Jam: Can I jt What?Jam: You [ditg Richard] look like a gay wboy, and you [ditg Jeremy] look like a gay No you look like a terrorist wh a broken wdscreen wiper and your face looks ridiculo.

Contents:

• GAY COWBOY
• GAY COWBOYS QUOT & SAYGS
• SAM ELLTT RIPS GAY THEM ‘POWER OF THE DOG,’ LLS A ‘PIECE OF S – – T’
• THE REAL GAY WBOYS
• GAY COWBOY
• WHAT KD OF GAY COWBOY ARE YOU
• WHAT KD OF GAY COWBOY ARE YOU
• GAY WBOYS? ‘POWER OF THE DOG’ DO NOT STAND ALONE GOG THERE

GAY COWBOY

Ask anyone who’s seen Brokeback Mounta (2005) to characterize the film three words, and you’re almost certa to hear some variatn of “gay wboy love-story. Detractors, largely spearhead by right-wg and relig groups, quickly and fervently emed the film’s pictn of a homosexual uple immoral, evince of an attempt to femize men, and even anti-Amerin. In many s, crics honed on the two leads ’ occupatns as wboys, challengg the existence of a “gay wboy” Amerin history.

” Other crics acced filmmakers of phg an “agenda” onto Amerins, wh one wrg that “Hollywood screenwrers and producers thk that ’s their duty to teach Ameri that homosexual nduct and cross-drsg are normal behavrs that should be affirmed Amerin culture. The beliefs, though objectively bafflg, beg tertg qutns: Was homosexualy ever accepted Ameri’s past? Supported by sendary sourc, I will argue that this myth is rooted homoerotic relatnships, a reflectn of historil fact.

GAY COWBOYS QUOT & SAYGS

In light of this ntentn, I will explore the reali of homosexualy and homosocialy amongst wboys the Old Wt, argug that they were accepted and monplace.

” While Cooper do not tail explic sex between the two, their relatnship is unmistakably homosocial.

In this way, Cooper has embedd an acknowledgement of same-sex love the very heart of Amerin myth, directly ntrastg claims that homosexualy is an unnatural and/or morn ventn. Furthermore, the homosocialy scribed Cooper’s work is not purely imagative, but actually reflective of historil rerds ditg the prence of homoerotic relatnships among wboys the ontier wt, keepg wh Cooper’s assertn that the stori were spired by tal he had been told by actual wboys.

SAM ELLTT RIPS GAY THEM ‘POWER OF THE DOG,’ LLS A ‘PIECE OF S – – T’

“Homoerotic iendships prerve privilege and ensure survival a hostile wilrns” (Packard 15). Homosexualy was an act, not an orientatn.

This is also nsistent wh fdgs like those Aled Ksey’s notor 1948 study, Sexual Behavr the Human Male, which reported the hight equenci of homosexual timacy to be among men ral farmg muni; probably, Ksey nclud, much like their pneer forebearers the ontier wt. Ined, Ksey’s ntentn reflects primary source material ditg homosexual relatnships among ontier wboys. One such source, a limerick that allus to homosexual timacy between wboys, was found by historian Clifford Wtermeier and published his 1976 say “The Cowboy and Sex.

This suggts not only the prence of homosexual timacy the ontier wt, but also a greater culture of sexual ambiguy. Historilly, the wboy was able to engage homosexual sex while matag his masculy and stat.

THE REAL GAY WBOYS

Homosocialy was re to muny wboy culture, allowg men to nnect wh others whout societal retributn (Packard 3, 7). The term “sexual vert” was veloped to refer to the people and was ed terchangeably wh “homosexual” (Boag 5).

GAY COWBOY

Concurrently, the ncept of “sexual versn/homosexualy” evolved direct ntrast to “heterosexualy. ” From the start, homosexualy was fed as nately “unnatural, ” and therefore sexually viant.

WHAT KD OF GAY COWBOY ARE YOU

Moreover, the e of “sexual vert, ” homosexualy beme herently lked to effemacy.

WHAT KD OF GAY COWBOY ARE YOU

As Peter Boag explas, “to intify a homoerotic re s myth about the supremacy of whe Amerin masculy is to imply that Amerin dienc want their ontiersman to practice nonnormative sir as part of their rol natn-buildg” (12). In other words, if there is somethg natnal about the wboy and if there is somethg homoerotic about the partnerships he forms the wilrns, then there is somethg homoerotic about Amerin natnal inty. This would be somethg seemgly ntradictory to the rercement of homosexualy as Other and anathema to the Amerin/mascule ials the wboy was supposed to reprent.

In forcg the dience to regnize a eper nnectn between the two protagonists, one that may reflect feelgs held by many other Amerin men, the dience is pelled to acknowledge the artificial boundary between homosocial and homoerotic that is imposed by homophobia and rerced by the Hollywood Cowboy. As Eric Patterson ncurs, “By lotg love between men wh the inographic system of landspe, clothg, and activi that are fundamental to the Wtern, Brokeback Mounta oblig rears and dienc to beg to regnize how the Amerin natnal fantasy of Wtern adventure and particularly the ialized wboy hero have distorted history and endorsed a homophobic nstctn of masculy” (117). The mythos of the Amerin Old Wt, wh s ra of ggedns, danger and adventure, has appealed to many people over the years, cludg gay men.

While they don't have que as many stereotypil gay associatns as sailors and leather-clad bikers, wboys are neverthels an important part of macho gay male inography.

GAY WBOYS? ‘POWER OF THE DOG’ DO NOT STAND ALONE GOG THERE

This trope vers gay or bisexual men who are Wtern-flavored characters (ranchers, ttle hands, roo performer, and untry sgers) or jt fans of the genre.