Shawn Mendes explains why it's 'hurtful' when fans speculate about his sexuality

[p0uritup]

https://instagram.com/p/CIypgSVDqgz
Shawn said on Dax Shepard‘s podcast about the rumors that he’s gay

Comments

[ladygawain]

I think it's also annoying because so many of the people doing the speculating are often a bunch of straight folk projecting a certain sexuality onto these popstars for dodgy reasons (mainly reasons of fanfic, fetishization and shipping etc.) but it's then framed like doing so is somehow "empowering" and desiring "representation." It's all very twisted in fan culture these days and often in ways that are really problematic.

[mzgrottesca]

Ever since I started using twitter, I've seen so much of this and it makes me extremely uncomfortable. So much of it is straight girls who fetishize gay men projecting outdated/homophobic ideas onto these male celebrities... but now they try to spin it as "woke" lol.

[joe_pwnz_pete]

Not to defend Harry bc he's annoying, but I gotta be honest when I say that I think 90% of the backlash to his "queerbaiting" is actually just backlash to people fetishizing him.

[addictedgal]

I feel like if this ~discourse had happened when he was older and more mature he may have handled it/responded to it better but since it started when he was 15 (googled: wow he's been around for 7 years?) he wasn't prepared to deal with it in the perfect way, and it really shouldn't have been a thing when he was so young.

[imnotasquirrel]

i still can't believe he got his start on magcon with the likes of nash grier and cameron dallas lmfao

[addictedgal]

I don't understand any of these names/terms 🙈

[imnotasquirrel]

and i can't believe i do D:

[dior_chic]

The main thing I will say is the men on ontd who were speculating about him being gay were from users 25 and older. And there has been plenty of sexual comments over the years about getting with him and Shawn is much younger in general. That’s a lot, seeing people closer to 30 or more making suggestive comments and jokes on him who was still in his teens since this has been going on for years

[mzgrottesca]

It's really gross because most of the comments online about him were extremely sexual and aggressive in nature, way beyond just "I think he's gay" or "He seems gay"... people said rly genuinely disgusting things about him so it's no wonder he developed a complex.

[kateradcliffe02]

there's alot of gross ppl in this thread right now rationalizing the problematic shit they do.

[partyonyourhead]

I mean, honestly, I can see his point. Look at the Larries - they continually (even now) harass Louis, Harry, and anyone they date to the point where it completely ruined their friendship. Not to mention how disgusting they were to Louis's son.

There's a line between speculation and harassment. If you are just thinking to yourself "I wonder if he's bi/gay" that's one thing, but when you start claiming it as a fact and you actually ask the celebrity about it on social media, it becomes harassment. Even if he was gay, he doesn't have to tell you? Especially if he's a minor. Gross.