As I edited your story, I asked myself, as a thought experiment, how I would feel if a hit song came out about a boy kissing a boy and liking it.

Wouldn't that be revolutionary? It would mean our social fabric had rent, undergone a profound transformation.

In today's world, I don't think a hit song like that could possibly happen. And I think the reason it's impossible is related to what you're writing about.

There's nothing in the boy-kiss-boy scenario to appeal to the straight male gaze. Guys aren't supposed to be the object of male desire. Guys are conditioned from early childhood to find that kind of thing "disgusting" and socially unacceptable.

But in our heteronormative society, women are supposed to be the objects of desire. Guys are conditioned to seeing women as sexual objects. So long as women titillate them, it's all good.

The social fabric certainly doesn't need a revolutionary rent for a song like Katy Perry's to succeed. (Obviously, it did succeed.)

Her lyrics and the video that accompany the song reinforce the existing social fabric.

There's probably an argument to be made that normalizing same-sex behavior like that, even a little bit, is positive. But I agree with your arguments about fetishization. About trends. Queer people are people first, and we should be treated that way, not as experimental subjects who can give a cis/straight person an air of outrageous coolness for a while.

I kissed a boy for the first time when I was about 13. Nobody ever wanted to celebrate that (quite the opposite!), even though it was a sweet and important moment for me.

The TV series Heartstopper actually does celebrate same-sex kisses, in an authentically queer, non-fetishizing, non-exploitative way.

That's the kind of art we need!

Thanks for diving into this topic!