In Defense of Ocean

Now, it must me said that queer people do not have to present themselves or be validated by anyone to be queer, that is fact. With that being said, the push back of Ocean’s queerness in his public persona is probably at his own doing, in which I don’t mean he doesn’t want to present himself as queer, he’s done and recognized a lot for the queer community to not be presented as an ally and as queer.

In Michael Arceneaux’s “Frank Ocean Is Not Your Symbol”, he describes that Ocean is someone who thrives off of privacy and ambiguity and by labeling or overtly creating think pieces of how Ocean is this queer symbol, it defeats the purpose. Arcenaux’s pieces delves into this idea that is prevalent in Love, Simon in which Simon points out that their is no need for this overtness of coming out, queerness, or gayness and that by creating a spectacle of such makes queer people’s experience something to put under a microscope.

So, in many ways, Ocean doesn’t have to be the queer icon. It follows along the lines of being something or someone who just happens to be this or that. If anything, Ocean plays by his own rules, he obviously doesn’t do the things he does for recognition. No one but Ocean knows for sure how he presents his queerness and if he cares about being a queer icon but what we do know is that he cares about the queer community and embraces his role in it.

Arceneaux, Michael. “Frank Ocean Is Not Your Symbol.” The FADER, The FADER, 10 Nov. 2017, www.thefader.com/2017/03/31/frank-ocean-chanel-sexual-identity-essay.