There has been a discussion gaining traction in the last handful of years or so of queer individuals and communities criticizing certain pieces of media and their creators for the fetishization of queer relationships, especially the relationships between gay men by assumedly straight female writers. The often explicit content is critiqued for it being written by and for straight women to enjoy at the expense of genuinely thoughtful character exploration and queer representation. Miller has not escaped this criticism.
A controversial moment in the first act of the book happens between a teenage Patroclus and Achilles, wherein the two have a sexual interaction in the wooded location where the demi-god is receiving lessons from the centaur, Chiron. While some are unbothered by the scene with the sixteen-year-olds given there was no use of explicit, graphic diction, many find the “child sexualization uncomfortable and rampant” (Hunter), and that “just because the author didn’t use the word ‘penis’ doesn’t mean it wasn’t detailed” (Lammai). One even goes as far as to refer to refer to the scene as “swoony soft-porn prose” (Mendelsohn). While the last in context is more a critique of the writing style itself, it nonetheless acknowledges the nature of the scene taking place.
While I myself am a queer individual, I am not a gay man, and therefore cannot be the voice that determines the harm from lived experience this scene may do as opposed to its literary value. I cannot make that call on whether or not the scene and book at large fetishizes the gay male experience, and trying to find such a central thesis among queer readers and reviewers has so far proved unfruitful. I have opinions regarding the broader discussion of seemingly straight women writing queer relationships, and while this is not necessarily the place for me to fully explore them, I will note I tend to agree with the criticisms here, if solely because of the age of the characters Miller writes in the scene. There is an argument to be had that certain things could have at least been done in better taste.
Works Cited
Hunter. Comment on “The Song of Achilles.” Goodreads, 30 Dec. 2021, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4424081495.
Lammai. Comment on “The Song of Achilles.” Goodreads, 22 Mar 2021, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3903727135.
Mendelsohn, Daniel. “Mythic Passions.” The New York Times, 27 Apr. 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/books/review/the-song-of-achilles-by-madeline-miller.html.