Today on Salon.com, Mary Elizabeth Williams’ Why Girls Like Gay Heartthrobs addresses Jonathan Knight’s “coming out” as it relates to “why teenage girls fall for boy-band dudes who turn out to be homos”:
“When those first stirrings of attraction kick in, young girls are generally not going to go for a boy who looks like he really, really wants to touch them in the bathing suit area. They’re going to be for the boy who is handsome, sweet, and eminently safe.”
“Gay or straight,” Williams says, tweens are drawn to boys like Justin Bieber, The Jonas Brothers, N’Sync, Ricky Martin and The Monkees, boys with “an aura of youthful safety that makes these guys so huge, that makes it okay for a girl to scream her desire without ever feeling like she’ll be challenged to prove it in the back of the tour bus.”
But what throbs the heart of a budding young lesbian? Clea Duvall, Tina Fey and Shane, apparently, but many homogays report a misleading amount of boycrushes from their tweenhood with a passion often reflected in “wall posters” or “locker pictures” or “subscriptions to Tiger Beat.” See, people, when those first stirrings of attraction kick in, young lesbians are generally not going to go for a boy who looks like he really, really, really wants to touch them in the bathing suit area. They’re going to be for the boy who looks like a dyke. [See also: the Justin Bieber phenomenon.] Some women report a sort of “generational” bisexuality where boys seemed fun to date until they became men and then you just had women on your mind from there forward.
As per ushe with our Top Tens, if you disagree with this list, you should totally say something really mean about it, like try to make me sound like I just stole something from you, maybe even your soul. Caps, exclamation points, the full anger of your day: I want it. Give it to me. I can take it, ’cause I just watched The Sandlot.
+
boIs 2 men:
17 boys lesbians liked BEFORE THEY BECAME MEN STRAIGHT GIRLS LIKE
+
15. devon sawa
Peak OF LESBIAN APPEAL: little giants (1994)
+
14. BOYZ II MEN
Peak of lesbian appeal: cooleyhighharmony (1993)
+
13. elijah wood
Peak of lesbian appeal: flipper (1996)
+
12. wil whEaton
Peak of lesbian appeal: star trek – the next generation (1987-1994)
+
11. Jeremy london & jason london
Peak of lesbian appeal: Party of five (1995) & Man on the moon (1991)
+
10. Jared Leto
Peak of lesbian appeal: My So-Called Life (1995)
+
9. Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Peak of lesbian appeal: wild america (1997)
+
8. Will smith
Peak of lesbian appeal: early Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-1994)
+
7. brad renfro
Peak of lesbian appeal: sleepers (1996)
+
6. mario Lopez & mark-paul gosselaar
Peak of lesbian appeal: saved by the bell (1989-1992)
+
*sigh* devon sawa. i had such a huge crush on him and jonathon taylor thomas in middle school. . . lol. my first crush was on Savion Glover, when he was on sesame street. (my big sister had crushes, so i had to too!)
OMG saaaame here. Devon Sawa was my big crush in middle school too. I had a photo of him on the cover of Teen Beat that I kept in my trapper keeper. AHHH!!!!
DEVON FREAKING SAWA. I can’t explain the awful things I thought about re: him. At that age, nonetheless. After Now & Then, I could barely contain myself.
suddenly my childhood bedroom (covered in those teeny bop posters) makes so much more sense.
oh my GOD I did this too. is this still a thing? are today’s teens’ rooms wallpapered with J.Biebs and the J.Bros???
word
I have worked with 4/10, all of them when i was a kid…i’m not sure what that means, except that all of these boys were in a lot of things in the 90s…
i think it means you are a really big deal and really famous
jonathan brandis!! anyone else remember the awesomeness of sidekicks?? and wow, mildly depressing that both he and brad renfro died so young.
i definitely had a subscription to tiger beat and big bop, and my entire room was covered with pics of Leo, JTT and James Marsden (from back when he was on Second Noah!). oh, and jessica biel and neve campbell. i was totally boy-crazy (i thought), but there were just these girls i remember being amazed by… wow, was i young and naive.
ps i love these nostalgic posts. you can always count on a casper / now and then / little giants reference somewhere. god, what i wouldnt give to teach icebox how to kiss…
I am ashamed to admit how many of these boys I once crushed on, but you seem to have left out the person I think of as the Ultimate Boy-Who-Looks-Like-A-Dyke, Taylor Hanson. I mean, come ON:
http://danskmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/taylor_hanson_at_15.jpg
My massive crush in middle school on Taylor Hanson really should have been a clue
YES, taylor hanson.
also i will admit, i have an occasional issue where i am like “is that a cute boyish girl over there?” and no, it’s a teenage boy. creepy! only from pretty far away.
This phenomenon is quadrupled if you go to another country where you’re not used to reading gender clues. *I’m sorry boys of the Philippines*
Oh… Taylor Hanson is SOOO pretty!
Yes, loved him. It wasn’t even the long hair when he was that age, his eyes are what make him look like a girl.
I swore Taylor Hanson was a girl the first time I saw MMMBop. Seriously, I really thought he was a girl, not just “that boy is cute like a girl!”
I was definitely in the Taylor Hanson is my boyfriend club… that definitely should have been a big neon rainbow flag!
Thank you for shouting out for taytay! For real. Love for ever!
I LOVED Taylor Hanson! It made me uncomfortable because he looked so much like a girl, but still…I couldn’t stop falling hard.
I have a lot of feelings about this.
1) I kept scrolling down, wondering “Where is Leo??” And there he was.
2) Remember the episode of Boy Meets World when Shawn dressed up as a girl (“Veronica”) for an article Cory was writing for the paper? HE WAS HOT.
3) Was any else confused by their feelings for both Christina Ricci and Devon Sawa in Now and Then? No? Just me?
Re: #3… I was really happy when Roberta stopped taping down her boobs.
oh my goodness yes! I had such a crush on her and didn’t realize it.
I had a million posters of these guys and right in the middle was christina ricci
I had similar feelings about “Now and Then” when I was younger. Actually, I still have those confusing feelings. Is that normal? I think I’m going to watch that movie today.
hahaha! I think I still have a crush on Leo
Bloody hell.. 90s fashion was dodgy.
At least it wasn’t the 80’s.
I still love girls in 90s fashions. Sundresses and combat boots, yes please.
Oh man, I had such love for Wil Wheaton when I was in middle school! And then Leonardo DiCaprio in high school…
Wil Wheaton!!! Thank you, Autostraddle, for once again making me feel like I’m not alone. I have always loved Wil Wheaton, and it makes total sense now!
sorry but all i could think of that whole article was Clea DuVall after you mentioned her lol *drool*
This post makes so much sense!! I lusted after Jonathan Brandis (it was the femme-y hair) like my life was ending. Close second was Leo. Oh, Leo.
It reminds me of a poster I had with 3 longish haired dudes on it that hung in my bedroom. It came out of a tween magazine and on the other side of the poster were 3 lovely ladies for the boys to hang up. Oh how I admired that side.
zack efron. that is all.
you would.
Girl, me too.
THIS. He was absolutely gorgeous.
My walls in grade six were like… 20% these guys, 30% Hanson, and 50% Alyson Hannigan. I still have a Leo poster on my door (http://atouchoffrench.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/mo0105.jpg This one! It’s pretty!) and I am totally unashamed about this fact.
Also, as much as I adored Rider Strong, was I the only one who thought Will Friedle was way prettier?
short-sleeved turtleneck noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
This…makes a lot of sense. I never noticed how much Dicaprio looks like a lezzie!!
Andrew Keegan needs to be on this list! There is still a poster with him and his long hair up in my “tween” bedroom at my parent’s house. I was convinced I was marrying him, Devon Sawa or “JTT”
Yes! Andrew Keegan
haha
I was an early-adopter gay, judging from my crush on Clea for sure. So N’Sync was the “it” boy band when I was a kid. And all my friends LOVED Justin Timberlake, but I didn’t see the appeal…so I told them my favorite was Lance Bass. I lol’ed when he came out.
Ahahaha, THIS. Replace N*Sync with The Moffatts, Justin with Scott and Lance with Dave, and you have me in the seventh grade, when I wasn’t telling others I had AWE-INSPIRING, near magical control over puberty. \o/
lance was my favorite. . . he has my same birthday, I went around telling everyone he was my birthday twin . . I should of known :)
I did not experience this. I sense this has to do with the fact that I am on the masculine end of things and am attracted to the feminine end of things.
I looked at these guys, and my first reaction was “Meh.”
#whenyouknowyou’regay
Only exception: Wil Wheaton. There will always be a special place in my heart for Wil Wheaton.
#nerdalert
You guys. One day, I was flipping through a magazine, and I was like, “hey, she’s hot.” And then I realized it was Justin Bieber. True story. I felt like the biggest lesbian stereotype in the world.
Also, you hit the nail on the head with Nick Carter and Leo DiCaprio. I loved them when I was little.
My first celebrity crush was Orlando Bloom. But then again, the first time I saw him he had long blonde hair and blue eyes and could’ve passed for a girl from a distance.
Sometimes I think I misssed a lot of lulz and retrospective embarrassment by not being an adolescent in the 90’s. It’s like getting all the horrible clothing without the hilarious bits.
Yeah, I uh, had an Orlando Bloom thing…in my 20s.
oh my god just realized that a solid 40% of the women i am attracted to look like jtt
what does this mean
devon sawa captured my heart after casper!|
not a big fan of leo in romeo and juliet though! by that time claire danes was more interesting.
basketball diaries tho. lovely. any time I say hi a lot i hear his voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAciwWSKbw
WHOA WHOA WHOA! Where are the Hanson brothers on this list? I was totally in love with the drummer. MMMMMMMBop.
I never had this, I dunno I actually had crushes on girls when I was younger..I just didnt know it.. I would own like all magazines that certain female celebrities were in.. and never questioned it… >_>
weirdo
I feel like Johnny Depp is still at the peak of lesbian appeal.
This very much.
Johnny Depp will never loose his lesbian appeal because he is just so childish and innocent, no one will ever be afraid of being touched in the bikini area by Johnny. It’s even hard to believe he has kids…
I feel better that other people think this too.
Hm. I really didn’t have any crushes on anyone as a teenager, and certainly didn’t have posters of these guys. And no boy bands. Those were for “girls.” Yeah.
Oh, I did have a crush on Michael Stipe. My mom told me he was gay/old for me. I think this was before he was for-real out. But I mean… yeah. I was confused as to why this would matter, and told her it wasn’t like I wanted to have sex with him, ew, hello. I just thought it was cute when he would wear skirts in shows and had a pretty voice. Uh huh.
So that explains a lot about her reaction when I came out, which was pretty much the biggest non reaction ever. “Oh, yeah. I know.”
I don’t know if this says more about me or my mom’s gaydar. Which is, perplexingly, so so much better than mine.
shane west in ‘a walk to remember’!
shane west was also in ‘once and again’ and i really thought he was hot being all badass with his guitar UNTIL evan rachel wood’s character started having a thing with mischa barton’s character. my life as i knew it changed forever. i couldn’t care less about shane west after that. mischa barton was already lame at acting like she was into girls. i still wanted to have a sleepover with her though.
I still have a VHS tape somewhere of the gay episode of Once and Again. I loved that show so much.
Brad Renfro :( I loved him in The Cure. So sad.
they are cute boys but ive been crushin on girls since i was 3 and only said any thing about boys if the other girls were talking about it in school and i was like yeah i guess to all there crushs
RIP Jonathan Brandis. He was dreamy. I had a moderate crush on JTT, too. I was probably the only girl who didn’t have a thing for Leonardo DiCaprio. Dude just didn’t do anything for me.
Speaking of teenybopper crushes who looked like lesbians, where’s NOAH HATHAWAY (aka Atreyu from The Neverending Story)?! There was something feminine and delicate about him. His popularity peaked in the early-mid ’80s, but still, come on!
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3153495808/nm0000441
THIS! Atreyu was my biggest crush. Ever. And I didn’t find out he was a HE until like… 5 years ago? It never occurred to me to find out.
All I have to say is that I saw the picture on the front page and went OMG Wild America!
And that pretty much made my night, so thank you.
1.) I feel like there’s something to be said re: girls who liked boys until they became men, after which point they wanted girls but still had a strange creeper obsession with boys who had yet to become men. (ex. I’ll click any news item or blog post that has to do with Justin Bieber or a male who looks like he falls short of the legal voting age, but would still prefer a roll in the hay with a girl any day of the week, including Sunday.)
Ultimate idol worship film for me was the 1995 classic “Tom and Huck.” JTT, Renfro aaaaaand Rachael Leigh Cook. What dreamboats they were.
i had really really serious feelings about leonardo dicaprio and jared leto that i cannot even describe and now when i look at both of them as grownups i think no thanks. My last boyfriend ever was 31 and I think that was the end of the road for me.
Where’s 2.)?
Wesley Crusher is definitely up there for best star trek halloween options for lesbians. You pretty much only need a kooky ’80s sweater (or next-gen uniform of your own devising, which might be slightly more of a commitment).
http://imagecache.blastro.com/images/feat/Justin_Bieber1.jpg
The Saga Continues.
I totally WAS going to argue with your list UNTIL you busted out with Jason and Jeremy London – whom I had also just randomly thought about not but two days ago.
THEN, you come forth with Jared Leto, and I thought surely you would not know Jonathan – oh wait, HOLY SHIT you would – Brandis.
I mean, I had other much more lascivious crushes on the likes of Nikki Sixx (from about the age of six natch, then later Trent Reznor and Dave Navarro, but even then, aren’t those all guys who very much liked to present somewhat as homogay?
This is weird, you fuckers, get out of my head!
I also had huge crushes on men like Trent Reznor, Dave Navarro, etc. When my friends were crushing on mainstream pop icons, I was obsessed with more “alternative” looking musicians. Actually my biggest, most obsessive crush was with the lead singer of the band Orgy (does anyone remember them?) He wore tight pants, had ridiculous hair, shiny makeup, and an all-over “sparkly” stage prescence. I didn’t know what “drag” was at the time, but it seems fitting at the time. It never ocurred to me that he might be gay (I have no idea who/where he is now), but the masculinity he presented was SO DIFFERENT fromthat of the other men my friends had celeb-crushes on.
This is kind of weird to think about, now that I’m an adult and also really gay.
I’m curious as to what other folks think about that and how it relates to the topic of this post.
So I remember playing along when everyone else had crushes on JTT and Leo and the members of BSB. I never cared one way or the other about any of them. I remember two things about that time. 1: being strangely excited about Kate Winslet’s boobs in Titanic and 2: not knowing what all the fuss was about when everyone in the Theater was clapping for Leo in Man in the Iron Mask. How it took another ten years for me to translate all that into my being gay I still don’t know…
Yes this. Except without the playing along because I was too cool (read: butch) for boy crushes. Titanic/nudity should have been like, one of the 10,000 times I should have figured my sexuality out a little earlier and saved some boys some pain.
Precisely! I don’t even know how many times I watched Titanic, allegedly for Leo. But in reality, it was the opportunity to see Kate Winslet, soaking wet, in a series of cleavage-baring dresses. She remains my #1 celeb crush.
God, why didn’t I see the signals? LOL.
JTT is my only birthday twin. I think that’s all I have to add.
Adam Brody anyone? I know I convinced myself I was straight in high school by plastering his face on my desktop.
http://www.palzoo.net/file/pic/user/AdamBrody.jpg
adam brody came to my college in wisconsin to convince us to vote for obama back in ’08. it was weird. i think everyone showed up because they had similar feelings (to yours).
THIS. I tried so hard to like Adam Brody, it’s not even funny.
Ohh yeah. I didn’t realize then that wanting to hang out and listen to Death Cab with someone was not the same as wanting to bone them…lol
This list is spectacular. My girlfriend, when i met her, was blonde and had bangs, and when you just looked at her forehead/eye area, she looked IDENTICAL IN EVERY WAY to leo circa Romeo&Juliet, for serious. Yet she was super feminine and beautiful, as was leo…and it suddenly explained by hitherto inexplicable attraction to him. the end. awesome
freddie prinze jr.? can i get a what what
also the guy who played eddie winslow on family matters? in retrospect i think i just wanted his swagger (and crimp-haired cheerleader girlfriends) for myself.
HOW COULD YOU FORGET HANSON.
I mean really.
Hanson should have been at number 2 (Because no one will ever top Leo)
I kissed their posters nightly.
I have a friend who was obsessed with Hanson in high school (and still is) and I’m about 98% sure she’s a secret lesbian.
Okay, so I JUST popped the Romeo + Juliet DVD out of my computer, like about 90 seconds ago. And I was thinking back and wondering if I loved this movie so much because it’s Shakespeare, because I thought I had a thing for Leonardo DiCaprio, or because Claire Danes is so incredibly gorgeous in this movie.
Once again, Autostraddle answers my questions before they’re even fully formed. Thanks, guys.
I’m in a similar situation; but even when I thought I liked boys I never cared about Leo. When I first watched Romeo + Juliet in 8th grade I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Claire Danes. And I thought I liked that movie because I liked Shakespeare. Pff.
I think maybe part of the reason the Hansons were left out is that by the time they were a thing, most of the writers mean age (assuming, hopefully correctly that y’all are my age-ish) was juuuuuust past mmmbop, like maybe we still listened to it but rolled our eyes publicly about it because, um we needed to grow up and be cool
are you guiys in the 26ish range?
But Autostraddle! There’s an entirely other genre of guys- old- enough- to- be- considered- men- but- with- long- enough- hair- to- be- considered- safe that you’re missing here! HeLLO, Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, Evan Dando, and Keanu Reeves. And don’t even get me started on the whole Skater Boy haircut thing.
Sidebar: Do not tell me I’m the only one on this thread old enough to NOT have been in love with Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
Sigh. The 1990s and its long hair on guys made everything so confusing.
P.S. JOHNNY DEPP IS STILL HOT. NO MATTER WHAT AGE. NO MATTER WHAT. I’D SWITCH TEAMS FOR EDWARD SCISSORHANDS IN A HEARTBEAT.
and P.S. v2.0: ZACH BRAFF too.
P.P.S.: visual reference for the young’uns amongst us (prolly, like, all of you, but that’s okay):
kurt http://cdn.crushable.com/files/2010/11/sassy-mag-cover-490×633.jpg
eddie http://www.cherrybombed.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/eddievintage.jpg
(though http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kzcocf1foJ1qapgtno1_500.jpg is pretty damn hot too)
evan http://thoughtcatalog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/f.jpeg
keanu http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l2r3w5Qnb61qbb2jdo1_400.jpg
johnny http://cdn.crushable.com/files/2010/11/sassy_may90-312×400.jpg
But Emma! KURT COBAIN IS DEAD
SO IS BRAD RENFRO
And Jonathan Brandis.
I wasn’t old enough to be in love with Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
Now I just don’t see what anyone may have ever saw
WHERE WHERE OH WHERE IS ZAC EFRON?!??!?!
zac efron is still a boy, not yet a man
somewhere in that, i feel a subtle britney ref. :D
but but he’s all manly and ~adult~ now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88cxpwEpe8M&feature=player_embedded
That picture of Nick Carter-I CAN’T EVEN…
I have wallpapered with a solid half of these dudes at some point in my life (though by the time I was 14 the balance was clearly switching towards their female co-stars).
Incidentally, 20% of my wall was covered in Prince William when I was about 10-12. I blame Australian teen magazine “Dolly” for having no qualms about putting royal family members as the hottie of the week or whatever.
Edward Furlong, as John Connor in Terminator 2.
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4168646912/nm0000411
I signed up to the site just to say – hell, yes! to this.
That’s all
leonardo di caprio – omg, yes. but also (and you forgot him, definitely): robbie williams. 1994-1996, to be precise.
Over the summer I posted a facebook status about Orlando Bloom as Legolas (I still have a picture of him in my bedroom at my parent’s house…) This got a surprising number of comments, all but one of which was a statement of tweenage adoration from now-gay ladies. The exception was from my gay boy flatmate who said he’d never crushed on him because he looked too much like a girl.
Oh god, I wanted Legolas. I got so excited about those movies, and I think a huge part of it was the fact that I was suddenly able to chime in on the fangirly crushfests of my friends without completely lying.
Cry Baby is one of my all time favourite movies….except hardly anyone knows it….I think I’m gonna go watch it right now (shit was just introduced to the fan and now I need some cheering up!!)
… elijah wood looks like uma thurman …
DARREN HAYES, EARLY SAVAGE GARDEN ERA.
When he was 24 and had this really lite-Goth thing happening and his hair was chin-length and almost like he tried to do dreadlocks but gave up.
sdkjfhklasjfk;lsdfjds;g;;;;;;;
my mum caught me in bed with a poster of Savage Garden when I was 13.
12 years later I recreate that moment with a burlesque performance featuring that exact same poster.
Darren Hayes sees a video of it on his FB wall and says “Hilarious!”.
I DED OF SQUEEEEEEEEEE.
i swear if he ever decides to sleep with me for whatever reason ALL BETS ARE OFF
Plus……..
JAI RODRIGUEZ
i was in love with him when he played Angel in RENT, back when he was skinny and pre-Queer Eye and pre-tattoos. When he was more girly. so pretty.
http://www.broadway.com/shows/rent/photos/queer-eyes-jai-rodriguez-pays-the-rent/
–
Also, MICHAEL PITT
He was in Hedwig & the Angry Inch, Dawson’s Creek & Murder By Numbers. He looks like Leonardo DiCaprio & Nick Carter’s love child.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R1XITopZlc8/TE0FNA9Le7I/AAAAAAAAAKY/JsHXXHv7Flo/s1600/michael-pitt.jpg
YEAH, Michael Pitt! I loved Murder By Numbers simply because of him, I think. You’re spot on about the combo of DiCaprio and Carter, lol.
I -still- love Will Smith, lol (and Jada Pinkett-Smith, by association of each other.)
I never had a crush on Leo, but I have a serious crushladyboner on his acting skillz. Real talk.
That photo of Nick Carter contains the gayest haircut I have ever seen
Oh, this was a very enlightening article. Devon and Leo were my ~*~soulmates~*~ when I was in middle school. I even had posters on my ceiling. I also had a lady boner for, like, half of these guys. That whole “liking boys until they become men” thing really resonated with me.
Ohhh Devon Sawa and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Somewhere inside my heart, I am still eleven years old and still very in love with those two.
had i read this article at age 12, i’d have realised much much sooner!!!
i was a hardcore nick carter fan.
plus, the night i came out, a friend was sleeping over and she asked “then why do you have an elijah wood poster (lord of the rings)”.. i just blurted out “well, he looks like a girl”
i’d ALWAYS been into guys who look like girls…including nick carter.
ALSO heath ledger in ‘a knight’s tale.’
I had the intriguing experience of hanging out with nick carter and his entire sibling clan a few years ago for a night at that crazy huge house they lived at while filming the dud-of-a-show “house of carters”, and i have to say, the mystique has vanished entirely and i’m thoroughly upset i had his face on my jr high wall. brian littrell, on the other hand, is a perfect gentleman with an awesome wife (whom he met like 15 years ago and has been with ever since) and a perfect little son. they are like the poster family for adorable.
You were at Aaron’s Party?!
I can’t get over how spot on this is.
Why is Rider Strong not more famous?
1. His name is Rider Strong, come on.
2. Could he have aged better? I think no.
http://www.findyourfav.com/Downloads/riderwi.jpg
A friend of mine was in an ATM lobby in the East Village a few years ago, when she and her gf started cruising someone who she thought was a really hot transman. It seemed like he was cruising them back. Afterwards, she was like “hot!” and her gf was like “that was elijah wood.”
I had crushes on at least 8 of these guys back when I was a 100% straight teenager…Should I have seen the clues back then?
mmm jonathan taylor thomas.
wow, this was pretty much my bedroom in the early/mid 90s. river phoenix! http://images.wikia.com/indianajones/images/9/9e/River_Phoenix.jpg
Jason Priestley… Did remind me a bit of James Dean.
Does that count as a clue???
Apart from my crush on Sarah Chadwick (anybody remember The Flying Doctors?)
Well that explains some of those crushes.
The more I read this site the more I realize what a total les I am (not the “safe” bi I like to use to identify myself)
Where are the Moffatts??
Oh boy bands, how confusing you were to young lesbians…
9 of these boys were on my wall when I was younger. I found my binder of Teen Beat posters a few months ago while cleaning through boxes, I couldn’t bear to part with it, it’s too funny. I wanted to marry Devon Sawa. Also Andrew Keegan, Jonathan Jackson and Brad Renfro (RIP)..
I loved this post, but I love reading the comments more. I never really had a specific boy crush. When my sister got her first boyfriend she tried to get me to talk about boys, so I wrote a list of 65 boys I liked and most of these boys were included, Will Smith was number one.
I do remember that
My walls were covered in posters and cut outs of Shakira, J Lo, and Michael Jackson. I was convinced I only wanted people who inspire me in my room…
It wasn’t until high school that I realized it was a different type of inspiration they provided.
Funny, I always crushed on the masculine ones. Although, I still can’t figure out if I LIKED Wolverine or wanted to BE Wolverine.
And let’s not forgot Daniel Johns in his Silverchair days. http://www.google.com/m/search?site=images&source=mog&hl=en&gl=us&client=safari&q=daniel%20johns#i=18
yep. devon sawa, rider strong, nick carter…in love with all of them in middle school. high school, clea duvall! college…real women.
Ah-yup. I transferred directly from DiCaprio to Julia Stiles, because at that age they are more or less the same person.
F’real, though, as some have already mentioned, peak Devon Sawa was that scene at the end of Casper. Christina Ricci thrown into the bargain? Yes please.
Jason London (and by extension Jeremy because I could never tell them apart) will always hold a special place in my heart because of The Man in the Moon.
I remember watching that movie at a middle school slumber party. My friends were soooo into him. I pretended to be … but in reality, I was completely smitten with Reese Witherspoon, as the spunky adorable tomboy.
Yet another “why the hell didn’t I recognize that as a crush?” moment from my adolescence.
Haha, Depp in Cry-Baby. I forgot about that movie. I feel like Depp is hot in everything, though.
Love and continue to love your articles. Autostraddle, Autowin every time.
Oh these pictures are taking me back to the good ole days of my youth a.k.a the 90s. I remember and loved many of these boys.
Is it me or does Nick Carter look pretty gay in that picture. Just saying.
I had an inexplicable crush on Adam Brody from the O.C. when I was in high school…had his poster in my dorm room until at least my third year of college.
Totally had a subscription to B Bop magazine in grade school. I remember a girl across the street said she idolized gwen stefani, and I told her I idolized Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I think I thought idolized just meant “really really liked”, not “wanted to be like”. Both were kinda fitting though.
I was so gay. And so oblivious.
I had half of these exact posters on my wall in middle school! Well, before the day I took them to school and we burned them. XD
I remember only really liking Nick Carter in this one BSB video where they were at a ski lodge, but it was a strong enough like for me to tell everyone he was my Epic Crush.
Also, Devon Sawa, -yes-. My best friend was massively obsessed with him, so we used to watch the supermarket scene in Little Giants over and over again. Good times. <3
Haha. I’m bisexual and I had crushes on these guys AND their female co-stars. I was only a little kiddie in the 90s, though.
I remember when I first saw Titanic… I was 6 or 7. seeing Leonardo DiCaprio gettin’ it on with Kate Winslet in the car was an absolutely phenomenal, life-altering experience for me. It was like hotness… times two.
aaron fucking carter
Totally Aaron Carter yes. But not before Lee Brennan of 911!!! And a little bit of Prince William…although I prefer Kate Middleton.
I had Devon Sawa and Nick Carter on my wall as a teenager,
And i’m bi-sexual today, Sweet, maybe we should sent them a ‘thank you’ card :-)
I know that my girl likes Johnny depp and Leonardo Dicaprio as a teen and she’s 100% Lesbian
However I don’t want to blame any of these nice guys for “turning” me to another side
Love It! Keep up the good work.
Am I the only one who briefly had a crush on mid-80s Axl Rose because he looked like a young diesel-dyke? (of course, I eventually read his lyrics, and that was the merciful end of that crush)
I had tons of magazine cut-outs and posters of My So-Called Life and Romeo + Juliet…
Common denominators I have only realized in adulthood as a lesbian = boys with long hair and Claire Danes.
God dammit, I’m a teenage girl and I find half of the guys in the list attractive. I’ve always been into cute, sometimes girly-looking guys, though not all the time, but most. Does this mean I’m lesbian or ;;;
Pingback: Nidis Ded At The Atm Lyrics | locator - atmlocator
Pingback: Existential (Gender Performance) Crisis: I’m a Grown Woman who Looks Like a Boy Band Member – sartorial scholars
This post is amazing! Thanks for bringing it back, A-Team!
Oh this is so true. When I was 13, Titanic came out, but since I was so anti as a teenager I never watched it until 20 years later which was yesterday. Yet as a teenager I had my room FULL of posters of Leo’s face and I was very in love with him hahaha! And yesterday it hit me like a brick! I saw him on screen and I felt like Kate (whole being very attracted to her, too), their whole behavior together is so butch and femme, it’s crazy, and I looked at him and I was drooling, he did NOT connect with “man” in my head. He did connect with “butch” in all the best ways. And finally, I understood why as a teenager I had such a crush on him! Haha! I told my butch spouse about it while we were watching it and had a good laugh. Weirdly, now I feel queerer than ever. I know now that I didn’t have a crush on a man, my teenage self knew exactly what rocked my boat the hardest. Oops, no pun intended.
Pingback: Why So Many Lesbians Grew Up With A Crush On Jack From “Titanic” – Insurance
Pingback: How Jack From "Titanic" Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings - HoTips.Asia
Pingback: How Jack From "Titanic" Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings - Mahu Wahine
Pingback: How Jack From "Titanic" Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings ⋆ Pride USA
Pingback: How Jack From “Titanic” Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings
Pingback: How Jack From “Titanic” Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings
Pingback: How Jack From "Titanic" Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings | Gap4.com
Pingback: How Jack From "Titanic" Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings | CelebDiscover
Pingback: How Jack From "Titanic" Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings – Viral News
Pingback: How Jack From "Titanic" Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings « CauseHub
Pingback: Hero Break » How Jack From "Titanic" Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings
Pingback: How Jack From "Titanic" Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings – Friendly Hero
Pingback: How Jack From "Titanic" Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings | Viral News Everyday
Pingback: How Jack From “Titanic” Launched A Thousand Lesbian Awakenings | Whats The Scoop