Club Kid Sexuality

Ms. Bees Knees--ever the social commentator--brings to the table an interesting question: were the Club Kids gay drag queens on acid?

Although certainly most of the boys were gay, sexuality was a tertiary point. This was not a scene where you dressed like a peacock on magic mushrooms and looked for a mate. It was one in which you displayed your abilities. They included the ability to astound, the sense of "the moment", the shock value of a color scheme, and even the correct way to wear a splatter of blood. This was a world that Amy Vanderbilt never contemplated manners for.

To be appalling was the rage, and New York ate it up; New York Magazine featured three club kids on the cover one week. Out of nowhere sprang hundreds of misguided, lonely, but truly creative "kids" who found solace in the wild world of the nightlife. Sex was not the first course on the menu. In a strange reenactment of Louis XIV's France, appearance and deportment, ability to amuse and entertain, and slavery to costume became more important than sex. Being photographed with Michael Musto was better than a date; being written up by him sent you to levels of orgasm more sensual than a blow job.