30 Days of De-Objectification: Paul McCartney

The always delightful Sir Paul McCartney

30 Days of De-Objectification:

Paul McCartney

James Paul McCartney was born June 18, 1942 in Liverpool, England, which means he will be 76 years old this year. He is six years younger than my father would have been were he still living. He is four years younger than my mother. I was born in 1965.

None of this should mean much of anything outside of the realm of trivia.

But take note:

The girls of the “classic rock fandom” love to refer to me as an “old bitch” when I point out that objectifying aging musicians who are starting to experience reversals in their own health and increasing losses of their friends and fellow artists is gross and dehumanizing.

Sir Paul McCartney, whom the “classic rock fandom” loves to objectify, is old enough to be this 53-year-old bitch’s father.

Certain members of the “classic rock fandom” love to ship Paul with his deceased friend and former Beatles bandmate, John Lennon. The fact that John was murdered makes this ill-advised ship particularly odious.

I say “ship what you like” when it comes to fictional characters. I may hate what you’re shipping, but I’ll leave you the hell alone, so long as you aren’t tag-spamming your fic.

When it comes to RPF (real people fic), it is necessary and right to be more discerning.

For instance, I enjoyed the RPF where the author created a zombie apocalypse and used musicians for his characters, although, I must say, I’d be leery of allowing Angus Young to perform medical procedures on me. I don’t think the man has an EMS certification.

Writing sexually explicit material about folks like John Lennon and Paul McCartney is, to put it mildly, problematic. It is disrespectful of them as human beings, disrespectful of their life experiences, and incredibly disrespectful of John’s violent and untimely death.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney (circa Beatles era, of course) are not components to be plugged into a masturbation fantasy. They are real people. Using them as fodder for XXX fan fic is, to put it bluntly, extremely not cool.

I get that sometimes people see (or want to see) some sort of sexual tension between two people. If one really feels the need to write about their interpretation, the place for such things is The Down-Low, to be shared only with close friends, or, in some cases, only with oneself. In other words, not to be broadcast over the entire fucking Worldwide Web for the viewing displeasure of the masses.

In most cases, widespread sharing of explicit fics involving real people is extremely distasteful. The exception to this is when the people involved aren’t bothered by speculations about their relationship. However, even in this case, it is still necessary to be respectful of the people depicted.

Paul McCartney would be upset by people writing explicit speculations regarding himself and the late John Lennon.

The love of Paul’s life was his late wife, Linda Eastman.

The love of John’s life was his wife, Yoko Ono.

John and Paul were friends. Sometimes their friendship became strained, but they always cared about each other. Their platonic bond was a beautiful thing and should be celebrated.

Don’t disrespect them, and don’t disrespect yourself by making yourself look like a crass cretin who cares nothing for the lives and experiences of those you’ve deemed “hot” at some point in their existence.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~