Prototype: The Effeminate
Homosexuals come in all shapes, sizes and styles. You cannot simply generalize them. Yet, there are still many prejudices about gay people. Whereas lesbians are often judged as being very manly, gay men are often generalized as being 'effeminate'.
In the following, the term 'effeminacy' will be defined and an overview of the characteristics as well as the origins of this stereotype will be given.
Gay men are often associated with a feminine speaking tone, high pitched voice or even a lisp. The behaviour of gay men does not correspond to conventional masculinity. According to this stereotype, gay men take great interest in women’s fashion, they use effusive emotional expressions, they often like cross-dressing or use makeup. Furthermore, they are meant to work as performers, such as artists, singers or dancers.
Homosexuals come in all shapes, sizes and styles. You cannot simply generalize them. Yet, there are still many prejudices about gay people. Whereas lesbians are often judged as being very manly, gay men are often generalized as being 'effeminate'.
In the following, the term 'effeminacy' will be defined and an overview of the characteristics as well as the origins of this stereotype will be given.
Gay men are often associated with a feminine speaking tone, high pitched voice or even a lisp. The behaviour of gay men does not correspond to conventional masculinity. According to this stereotype, gay men take great interest in women’s fashion, they use effusive emotional expressions, they often like cross-dressing or use makeup. Furthermore, they are meant to work as performers, such as artists, singers or dancers.
The characteristics mentioned above lead to the following definition of effeminacy: it is the manifestation of traits of a human boy or man that is more often associated with feminine mannerism or gender roles rather than with masculinity. The term is typically used to imply criticism or ridicule of this behaviour.
Stereotypes and such frequently used negative terms evolve from the widely spread view of how men and women should behave.
In addition, there are loads of other expressions linked to effeminacy which are all very similar. In the following, some examples will be presented.
A widely spread and known label for gays is the “flamboyant gay”, in other words the “gayest of gay” (urban dictionary):
The overly enthusiastic gay man with a smile from ear to ear that is flailing his arms around and speaking in a high pitched voice. The guy that goes on about how "fabolous" everyone looks and is likely to be carrying a pink man purse. The guy wearing open toe sandals and giggling loudly. (<http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1256131-Flamboyant-Gays-vs-The-Average- Homosexual-Male> [last access 26.05.2016])
Stereotypes and such frequently used negative terms evolve from the widely spread view of how men and women should behave.
In addition, there are loads of other expressions linked to effeminacy which are all very similar. In the following, some examples will be presented.
A widely spread and known label for gays is the “flamboyant gay”, in other words the “gayest of gay” (urban dictionary):
The overly enthusiastic gay man with a smile from ear to ear that is flailing his arms around and speaking in a high pitched voice. The guy that goes on about how "fabolous" everyone looks and is likely to be carrying a pink man purse. The guy wearing open toe sandals and giggling loudly. (<http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1256131-Flamboyant-Gays-vs-The-Average- Homosexual-Male> [last access 26.05.2016])
A further common and popular term for gay men is “queen”. It is used for effeminate or flamboyant gay man and can either be pejorative or celebrated as a type of self-identification. Gay men often use this term in a rather positively manner. Moreover, there exist a thousand other terms like drag queen, rice queen, chocolate queen, etc.
In German, the term “Tunte” – associated with an effeminate gay man who wears female clothes and has a very affective behaviour – is translated as “queen”, but it’s rather associated with negative sentiments and is a rather judgmental term. Gay men use this term “tunte” for themselves in a provocative way.
A 'tunte' is mostly defined by his camp[1] behaviour : (high pitched) voice, gesture (spread little finger while holding a cup of tea; bending the arms upside and simultaneous droopy hands) as well as the choice of words (frequent use of interjections like “Alas” “oops” (German: “hach”, “huch”).
Last but not least, I want to present the term “sissy-boy”. It describes a boy whose behaviour (before and after puberty) is stereotypical girly. It is, like the previous terms, an idea of a gay man, who acts, looks or speaks like having an exaggerated “feminine nature or gender role”.
But when looking at gays we know, is the majority or even the minority of them actually like this? Are there really human who completely fit in stereotypes or are these stereotypes just invented from society to cope with the world? Or are they even created by each and everybody to preserve the “norm” by categorizing the discrepancy of the norm in stereotypes?
There are two hypotheses:
Firstly, many people try to fit into a certain category and therefore try to follow certain traits, such as fashion style and language, in order to distance themselves from other groups. These characteristics get often exaggerated to create for instance a clear idea or image of a gay man. This stereotype is then reproduced and again exaggerated in the media. This leads to the fact that clichés and prejudices which are completely over the top get common and accepted in society.
Secondly, humans who dress, behave or speak in a different manner (extravagant) than the majority of men – stick out of the mass and thus attract more attention than others. And very quickly they're deemed to be the only representatives of their kind, while the others (who aren't sticking out) can't be seen or noticed to be seen and to rebut the created stereotype. Only if we get to know men-loving-men, we can truly say that there are all shapes, sizes and styles of gay man, not fitting in any category and being lovely human, friendly person and awesome individuals like you and me.
But, while not denying that there are people whose behaviour can be defined as to be effeminated, the question is: Where does exaggerated behaviour come from?
In German, the term “Tunte” – associated with an effeminate gay man who wears female clothes and has a very affective behaviour – is translated as “queen”, but it’s rather associated with negative sentiments and is a rather judgmental term. Gay men use this term “tunte” for themselves in a provocative way.
A 'tunte' is mostly defined by his camp[1] behaviour : (high pitched) voice, gesture (spread little finger while holding a cup of tea; bending the arms upside and simultaneous droopy hands) as well as the choice of words (frequent use of interjections like “Alas” “oops” (German: “hach”, “huch”).
Last but not least, I want to present the term “sissy-boy”. It describes a boy whose behaviour (before and after puberty) is stereotypical girly. It is, like the previous terms, an idea of a gay man, who acts, looks or speaks like having an exaggerated “feminine nature or gender role”.
But when looking at gays we know, is the majority or even the minority of them actually like this? Are there really human who completely fit in stereotypes or are these stereotypes just invented from society to cope with the world? Or are they even created by each and everybody to preserve the “norm” by categorizing the discrepancy of the norm in stereotypes?
There are two hypotheses:
Firstly, many people try to fit into a certain category and therefore try to follow certain traits, such as fashion style and language, in order to distance themselves from other groups. These characteristics get often exaggerated to create for instance a clear idea or image of a gay man. This stereotype is then reproduced and again exaggerated in the media. This leads to the fact that clichés and prejudices which are completely over the top get common and accepted in society.
Secondly, humans who dress, behave or speak in a different manner (extravagant) than the majority of men – stick out of the mass and thus attract more attention than others. And very quickly they're deemed to be the only representatives of their kind, while the others (who aren't sticking out) can't be seen or noticed to be seen and to rebut the created stereotype. Only if we get to know men-loving-men, we can truly say that there are all shapes, sizes and styles of gay man, not fitting in any category and being lovely human, friendly person and awesome individuals like you and me.
But, while not denying that there are people whose behaviour can be defined as to be effeminated, the question is: Where does exaggerated behaviour come from?
In the following, a few opinions about the explanation not only of effeminated men or queens behaviour, will be presented.
One plausible explanation could be the social influence by your peer group or your family which reinforces one´s behaviour, hobbies, taste of music and fashion (so it becomes exaggerated.) You could even say that members of such peer groups often become echo-chambers of each other and their language, habits and gestures.
A further hypothesis could be to express emotions in a rather exaggerated way in order to signalize a kind of rebellion:
When you have to find out, who you are, where to fit in and how to define yourself, you often process all your thoughts and feelings in your mind and therefore alone. You analyze yourself and spend an inordinate amount of time adjusting your behaviour to fit societal norms. To create a distance between you and the “normal” boy (who usually tries to hide his emotions) you even overdo the anti-characteristics because you are already rebelling against societal pressure. So why the f*** hide your feelings, emotions and emotional expressions? Tear down the walls placed on you and express emotions freely - nobody can stop you from being yourself!
In conclusion, it's important to see that you cannot generalize attributes for social groups, sexual identity, ethnic affiliation or sexual orientation.
Everyone is different! There are certainly as many flamboyant straight men like effeminate gays. You cannot assume that you can categorize people based on their appearance, behaviour or habits. If you see a masculine man you think automatically he's straight, but maybe he's gay and vice versa...
In publicity and advertisement, there are not many effeminate men. Probably, the media wants us to be surprised by the sexual orientation and not shocked by a “atypical / deviant” not manly behaviour. Maybe the advertising agency does not want to make his/her products only wearable / eatable for a certain group of people. (They don't think using stereotypically man and woman couples they exclude certainly also loads of people).
Fact is, although we have that stereotype in mind automatically, it is very rare to find flamboyant men in commercials.
The advertisement of Doritos and Oreos you find here represents a mixture of the “prototype man” and “prototype gay” (affected gesture, dancing and feminine manner):
[1] The adjective “camp” means affected and kitschy, but it’s also used as a style of art (passion, theatric, kittenish) and can be used for objects, persons as well as for oeuvres.
One plausible explanation could be the social influence by your peer group or your family which reinforces one´s behaviour, hobbies, taste of music and fashion (so it becomes exaggerated.) You could even say that members of such peer groups often become echo-chambers of each other and their language, habits and gestures.
A further hypothesis could be to express emotions in a rather exaggerated way in order to signalize a kind of rebellion:
When you have to find out, who you are, where to fit in and how to define yourself, you often process all your thoughts and feelings in your mind and therefore alone. You analyze yourself and spend an inordinate amount of time adjusting your behaviour to fit societal norms. To create a distance between you and the “normal” boy (who usually tries to hide his emotions) you even overdo the anti-characteristics because you are already rebelling against societal pressure. So why the f*** hide your feelings, emotions and emotional expressions? Tear down the walls placed on you and express emotions freely - nobody can stop you from being yourself!
In conclusion, it's important to see that you cannot generalize attributes for social groups, sexual identity, ethnic affiliation or sexual orientation.
Everyone is different! There are certainly as many flamboyant straight men like effeminate gays. You cannot assume that you can categorize people based on their appearance, behaviour or habits. If you see a masculine man you think automatically he's straight, but maybe he's gay and vice versa...
In publicity and advertisement, there are not many effeminate men. Probably, the media wants us to be surprised by the sexual orientation and not shocked by a “atypical / deviant” not manly behaviour. Maybe the advertising agency does not want to make his/her products only wearable / eatable for a certain group of people. (They don't think using stereotypically man and woman couples they exclude certainly also loads of people).
Fact is, although we have that stereotype in mind automatically, it is very rare to find flamboyant men in commercials.
The advertisement of Doritos and Oreos you find here represents a mixture of the “prototype man” and “prototype gay” (affected gesture, dancing and feminine manner):
[1] The adjective “camp” means affected and kitschy, but it’s also used as a style of art (passion, theatric, kittenish) and can be used for objects, persons as well as for oeuvres.