “midtown village.” if we take the gay out of the gayborhood, we are left with essentially no space for our community to come together. and while i would be grateful to never pay the cover at voyeur again, it’s important that we (gay people) reflect on how the rise of puritanical values and fascism have played into how we police and oppress others within our own community.
stop shaming people for going to the bar in search of community. stop shaming people for watching porn. stop shaming people for talking about sex online. you can be a prude if you want, but i would encourage you to reflect on what you’ve just read for a moment and maybe have sex in a position other than missionary.
we (gay people) must remain visible at the gay bar, as well as on the screen and in the cultural zeitgeist. so, i implore you to go out and make a vulgar, morally questionable, homosexual film! or at least go see one in theaters.
until next time xo