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FEB. 17

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HIGH GEAR

JANUARY 1976

Thank You FENIDDAY EFFEMINAⱭ

Call & Post

We'd like to take this space to publicly thank Mr. Walker, Mr. Smith, Paul, the typesetters who have weathered our sometimes illegible manuscripts, the velox people for getting things just right, George the custodian, and the curious, fun-loving lay-out women whose questions about homosexuality never end.

There is an aesthetic irony in that a black owned and operated newspaper was the only organization open-minded enough to allow us use of their printing facilities. We thank you Call and Post for helping us reach our people through yours.......

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Effeminacy is a difficult topic for gay theoreticians as well as awkward subject in any informal discussion among gays. It is difficult because effeminacy in gay males is a stereotype to be dispelled by liberationists on the one hand; but on the other enlightened males are encouraged to break away from a sex role imposed by sexist tradition and give full and free vent to innate "feminine" personality traits. Promotors of sciousness and rightly, that overwhelming majority of gay males do not display effeminate mannerisms, but invariably a well-meaning straight person may counter that he has in fact witnessed "swishy" behavior in a gay context. Such case-inpoint counterpoints frequently embarrass homophile advocates. Even as lucid and articulate a writer as Peter Fisher (author of The Gay Mystique falters as he attempts to crush stereotypes of gay males and in the same breath redeem "camp."

Effeminacy connotes the inappropriate manifestation of feminine characteristics by males. The fact is, whether closeted or not, gay males are largely not effeminate. Many gay men like their straight counterparts, are devotees of monolithic chauvinism and decry effeminacy as spineless and grotesque. As most "out" gays are quite aware, the average gay group resembles any non-gay assembly. The men, whether earthy, collegiate or GQ posh, all look like men, and the women, whether earthy, liberated or Vogue chic all resemble women.

It has been said that a stereotype would not be a stereotype if there were not some truth to it. I would agree with that maxim, not because I believe that established behavior gives rise to a stereotype, but because stereotypes, like self-fulfilling prophecies, tend to realize themselves.

An individual may behave in a certain way, not because he is spontaneously inclined to do so but because he feels it is expected of him. Unfortunately, accurate statistics concerning most facets of gay life are seriously lacking. But if I may be permitted to generalize from my own experiences as well as hypothesize my experience, I would have to say that those gays who are familiar with the

gay scene before the volatile Sixties are far more likely to be acclimated to "campiness", or evoke it for nostalgic reveries. Gays who have come out recently tend to feel uncomfortable with "camp" and even resent it.

Camp cannot necessarily be equated with effeminacy. It is a highly stylized mode of expression used both for conversational ornamentation among select gays and a vehicle for humor (many perceive it as satire of society's notion of male homosexuals). No doubt, in preceding centuries (and decades) when there was no gay subculture to speak of and homosexuality was repressed, gays incorporated effeminate gestures as signals indicating their sexual preference.

Since "human nature", using false logic, assumes that if a man is attracted to another man, he must be in some way womanly, the stereotype of gay effeminacy, like instant coffee, could be generated anywhere, leaving closeted gays no choice but to ascribe to a standard of conduct established for them by non-gays. Effeminacy could be subtle or intense as the situation warranted and provided the medieval gay his only means of

locating a possible comrade. Camp has become an isolated phenomenon. It can certainly not be called "feminine" as there are few limp-wristed, lisping women who regularly address others as "honey" etc. Some feminists now hold that it perpetuates a superficial image. of women which they are trying to get away from. In any case, camp is rapidly becoming suspect as an unspoken but powerful drive toward "normalization" within the Movement relegates it to the genre of caricature, and the gay community-at-large increasingly avoids it as a nuisance.

It is the proper task of the Women's Movement to redefine what "feminine" means, and such a redefinition is currently underway. Consequently "effeminacy" too will have to be reconstituted if such a concept will be relevant at all in the future.

Effeminacy is as common (if not more common) among nongays as it is among gays. Whether gay or straight, nonathletic men suffer in a machopositive system of values. Brain versus brawn may be the dialectic of our time, but courage, strength and virtue cannot be measured on a masculine-feminine spectrum.

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