Actor Ayushmann Khurrana yesterday shared a photo of his GQ cover, where he can be seen sporting nail polish and kohl. The cover in itself might be a nod towards the increasingly gender non-conforming and androgynous fashion being worn by global celebrities, but trouble occurred when Ayushmann captioned the post with “gender fluid" and a heart emoji. Many, including queer groups on the Internet, found it offensive on the grounds that applying nail polish or wearing any kind of gender-neutral fashion does not make one gender fluid, which is an identity in itself, regardless of fashion. When done by a cisgender heterosexual man, as is being presumed to be the case with Ayushmann since he has made no public statement to the contrary, it veers towards appropriation of queer identities, and in some cases, might even contribute towards queerbaiting. To contextualise the outrage, Bollywood and the film industry in general has had a long-standing problem of casting cisgender heterosexual actors to play transgender and other queer persons’ roles.
On the flip side, some people have said that criticising Ayushmann for wearing fashion that is traditionally not worn by males, it might inadvertently endanger trans persons who are yet to come out of the closet or make any sort of public statement but have been attempting to be as authentic to themselves as possible under the circumstance. That said, the problem still persists with Ayushmann’s usage of the words “gender fluid", which queer groups have called appropriation of marginalised identities. Ayushmann seems to have since deleted his tweet, but the Instagram post is up on his profile (at the time of writing this article).
Unless you are coming out as ‘gender fluid’, this would be an appropriation of Queer identities.A picture of you wearing nailpaint contributes to the narrative that ‘men’ can’t wear nailpaint but only non cis-men can, whereas one can wear nailpaint regardless of their gender.— Ankush (অঙ্কুশ) (@ankushpal2001) November 30, 2021
how easy is it for a cis-het like @ayushmannk to write "gender fluid" & cash in likes & positive comments. queer-baiting was cool, but this certainly is not. sorry man, u lost a fan here. everything is not funny or empowering as per your convenience (movie release nearby). pic.twitter.com/NUF1X6dzyx— akshar (@aksharmistry) November 30, 2021
Ayushmann Khurrana I am looking at you , just because you painted your nails or applied kohl to your eyes doesn’t mean you’re gender fluid or breaking gender norms https://t.co/6UxzrWlUXV— Love, Tak (@Love_Venji_) November 30, 2021
nobody becomes gender "fluid" withblack nailpaint ayushmann, if you are SO adamant on bringing some change do some research on the shit transfolk have to go through and have been going through since centuries,,, would that be too much to expect from a "brave" harbinger like you?— vill 🌖 (@hobvicore) November 30, 2021
Here I am, being a Queer Person discovering my identity and Ayushmann Khurrana is slapping on Kohl and Ethnicwear and calling it ‘Gender Fluid’ like wow.— Pokhraj Roy (@PokhrajRoy) November 30, 2021
A cishet man calling himself gender fluid just because he did his lashes and wore nail paint for a shoot. This is bollywood in a nutshell.100 instagram brownie points @ayushmannk, but the term you are looking for is Androgyny and not Gender fluid. #LGBT #LGBTQ pic.twitter.com/pKZNPtKp47— ClapTrap (@nuke_amar) November 30, 2021
Do you know what it means or you just wanna sound cool. Applying nail paint and eyeliner doesn't make you gender fluid.. With that logic every rockstar from 80s would gender fluid— 𝘎✨ (@gulabialoo) November 30, 2021
Ayushmann Khurrana (the actor in pic) is promoting gender fluid fashion in the GQ magazine cover by sporting nail polish and an eye liner. (He’s isn’t gender fluid, he’s just trying to go for a “gender fluid look”)— Vidit Bhargava (@viditb) November 30, 2021
Queer awareness-raising group ‘Yes We Exist’ explained their standpoint in an Instagram post. “Gender-fluid people can identify as different gender identities at the same time or at different times," they wrote.
View this post on Instagram
Recently, Ayushmann’s upcoming film starring Vani Kapoor in the role of a trans woman received similar criticism for perpetuating the practice of casting a cisgender woman in the role of a transgender person. While Ayushmann is usually lauded for taking on roles that traditional Bollywood “heroes" might not touch with a three-foot pole, people on social media are of the opinion that blunders such as this one could severely hurt the precarious social position that marginalised persons occupy in India. Ayushmann has previously starred in ‘Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan’ in the role of a gay man, which, even though it does the bare minimum in terms of representation or even art, was lauded for being progressive for its context.
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