Just when you think Fox News couldn’t get any lower, they always find a way to surprise us. They complain about the Bidens loving Christmas while also complaining about a fictional liberal war on Christmas. Not to mention their claim that the Democrats’ midterm wins were due to “women going crazy.” (We do go crazy for free and fair elections.)
Aligning with the right-wing push to vilify everything not fitting their heteronormative worldview, Fox News has been digging for anti-LGBTQ+ news stories. I thought calling drag queens and queer educators “groomers” was going too far. However, Fox’s Laura Ingraham found a “news” story that takes their hateful rhetoric to a whole new low. Ingraham claimed that two male servicemen were bringing “pup kink” to the military.
It’s all a dog whistle.
During the bizarre segment of her nationally broadcast show, Ingraham did a deep dive on Twitter to uncover photos of men wearing dog masks and military uniforms. She claimed the “pup kink” is “infiltrating” the military while only citing two unsubstantiated Twitter accounts. Pup kink, or pup play, is most commonly associated with a subset of the gay leather scene. It usually involves one person dressing or acting like a dog in sexual or non-sexual encounters. Unlike Fox News, I don’t kink shame. If it is all happening between consenting adults, feel free to be you.
In a way, this is funny. Like who had this on their “Insane Things Fox News Rants About” bingo card, amirite? In what timeline did someone think they would discuss pup kink on national news? But in many ways, it is more sinister than ridiculous. Pieces like this on right-wing networks are an effort to make every LGBTQ+ person look like a “sexual deviant” to conservative Americans.
The GOP loves using fear of others as a tactic to push their homophobic and racist agendas. Republicans hold the military as almost a sacred institution. Saying gay men are pretending to be dogs as part of their sexual encounters on military bases is a way to chum the waters for anti-gay and anti-trans military legislation or worse. Conservatives see this as a tarnish on their beloved military. Instead of focusing on allegations of sexual assaults in the military or the mental health of service people, Fox News tried to scare its viewers with men in puppy masks. I don’t know about you, but it just makes me feel tired.
(featured image: NHK World)
