Reply To: Observing Love: Kiss Goodbye

[Charlotte Kay]

A lovely image; and it is heartbreaking to think that this image could instigate disgust. Thinking about it, it seems clear to me that it would not be the image itself that procures disgust (e.g. a black and white photo of two human subjects kissing with a child) but rather what the human subjects represent; they have short hair, and facial hair, therefore, they must be men (which, as we know, isn’t actually correct) – and two men, two masculine, strong, men, should not be kissing. Tenderness and masculinity are something we have very much come to understand is a highly uncomfortable subject that has been brushed under the carpet for some time (some schools of though say Christianity, some say the Victorian era/colonialism). I am always so glad when I see “Boys cry, men cry”.