Just a correction of the record here, Jon. I didn't argue that the
views in the survey and intreviews were a step backward from anything.
(And I also didn't say suburban/female - I said average middle-class -
which was the focus of the survey and the related book (whose title
I'll trawl up if anyone's interested)).
My point was that on race, religion, culture, gender (i don't recall
there was any class oriented content, unsurprisingly) the responses
were much more tolerant and unprejudiced than you might expect - while
the respondents may not live integrated lives racially, for instance,
they recognized and earnestly expressed respect for those categories
of difference. But when it came to homosexuality people were much less
progressive, much readier to express discomfort, even hatred. The
implication was that we haven't come as far in North Am. society on
accepting diverse sexualities as we might like to think, compared to
some other fronts.
That's not nec. to say the survey was accurate, but insofar as it was
an indicator, it reinforces the sense that the very idea of
homosexuality is still fraught territory and risky for music that
pitches itself more toward "average" folks. Thus it's probably a
mistake underestimating the career problems it would raise for KD or
any other out country musician (or light pop or rock artist, or
fill-in-the-mainstream-category here)
carl w.
