I just went to go watch the video on the GLAAD site and I have to say the review doesn't strike me as homophobic. It *does* strike me that that Shalit misunderstood Ennis.
What I understand from the short story, and I expect most people understand from the movie as well, is that Ennis really does love Jack but rejects him due to his fear of death by tire iron (also his job constraints and a childhood that makes me want to kick his fictional father in the nuts, but I digress). What if you don't understand Ennis's conflict, or even if you do but have a strict no-means-no-even-if-the-no-sayer-would-prefer-to-say-yes-in-a-perfect-world attitude? In that case, it seems reasonable to see Jack as the kind of guy who doesn't take no for an answer, and we don't like those guys (regardless of the gender of their targets). "Sexual predator" is a shitty choice of wording for this, no doubt, but I don't think it's *homophobic* wording.
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What I understand from the short story, and I expect most people understand from the movie as well, is that Ennis really does love Jack but rejects him due to his fear of death by tire iron (also his job constraints and a childhood that makes me want to kick his fictional father in the nuts, but I digress). What if you don't understand Ennis's conflict, or even if you do but have a strict no-means-no-even-if-the-no-sayer-would-prefer-to-say-yes-in-a-perfect-world attitude? In that case, it seems reasonable to see Jack as the kind of guy who doesn't take no for an answer, and we don't like those guys (regardless of the gender of their targets). "Sexual predator" is a shitty choice of wording for this, no doubt, but I don't think it's *homophobic* wording.