Being Gay

[meridannight]

You said you see being gay as a more masculine thing, I see it that way, and I know @meridannight does as well.

I'm posting too much tonight, but I have a theory on this particular subject.

Yes, male homosexuality is a more masculine state, in my opinion.

As for the feminization of gay men by the culture/straight community: I think this is at least partially due to the fact that men with male partners were historically forced to refer to their partners as 'she' in public or in the company they didn't trust. When they talked about a man they loved they felt necessary for one reason or another to refer to him as 'my woman', 'my girl' and equivalent in such company.

My theory is, that it is from this background that the feminization came by in the first place. (Someone -- maybe myself when I get the time -- should run the comparisons between the Western civilization and China/Japan in this respect, to see if it has any plausibility). As far as I know, I am the only one who has suggested this. I think this can explain it at least in parts. If you imagine a society where homosexuality has always existed and been visible and acceptable alongside heterosexuality, I do think such a society would not suffer from de-masculinization of gay men, or suffer from it to a significantly reduced and less serious degree.

Also, in the past, men who wanted to accompany their male partner in public sometimes (rarely, but it happened) dressed up as a female to be able to do so. There are historical cases of this. I'm not so sure on the influence of this one, but it would be interesting to know how it links to the practice of drag.