Released in 1998 after his arrest by an undercover police officer in a Beverly Hills rest room for "engaging in a lewd act," this song is a masterpiece of damage control. Michael publicly came out after the arrest but instead of buckling under sex-negative attitudes from the culture at large, he chose to make an extremely sex-positive message with this song and video. He brilliantly and courageously owned his sexuality, something which is greatly feared in the USA. We are plagued--still!--by Puritan-based rules that look down on adults seeing themselves as sexual beings and expressing their own sexuality. That is why we have such a huge pornography industry... if you suppress it, it manifests in another way. It's like the gigantic clog in your drain that forces water and food up into your bath tub or shower; if you cut off the flow, it will find another way up. Shame about sexuality and body issues is another reason we are seeing such a frightening upswell of homophobia and a shocking increase in violence toward gay men and women in the United States.
Kudos to George Michael for the song, the video, for coming out and for not apologizing about any of it.
http://www.georgemichael.com/
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