Sam Smith: Queerphobia and fatphobia backlash to new videoNon-binary singer Sam Smith has caused waves with their music video for I'm Not Here to Make Friends, a triumphantly queer declaration of joy
by The Conversation
08-02-2023 16:30
in LGBTQIA
Sam Smith's new body-positive video celebrates queer sexuality. Photo: Mambaonline
Non-binary singer Sam Smith has caused waves with the release of their music video for I'm Not Here to Make Friends, a triumphantly queer declaration of joy and confidence.
--
The song opens with clips of Judy Garland's Over the Rainbow and drag queen RuPaul calling for self love, imposed over a decadent scene of Sam Smith flying into a manor party via gold helicopter. Smith emerges clad in pink ruffles - a picture of queer joy.
The music video for Sam Smith's I'm Not Here to Make Friends. Among the video's many costume changes, Smith is shown in high-heeled boots, nipple pasties, corsets and - most wonderfully - a showgirl headdress and skintight black dress. The lyrics declare, I'm not here to make friends, I need a lover , a motto Smith developed after being friendzoned on dates.
The video rejects heterosexual, traditional gender roles in favour of queer representation. It features gender-defying outfits and writhing men in revealing underwear, reminiscent of Lady Gaga's Alejandro or the hypersexualised images of gay art icon, Tom of Finland.
--
ALSO READ: Justin Bieber sells his music rights - Why artists give up rights
Smith's video also includes voguing , the dance style of the gay ballroom scene (made mainstream by Madonna's music video for Vogue), many sequins and - at one point - references to erotic urination as champagne bottles pop onto Smith's waiting face.
Throughout the video, many people's genders are unclear. The manor rooms are filled with drag queens and people who look feminine, masculine and androgynous. Smith takes centre frame, being lifted, sought after and gazed at adoringly as they proclaim, 30 almost got me, and I'm so over love songs.
--
Smith, frankly, is out to fuck for fun. And this is no different from many other mass market pop songs with explicit sexuality woven throughout their lyrics.
THE BLACKLASH TO SMITH'S QUEER JOY I'm Not Here to Make Friends is an upbeat song that makes listeners want to dance, an explicit celebration of queer sexuality. This is a departure from Smith's oeuvre, formed of songs about break-ups, infidelity, loneliness, pain and self-loathing. It highlights the elements of queer life worth living.
@tomotakakoizumi pic.twitter.com/wh0k0fuy3D
SAM SMITH (@samsmith) February 2, 2023
While it may be worth analysing Smith's joy as connected to their position as a wealthy, white, LGBTQ celebrity (as well as their decadence amid a cost of living crisis), the criticism that has emerged most aggressively in response to the video is explicit in its trans, fat and femme phobia.
Newspaper columnists, social media influencers and other conservative pundits have responded to Smith's video with claims that their non-binary identity is attention grabbing, that their fatness should be covered up, that their video is a bad example to children and that they are morally debased , perverted and disgusting .
As an expert in sexuality and gender, I'm finding much to consider in the reactions to Smith's work. Having previously presented as a gay man, Smith had already been subject to homophobia. However, they are now one of the only publicly non-binary celebrities, leading to accusations that they are manipulating their identity for further fame.
Singers Kim Petras and Sam Smith and drag queens Violet Chachki and Gottmik at the 2023 Grammy Awards. Caroline Brehman This is a continuation of the transphobic discrimination non-binary people often experience, which attempts to portray any deviation from the gender binary as foolish and misguided.
For non-binary people, whose mental health is often worse than their cis counterparts (that is, individuals whose gender aligns with their sex at birth), wellbeing might be improved by representation. The negative reactions to Smith's work could contravene the positive impact of their public display of queer joy.
ALSO READ: Kyle Deutsch combines his love of sport and music in new single
THE IMPACT OF FAT AND FEMMEPHOBIA Fatphobia (the social disgust and structural discrimination that fat people experience) further colours reactions to Smith's work.
Smith does not have a figure conventionally associated with pop stardom. While it would be far from true to call them fat , they have experienced significant fatphobia in the calls for them to cover up and show modesty.
Never too much pic.twitter.com/ANKVPEvoXV
SAM SMITH (@samsmith) January 29, 2023
The body positivity social movement has made some progress in diversifying the range of body types we see, such as in social media posts tagged with #bodypositivity which show varied representations of body types. Evidence suggests that media exposure to different body types alone can encourage kindness towards diverse body types. However, the uptake of positive depictions of fatness has been slower in print and patchier in television media.
Femmephobia (anti-femininity experienced through social and structural discrimination) underscores the types of trans and fatphobia Smith is receiving.
Smith has gradually been shifting over their career from wearing masculine suits to sexy black dresses and corsets. Femme and fatphobia underpins reactions to their body, their gender expression and - ultimately - the willingness to take Smith seriously as an artist.
The public rejections of queer, femme or fat joy found in the backlash to Sam Smith's video don't just impact the singer. They have consequences
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Sam Smith: Queerphobia and fatphobia backlash to new videoNon-binary singer Sam Smith has caused waves with their music video for I'm Not Here to Make Friends, a triumphantly queer declaration of joy
