Theorizing the "Patriarchal Deficit"— Pro-feminist Men's Use of Gay Aesthetics as “Proof” of Feminist Authenticity

• In Event: 596 - Section on Sex and Gender Paper Session. (Re)Theorizing Gender

Abstract

This paper documents a curious practice among a group of heterosexual-identified pro-feminist men I ethnographically studied for one year. Discussions of being “mistaken for gay” were commonplace among the group, often resulting in a kind of contest among members at group meetings. This paper builds on recent work theorizing the aesthetic elements of sexuality (Bridges, forthcoming) to discuss the meanings and consequences of straight men’s attempts mobilize a hybrid masculinity as a “gender strategy.” Discourses of being mistaken for gay worked in two ways: while critically highlighting the social construction of performances of sexuality by queering straight men’s performances of gender and sexuality, like performances of drag, this practice also participates in redefining the social and symbolic boundaries separating gay and straight cultures and people. Men in this study were motivated to fill what I term the patriarchal deficit—feelings and practices associated with the perception among some (primarily white) heterosexual men that their gender and sexual identities are boring, meaningless, and empty. But their “queer” performances were also motivated as a method of “proving” the authenticity of their feminist politics and identities. The consequences of this practice, however, often worked in ways that further entrench systems of power and privilege. This research speaks to contemporary transformations in masculine identities, particularly among young, straight, white men critically highlighting the flexibility of contemporary systems of gender and sexual inequality.

Author

• Tristan Bridges, State University of New York-Brockport