We all know the stereotype for gay men is that they are feminine and the stereotype for lesbians is they are masculine. How and when did those stereotypes even start?
Probably the same way the one about all Chinese kids being academically brilliant did- Times magazine wrote a front page article about it.
The same way all stereotypes come about. 1. People organize people into groups. "This is Group X." 2. People notice a trend is more prevalent in a specific group. "There is more of trait Y in Group X than in other groups." 3. People decide to apply that trait to everybody in that group. "Everybody in Group X has trait Y." Or, "You can't be in Group X, because you don't exhibit trait Y." There's also this weird belief that feminine gay men and masculine lesbians are "acting". "They only act like that because they THINK that's how they're supposed to act." T'ain't so. I'm sure there exist SOME gay men who act femmy (and lesbians who act butch) because they think it's expected, but I've run into far more gay men and lesbians who keep their alternate-gender-traits as hidden as possible. In other words, when confronted with a masculine gay man and a feminine gay man, if I think either of them are "acting", I'm more apt to think it's the masculine one. (Although, ideally, neither of them is.) Lex
I was thinking something else. The Marilyn Monroe thing with gay men. It's kind of like this: While being fascinated with Marilyn Monroe doesn't mean someone is gay, most guys who are fascinated with Marilyn Monroe, on an iconic level, are often gay. I was clueless to that with a friend in college. Later, he came out and I read some articles which mentioned the gay fascination with Marilyn Monroe and some other stars.
Ofcourse (what is now seen as) stereotype gays stand out, are different, and easy target for stand up comedians and comical parts in movies and sitcoms. Spread like that it is easy to think that it is what all gay people are about. Or at least that it is "typical gay". As for acting, my boyfriend is very fem, very stereotype, high pitched voice (and very talkative) and all, and he put his hands in his pocket or crossed his arms to not use his hand in that way that people link to gays. He tried to control his overall feminine movements and it was hard on him. He felt at ease with friends that know he is like that and in gay clubs, where he didnĀ“t have to control his moves. So I know that when he is trying to be like "a straight man" he is acting, not when he is feminine. His ex is the same, they were like a couple of black girls from the hood together, he said... He laughed at himself. Even joked about his mannerism sometimes. (As it happens his "wavy" arm is out of use now, so that "problem" is solved.)
I think they start for complex sociological reasons but I believe there is also a kernel of truth to some stereotypes that then gets exaggerated. For instance, there is substantial research that boys who grow up to be gay show different patterns of interest than boys who grow up to be straight; they are less aggressive, tend not to be athletically inclined, etc. There is some fact here. However, with all research of this kind, it doesn't fit every member of the group, just a certain percentage which may be high.
This is a massive simplification because obviously you can't just classify people as 'camp' and 'not camp', or 'butch' and 'not butch'. But anyway. Because camp men and butch women are disproportionately gay. I.e. 3-10%, or whatever, of camp men and butch women should be gay, but in reality it's a lot higher than that. And this was noticed.
Stereotypes are often rooted in truth. Highly distorted truth. Truth: There is a greater amount of gender non-conformity among sexual minorities. The gender non-conforming individuals are the ones who are noticed, so a stereotype is formed that gay people are gender non-conforming.
I really don't believe in the stereotypes...especially the one about lesbians being either "butch" or "femme". I refuse to classify myself as either, because I honestly am a bit of both.