Effeminacy and the Glass Closet: The Erasure of Heterosexual Men’s Femininities

• In Event: 512 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. Theorizing and Retheorizing Gender

Abstract

A number of scholars have pointed to the increasing visibility and acceptance of gays and lesbians in Western nations since the 1990s. One of the potential ramifications of these changes is a transformation in the construction of heterosexual identities. Some masculinities scholars have found evidence that heterosexual masculinity is changing to be more inclusive of practices that have been stereotyped as “gay” or “feminine.” These scholars tie these transformations in heterosexual masculinity to the increasing social acceptance of gay and lesbian people. In other words, they argue that there has been a blurring or weakening of symbolic boundaries between gay men and straight men as being gay, and practices associated with being gay, become more socially acceptable. However, there is little discussion in the masculinities literature that specifically addresses or theorizes about male femininity, or how public perception and discourse about male femininity, or effeminacy, has been transformed by changes in the social status of gay men. I address this gap by analyzing public discourse surrounding Congresswoman Michele Bachman’s husband, Marcus Bachmann, with a specific focus on speculation and joking about his sexual identity. I argue that this discourse highlights the ways that male femininity is still conflated with being gay. Moreover, I contend that the glass closet, or the belief that some straight-identified men’s “true” gay identity is obvious and indisputable, conflates gender nonconformity and sexual identity in a way that works to erase the possibility of heterosexual men’s femininities.

Author

• Travis Beaver, University of Texas-Austin