A Radical Poet; Lou Reed’s progressive representation of sexuality
On the 27th of October 2013, the world lost rock’s most influential and forward-thinking musician, Lou Reed. Reed passed away from liver failure after years of complications and a liver transplant. Almost 10 years on, Reed’s legacy lives on through his music which is commemorated for its avant-garde slant and progressiveness
Lou Reed was born on the 2nd of march 1942 and raised in Long island, new york. Reed grew up in suburban New York under the roof of his ‘controlling’ and conservative Jewish parents.
At the tender age of 17 Reed was sent to Creedmoor State Psychiatric Hospital to treat his homosexual urges, depression and mood swings where he had to undergo electroconversion therapy to treat his ‘condition’. The 1950s was a perilous time for those who fell outside of societal norms, homosexuality being treated as a condition to be fixed rather than a right to one's own sexuality. Reed’s sister, Merrill, defended their parent’s choice and said “My parents were like lambs being led to the slaughter- confused, terrified and conditioned to follow the advice of doctors. She also claimed it affected Lou’s memory retention forever onwards.
The torture that came in the form of 24 electro-conversion therapy sessions, had a profound and lasting impression on Reed, in 1974 he wrote the song ‘Kill Your Sons’ which recounted the electric shock treatment he and thousands of other people endured to ‘cure’ mental illness and homosexuality
Sexuality; A significant theme throughout Reed’s music
The Velvet Underground formed in 1964, the name deriving from the 1963 book ‘The velvet underground’ which was an exposè on 1960s America’s underground sexual practices such as orgies, swinging, and sadomasochism.
Reed’s fascination with sexuality prominently fed through to his music in both his career with the velvet underground and his personal work.
The Velvet Underground
Sadomasochism, transsexuality, sexual promiscuity and prostitution appear throughout his discography which was eminently progressive (even for rock and roll) in the 1960s and 70s. Lou Reed was profoundly ahead of his time.
Reed wrote ‘Venus in Furs’ before the band decided to stick with the name The Velvet Underground and it was perfectly fitting. The song was inspired by Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 novel centring on a male protagonist who seeks to be enslaved by his lover. The term “Masochism” comes from the author’s surname ‘Masoch’.
Reed references the masochistic act of sexual humiliation in Venus in Furs, singing about BDSM practises which were undeniably very taboo in the 1960s.
In recent years there has been a growing conversation on the acceptance of transgenderism but back in the 60s acceptance was a long way off. Candy Darling was Reed’s muse in various tracks, she was a transgender icon and a Warhol superstar who helped bring drag into popular culture
In “Candy Says” Reed narrates Darling's feelings of gender dysphoria at a time when this would be perceived by the majority at this time to be a mental illness.
Reed contributed to trans visibility at a time when this was almost unprecedented. He was in a relationship with a transgender woman named Rachel Humphrey throughout the 70s who was another muse, she deeply inspired Reed, most notably in the album ‘Coney Island Baby’ and its titular track where he credits his and Rachel’s relationship.
Although Reed’s sexuality is ambiguous, bisexual, pansexual or ambisexual one thing is certain; he changed the course of history by openly having a conversion America should have been having regarding transgender, gender non-conforming and queer people through the medium of music. Reed is remembered as a radical poet whose music cast a light on America’s underbelly of sex and sexuality.