The Pros And Cons Of Gay Stereotypes

Everyone knows a woman that dresses feminine—in long, flowy dresses, bright pink lipstick, and towering high heels. Personally, my usual attire is composed of a flower headband and a pastel yellow sundress. People typically expect straight women to uphold a certain feministic standard and anticipate that lesbian women appear masculine. Lesbians are stereotyped to have short hair, wear striped flannels and boyfriend jeans, and not wear makeup. Masculine-appearing women are assumed to be gay; however, there is a group of lesbian women who dress femininely. Lipstick lesbians, or LLs, are a part of the feminine lesbian community. The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community has built up recently and an abundance of stereotypes as well. Contrary to popular belief, lesbians are not bound to one appearance. We as humans should have the opportunity to express ourselves in whichever way we desire. Similar to everyone else, lesbians’ appearances do not have to be strictly based off of who they are attracted to. Lipstick lesbians positively influence lesbian stereotypes because they defy masculine appearance and are unafraid to express themselves. By recognizing that lesbians who dress femininely are still lesbians, individuals can avoid awkward and uncomfortable situations by being respectful and acknowledging their boundaries.

This prejudice evoked me to discover what people are doing to fight the discrimination associated with homosexuality. I was optimistic, at first, about finding people who want to change societal prejudice directed at homosexuals, since there had to be some souls who wished to change their community for the better. But, in my search, I found relatively few such people; one of them is Jonas Slonaker, a gay resident of Laramie.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s, society wasn’t the most accepting of places for people who were different from the “social norms”. Now I know, people today still struggle with trying to fit in and be “normal” but it was different. Being a gay man living in San Fransisco at the time, which had a large gay population, Richard Rodriguez had a hard time dealing with the discrimination he faced. Richard Rodriguez was an American journalist who wrote and published a memoir about his life as a gay man. In October of 1990, Rodriguez published his memoir “Late Victorians” in Harper’s Magazine, a critically acclaimed publication of the time. In his memoir, Rodriguez describes what it was like to realize he was gay and watch as the country changed to become a more accepting place. He does this by setting up how things can change and then explaining the actual ways things change for the gay population.

John D’Emilio’s “Capitalism and Gay Identity” contracts what life was like for gay men and lesbians throughout the 1970s and 1980s. During the 1970s, gay men and lesbians were able to come out freely, and eventually started to get accepted by everyone in society. They were able to express themselves without any regards, and started to become the person they were destined to be. People within the gay community have always expressed tendencies of liking the same sex, but societal norms did not allow them to express themselves. However, during the 1980s, as more people decided to openly come out, it started to take a toll on their identity. Society then started to question the importance of people who were brave enough to come out to the world.

The word “gay” has gone through drastic changes. Traditionally, it was a positive term that meant to be “happily excited” or “jolly” (Merriam Webster, “Gay”). It was used regularly to express one’s feelings about life. Today, it has a far different meaning. Now people use the word gay to label homosexuals, those with feminine qualities, or those who do something thought to be outside of the norm for their gender. “Being gay” went from expressing someone’s happiness to describing his sexual preference. The definition of gay has changed so much that its original meaning has become archaic and lost to the times.

You see a guy that catches your eye. But, how do you tell if a guy you like is gay or not? Is there any signs to know it? Actually, many gay men don't fit stereotypes. Some gay men even train to be masculine. These men have deep voices, flirt with women, walk like a man, and do manly things. But ALL gay men give off subtle signs of their sexuality.

This paper will continue on, researching the societal change/acceptance in the gay and lesbian community as no longer being unorthodox and with the stigma coming from the gay community itself.

Living in a world full of social perceptions, expectations and limitations make it difficult to survive when everything about a person contradicts those social ideals. Humans are composed and influenced by multiple constituents: they are more than just “gay,” “fat,” or “white.” But because of a society filled with magazines, super models and stereotypes, it’s easy to lose sight of that. Secluded, pushed away and punished, Joe Schwartz lived most of his adolescent life alone, like many others, due to his sexual orientation. From reading his life story, a new perspective can be seen.

Every day in the United States, a young person, under the age of eighteen faces homelessness, and most often it’s because of others. In a report by The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, it was noted that 26% of LGBTQ youth were kicked out of their homes when they came out (Ray, 2006). The Urban Justice League reports numbers as high as 78% of LGBTQ youth that “were removed from or left their foster care placements because they were un-welcoming or hostile towards their sexual orientation and/or gender identity ” (Feinstein, Greenblatt, Hass, Kohn, & Rana, 2001). The United States is an independent, individualistic country; we prize the freedom of expression, but do we really? One of the most significant, if not the most important, social structures is the family. Gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals who are aware of their sexuality, must create an alternative self to present to family and friends, especially if there is an understanding, verbalized or implicit, that homosexuality is not tolerated, or simply wrong. Many gay, lesbian and bisexual men and women would rather go with the flow, assimilate, not make waves, rather than to express their own gay identity, and risk ostracism.

LGBT history has changed the way society works in the United States and has had an impact around the world. The homosexual community came as an impact to the world during the early 1900’s. They were considered different; odd, ill, and weak, but little did we know the effects it would have in today’s society and politics. The war, queer, and AIDs movements seem to relatively impact members of the gay and lesbian community the most. In an series of interviews in “Word is Out” conducted by Nancy Adair and Casey Adair, the reader is introduced into the lives of Pam, Rusty, and Pat; lesbian women living within their true identity during the mid-1900’s. Their stories consist of broken family relationships, marriage failure, and gender roles. To help one understand the dynamics of their relationships and lives, John D’Emilo talks about the effects of war and how it structures and damages the gay community and their opportunity for equality. Elizabeth Davis speaks about the Lesbian experience in public spaces that exposes many to find their character by associating with those that fit best to their community in “Lesbian Bar Culture in the 1930’s and 1940’s”. The LGBT community for centuries has won the spotlight in the news and many articles published in well know newspapers, but what many never get to hear or see are the struggle that many homosexuals face. Both gays and lesbians in the United States have received backlash because of their race, gender, and social class. The

Since The 1930s, gay bars and gay nightclubs have been around. The bar called the White Horse, in Oakland, California, has been opened since 1933. It is known to be the first gay bar to be opened here in America. Being gay in the 1930s was brutal. “Same gender sex was a felony, and being caught in a gay bar could cost someone their job… In a society that viewed gays as barley human, the White Horse allowed a level of freedom that in the 1940s or 1950s was liberating” (Duffy 2016). With time changes and people being more accepted, gay bars and gay nightclubs started opening all across America. One of the many gay nightclubs here in Denver is known as Tracks. It was opened in 1980. On October 5th, 2017, an experiential observation at the Tracks nightclub was made. During this experience, it was observed that these people that identified as either gay, lesbian, or bisexual were acting as normal human beings in a heterosexual nightclub. Although the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender movement acts have been created to allow this community to be more open and unafraid, it has had a history of negative stereotypes against LGBT nightclubs which actually benefit this community within psychological components, social components, and dealing with hate crimes towards this community community.

"This new gay culture increasingly marks a full spectrum of social life: not only same-sex desires but gay selves, gay neighbors, and gay social practices that are distinctive of our affluent, postindustrial society".

Does homosexuality determine a character's outsider status? Throughout literature, the themes of homosexuality and the outsider have often been linked, unsurprising considering as of June 2015, seventy-three countries still have laws criminalizing homosexuality. In both Martin Sherman’s Bent and Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, the theme of the outsider is intrinsic to the plot, frequently linked with the theme of homosexuality, though for different purposes and to different extents. In A Single Man, the theme of the outsider is immediately obvious from the offset, the novel beginning with a disembodied voice, showing a severe lack of identity.

“gay” is being the person you were meant to be. it is flawless, and it is unapologetic.

This person pays attention to they way they dress, how their hair looks and their jewelry choices. They also love too cook. At work they were slacks and dress shirts and polo’s on the weekend. I have marked that Person B was assigned the sex of a male at birth. I have also marked that they are have not fully identified their gender identity. I think that this person is neutral on the feminine and masculine scale. They are all about their appearance, and loves to cook which leads to a more feminine side. They also like to wear more masculine clothing at work. To me I think this is a person who is androgynous. Androgynous is where one incorporates masculine and feminine qualities