Photos from Prague Pride cause a stir in the Czech Republic every year. However, what we see in them is far from representative of the entire parade
Every year, shortly after the parade, an almost identical scenario plays out. Photos start circulating on social media of shirtless men, people wearing leather accessories, drag queens with striking make-up, or participants in daring costumes. Questions quickly appear beneath the images asking why ‘this’ has to be seen by the public, why participants cannot dress normally, and whether Pride is still a demonstration for equal rights or has become merely a public spectacle.
Such questions cannot simply be dismissed as homophobia. Prague Pride takes place in a public space and, just as with any other public event, it is legitimate to discuss its boundaries, form or the appropriateness of specific behaviour. The problem arises when a few of the most flamboyant individuals begin to present themselves as a representative image of the entire parade – and, in a broader sense, of the entire LGBTQ+ community.
After all, a person wearing a leather harness can indeed be at Pride. However, this does not mean that tens of thousands of people dressed in the same way are following in their wake. More often, something else happens: a single exceptionally photogenic participant appears in ten media outlets, on hundreds of social media profiles and in thousands of comments. The resulting impression is then shaped not by the number of similarly dressed people, but by the number of times the same image is repeated.
A single photograph can overshadow the entire event
A photograph acts as direct evidence. We see a person in extravagant clothing, and so we feel we know exactly what the whole event looked like. But a photograph never captures the whole reality. It captures only a fraction of a second, a limited section of space and, above all, what the photographer or image editor deemed interesting.
A parade is made up of thousands of small moments. It includes queer people, their parents, friends, colleagues, families with children, non-profit organisations, company employees, diplomats, politicians, people of faith, older people, and people who do not identify with any organised group. However, a photographer needs to select a limited number of shots from an event lasting several hours.
A crowd of people in ordinary T-shirts, dresses and shorts isn’t particularly surprising. A man in pink wings, a woman covered in glitter or a person in a leather harness, on the other hand, certainly is. Such a photograph is more colourful, more striking and conveys at a glance that this is no ordinary Saturday stroll through Prague.
That is precisely why it has a much better chance of making the front page, appearing in a photo gallery or as a preview of a Facebook post. This does not automatically mean that the media are trying to undermine Pride. It’s also a matter of the basic logic of visual journalism, which seeks out emotion, the unusual, movement and contrast. Research into the influence of photographs on the perception of protest events shows that visual accompaniment can significantly influence how readers assess not only a specific event, but also its participants and the legitimacy of their demands.
In the case of Pride, this effect is exceptionally strong. Extravagant photographs serve simultaneously as a draw for supporters, proof of freedom for the participants themselves, and ammunition for opponents. Each group may see something different in them. Some see a celebration of individuality, others see bad taste, and still others see alleged proof that the entire movement has crossed acceptable boundaries.
Why do some people actually take their clothes off?
The simplest answer is sometimes: because it’s summer. This year’s parade will take place on Saturday 8 August, and the organisers are warning of high temperatures and a route twice as long as usual. They recommend plenty of water, head coverings, sun cream and protection against overheating. Some bare chests may therefore represent no more of a deliberate political statement than those seen amongst visitors to a summer music festival, a swimming pool or an open-air concert.
When looking at photographs, however, such context is often quickly forgotten. A shirtless man at a rock festival is usually seen as someone who is simply feeling the heat. A shirtless man holding a rainbow flag, on the other hand, easily becomes a symbol of the alleged sexualisation of the entire event.
For some people, however, clothing – or its deliberate absence – does indeed have a deeper meaning. For them, Pride functions as a carnival, a public celebration and a space where, for a few hours, they can afford to look different from how they do in the office, at school or whilst travelling by tram. Some people wear a glittery costume, others drag, whilst others opt for leather accessories or clothing that references a particular queer subculture.
This isn’t necessarily an attempt to sexually provoke anyone. Often, it’s a way of playing with fashion, the body, gender and one’s own identity. We’re familiar with the same principle from Shrovetide, carnivals, music festivals, fan marches or celebrations of sporting victories. In these special settings, people behave and dress differently than they do during a normal working week.
The difference is that, for queer people, any striking outfit is often interpreted as a statement about the entire minority. Nobody usually regards a half-naked music festival-goer as representative of all heterosexual men. A half-naked Pride participant, however, can within a matter of hours become the image by which gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people are judged, regardless of whether they have anything in common with that individual.
A bare body is not the same as public sex
In reality, moreover, three different things are often conflated – unusual clothing, partial nudity and sexual behaviour. Yet there is a fundamental difference between them.
A man without a T-shirt may make some people feel uncomfortable, but he is not, in himself, engaging in a sexual act. A leather harness may refer to an erotic or club subculture, but wearing it on the street does not automatically mean that the wearer is behaving sexually in public. A drag costume may be provocative, over-the-top or daring, but it is still primarily about visual style and performance.
This does not mean that there should be no boundaries at public events. Such boundaries do exist, and everyone should respect them, regardless of their sexual orientation. Sexual behaviour, harassment or subjecting people to situations they have not consented to cannot be excused on the grounds of freedom of self-expression.
Some ‘Pride photos’ aren’t from Pride at all
Moreover, the portrayal of the parades is not distorted solely by the selection of authentic photographs. Some of the shocking images that regularly resurface on social media are not related to LGBTQ+ events at all, or are accompanied by misleading captions.
Reuters, for example, fact-checked several photographs purporting to show naked people exposing themselves to children at Pride. One widely shared image actually came from a naked cyclists’ ride in London, which was not part of Pride. In the case of another, older photograph, it was not possible to establish any connection with an LGBTQ+ parade. An authentic shot of naked participants came from Toronto Pride, but the photograph did not show any children present, even though this was the main claim made in the posts.
Content like this works in a simple way. It selects the most shocking image possible, removes the original context and adds a caption that confirms the audience’s fears. The photograph then takes on a life of its own. Thousands of people share it, even though very few of them check where and when it was taken.
Moreover, an image does not have to be fake to be misleading. It is enough for a genuine photograph to be placed in a false context or presented as a typical example of an event, even though it captures a complete exception.
The real parade is more diverse – and less scandalous
This year’s Prague Pride parade will set off on Saturday 8 August from the lower part of Wenceslas Square. The new route will take the parade along Na Příkopě Street, Republic Square, Celetná Street, Old Town Square and Pařížská Street, then along the river to Štvanice. There, the Pride Park programme will follow, featuring music, performances and debates across five stages.
Anyone attending the parade in person won’t see just one media-friendly image, but a moving crowd made up of all sorts of people. Alongside everyday summer clothing, there will be rainbow flags, banners, costumes, make-up, drag and a few notably scantily clad bodies. It is precisely this diversity that is the true image of Pride – not a single man cut out of a photograph.
Extravagant people are not figments of the imagination, nor are they opponents tacked onto the parade. They are part of it. However, they are not the only part of it, and they certainly do not represent every single person marching in the parade.
Pride does not have to be to everyone’s liking to have a right to exist
Some members of the public will probably always consider certain outfits to be in poor taste. And some queer people will agree with them. Supporting the rights of LGBTQ+ people does not require admiration for every costume, nor does it mean a ban on criticising individual expressions.
Honest criticism, however, should be proportionate. One can say that they consider a particular outfit inappropriate. They should not use a single outfit as evidence of the character of tens of thousands of people. It can open up a debate about the limits of self-expression in public spaces. However, they should not automatically equate a bare body with a sexual assault on those around them.
This is precisely where photographs are often most misleading. Not by showing something that did not happen, but by turning a small part of reality into the whole of reality.
So when a close-up of a person in a leather harness reappears on social media, accompanied by the claim that this is exactly what Prague Pride looks like, it is worth asking a simple question: What did the photographer leave out of the frame?
