Should straight actors still play gay characters? 'It's plited'

Contents:

• WHY DO SOME GAY MEN INTIFY AS "STRAIGHT-ACTG" AND HOW IS IT RELATED TO WELL-BEG?
• STANLEY TUCCI SAYS HE THKS STRAIGHT ACTORS SHOULD BE ABLE TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS
• WHY STRAIGHT MEN SHOULD ACT GAY
• STANLEY TUCCI IS PRETTY FE WH STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• WHY DO SOME GAY MEN INTIFY AS “STRAIGHT-ACTG” AND HOW IS IT RELATED TO WELL-BEG?
• HOW TO LEAD A HETEROSEXUAL LIFTYLE IF YOU ARE GAY
• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'

WHY DO SOME GAY MEN INTIFY AS "STRAIGHT-ACTG" AND HOW IS IT RELATED TO WELL-BEG?

While mascule self-prentatn posively predicted well-beg and ternalized homophobia negatively predicted well-beg, straight-actg intifitn, which posively rrelated wh both, did not penntly predict eher psychologil distrs or physil well-beg. " Personally, I believe my performance was worthy of an, when I see gay men state that they are "straight-actg" on plac like the "men seekg men" (m4m) posts on Craigslist, or on ManHunt, I sometim wre them and ask: "If you were 'straight-actg' wouldn't you be postg the 'men seekg woman' (m4w) sectn or on WomanHunt?

The very word "effemate, " when applied to gay men, seems to suggt that they're "not like a man" but "more like a female, " and therefore plays right to myths, misnceptns and stereotyp of what is "mascule" and what is "feme. Sure, nowadays I n shamelsly walk to a pch black basement a gay club wearg nothg but a jockstrap, e home a wig and heels somehow, then show up to work on Monday that same wig and those same heels and feel perfectly fortable wh myself. “I am always very flattered when gay men e up to me and talk to me about ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ or they talk about ‘Supernova, ’ and they say that, ‘It was jt so betiful, ’ you know, ‘You did the right way, ’” he said.

Straight actors playg gay rol, however, isn’t nsired to be as “brave” recent years as ’s been the past, acrdg to cric Guy Lodge, who told The Guardian a 2021 terview: “The ia of beg ‘brave’ for playg gay is gog away. Bee most LGBTQ people are raised the same society as heterosexuals, they learn the same beliefs and stereotyp prevalent the domant society, leadg to a phenomenon known as ternalized homophobia, whereas LGBTQ-intified dividuals feel shame, guilt or hatred towards the part of themselv intified as LGBTQ. While there may be many possible reasons why straight men are remag placent a movement that has th far been mostly fed by the efforts of women and gay men, that placency needs to end, bee there’s a val role the stggle for gay rights that only we n play.

STANLEY TUCCI SAYS HE THKS STRAIGHT ACTORS SHOULD BE ABLE TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS

Acrdg to Kimmel, the gay man is viewed as a man who has already been unmasked: due to the historil perceptn of homosexualy as an “versn of normal genr velopment, ” the gay man is nsired to be effemate, a sissy, not a real man (27). Kimmel isolat the source of homophobia (and even sexism, bee the two go hand hand) as “the fear that other men will unmask , emasculate , reveal to and the world that we do not measure up, that we are not real men” (24). Although the symbtic nature of the relatnship between homophobia and masculy may rolve our qutn of why there are so few straight men gay rights, also simultaneoly monstrat why straight men are necsary to the movement.

This is why Kluwe’s letter of advocy is such a btally effective and ultimately newsworthy move: though the ntent of the letter is about gay rights, the letter self is a msage om one straight man to an dience of other straight men. This is the power of the straight man: to reach out to men who are misguidly employg homophobia as a preemptive fense agast unmaskg, or simply men who may be too aaid of peer backlash to stand up for the rights of the gay muny, and to let them know that there is nothg to fear. Bordo observ that ltle more than a uple of s ago, Amerin men were generally absent om sexualized treatment by the media, such as fashn advertisements, bee to appear such a manner was nsired to be “patible wh beg a real man” (Bordo 171), much like beg gay is still perceived by many today.

This broad cultural shift reprents an important se study for gay-rights advot, bee monstrat how a perspective that was once viewed by mastream culture as “feme” and “gay” has been subverted to an ial to which heterosexual men aspire. Flockg to the molg agenci” who are “unncerned about any homosexual tat that may cleave to them” may sudnly fd themselv extremely ncerned if they were told that the viewers who will be appreciatg their bodi are nearly exclively gay men. This is key, bee rather than treatg gay men as “the other agast which [he] projects [his inty]” (Kimmel 27), Kluwe stead offers his exposed body to be viewed by the rears of Out, vg each gay man to “watch” him and “rank” him the same manner as “other men.

WHY STRAIGHT MEN SHOULD ACT GAY

Instead, by layg back and offerg himself willgly to the sctizg gaz of Out’s gay men, he monstrat through that very actn that he se gay men not as “the Other, ” but as “other men”: two groups as different meang as they are alike language. In a now-leted tweet that was screenshotted by celebry gossip and news se The Jasme Brand and posted to Instagram, the 45-year-old crooner, who is bt known for his early '90s classics like "Can We Talk" and "I'm Ready, " reportedly nfirmed that he is gay to a fan. Then Augt, durg an terview wh People Magaze's Every Day podst, the R&B star remisced about his s-long reer the mic/entertament dtry so far, while also givg listeners a rare glimpse to his personal life and nfirmg that he do intify as a gay man.

The popular and credibly private vio game streamer, who is most known for playg Mecraft and for streamg on Twch, me out an April Twter Q&A wh his followers when he was asked by a fan what his favore moment the gay, romantic, teen Netflix seri Heartstopper was. ""For those nfed basilly I gus I am technilly unlabeled as the way I have kda always gone around life jt beg attracted to whoever I am attracted to jt so happens that most of them le up wh a 'certa type' you uld say, " he later clarified, sayg that he is "okay wh the gay label. Though the pop sger has been open about her sexualy for years ( 2019 she told Attu that she was bisexual and an open relatnship), she took to Instagram June to celebrate Pri Month and to talk even further about her sexualy, remdg everyone that she is, fact, a queer in who is "not gay and not straight.

STANLEY TUCCI IS PRETTY FE WH STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

The 25-year-old athlete and former Richmond Flyg Squirrels player revealed to his fans and followers that while he is no longer playg for the team, which is part of the San Francis Giants system, he is thankful for the time he had and isn't givg up on his love of baseball, pecially as an out, gay man. "Roger Ebert wrote: "He plays the role not as a man pretendg to be a woman, and not as a woman trapped a man's body, and not as a parody of a woman, and not as a gay man, but as a drag queen, perd: Lola, a tall, athletic performer thigh-high red boots who l the stage of a drag club as if she were born there, and is a pretty good sger, too. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, both straight, were both Osr-nomated for their performanc (Ledger lead, Gyllenhaal supportg) this film about two men fallg love and ntug their affair for film sred 87% on Rotten Tomato, wh the se's cril nsens readg: "A betifully epic Wtern, 'Brokeback Mounta''s gay love story is imbued wh heartbreakg universaly, helped by the movg performanc of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

While there may not be a simple answer, Stanley Tucci—who has played gay rol The Devil Wears Prada and 2020's Supernova (not to mentn Emma Stone’s father who was inilly gay once Easy A)—recently weighed , sayg that he believ ’s perfectly acceptable as long as ’s done “the right way.

WHY DO SOME GAY MEN INTIFY AS “STRAIGHT-ACTG” AND HOW IS IT RELATED TO WELL-BEG?

”While Tucci didn’t elaborate on this particular form of bad-fah actg, ’s pretty easy to assume that he was referrg to the myriad of films which LGBTQ+ people have been rced to harmful, homophobic stereotyp over the years. Ined, gay men report wishg that they were more mascule than they perceive themselv to be (Sánchez, Wtefeld, Liu, & Vila, 2010), and distance themselv om feme gay men when their masculy is qutned (Hunt, Fasoli, Carnaghi, & Cadu, 2016).

Sánchez and Vila (2012) have documented the phenomenon of men who intify as gay and intify wh tradnal heteronormative masculy, rejectg effemate or mp self-prentatn, and noted that such gay men have often ed labels such as “straight-actg” to scribe themselv and other gay men that they perceive as beg mascule prentatn (Sánchez & Vila, 2012). The current rearch was signed to explore the predictors of straight-actg intifitn among gay men, based on theoretil perspectiv scribed below, and the potential well-beg benefs and sts associated wh intifyg this Conformy Gay Men: A Developmental PerspectiveA large body of rearch fds that gay men are, on average, more feme than heterosexual men on a range of psychologil dic (Bailey & Zucker, 1995; Rieger, Lsenmeier, Gygax, & Bailey, 2008). Prospective studi of genr nonnformg natal mal genr inty servic fd the majory grow up to intify as gay men (Zucker, Bradley, Owen-Anrson, Kibblewhe, & Cantor, 2008), and populatn-based longudal data fd that genr atypil behavr early childhood is predictive of homosexualy adolcent mal (Li, Karson, & H, 2017) are gay men more feme on average than heterosexual men?

Third, a range of physlogil and nroimagg data suggt that male homosexualy is associated wh weaker sex dimorphism or sex-reversed dimorphism the bra (Burke, Manzouri, & Savic, 2017; LeVay, 1991; Manzouri & Savic, 2018a, 2018b). Bailey (2003) speculated that paful experienc of disapproval and rejectn for their femy childhood may ntribute to “femmephobia” among gay men social factors may fluence genr exprsn gay men aligns wh rearch on the matenance of genr rol. Consequently, dividuals may be motivated to hi genr nonnformg behavrs orr to avoid backlash (Rudman & Fairchild, 2004) through the backlash amework, is nceivable that gay men prent as straight-actg orr to avoid social penalti.

HOW TO LEAD A HETEROSEXUAL LIFTYLE IF YOU ARE GAY

Fdgs monstrate that heterosexual men are more likely to distance themselv om stereotypilly feme gay men than om stereotypilly mascule gay men (Glick, Gangl, Gibb, Klumpner, & Weberg, 2007), supportg the notn of social penalti for feme gay men. Survey work has echoed the fdgs, wh a majory of gay men reportg a preference for mascule partners (Sánchez & Vila, 2012), and displayg negative attus toward nongenr-nformg gay men (Skidmore, Lsenmeier, & Bailey, 2006). Furthermore, there is evince of discrimatn and negative attus directed toward “bottoms” (gay men who take the receptive role durg anal sex) wh the gay muny, which is related to a belief that bottoms are more feme as they are takg a “female role” sex (Brooks, Reysen, & Shaw, 2017).

In sum then, is nceivable that straight-actg gay men would have better physil and mental health out than nonstraight-actg gay men, as they prumably nform to mascule genr norms, and th may be ls likely to receive backlash om their peers wh the gay muny and om wir society. As discsed above, when gay men refer to themselv as straight-actg and thereby explicly align themselv wh heteronormative valu, may reflect unrlyg ternalized homophobia (the ternalizatn of anti-homosexual attus and beliefs: Meyer & Dean, 1998). In support of this notn, Sánchez and Vila (2012) found that the gree to which gay men were preoccupied wh appearg mascule was signifintly associated wh negative feelgs about beg ternalized homophobia predicts intifyg as straight-actg, is likely that intifyg as straight-actg would, turn, be associated wh a range of negative out.

It has been nsistently found that ternalized homophobia is a predictor of prsn and/or negative psychologil well-beg gay men (Herek, Cogan, Gillis, & Glunt, 1998; Igartua, Gill, & Montoro, 2003; Morandi, Blaszczynski, Ross, Costa, & Dar-Nimrod, 2015; Newb & Mtanski, 2010) and is a mediatg variable between the experience of discrimatn and prsive symptoms (Feste, Goldied, & Davila, 2012). Th, sofar as intifyg as straight-actg is predicted by ternalized homophobia, may also be related to poorer mental and physil, we have ma petg predictns about how straight-actg intifitn might be related to health and well-beg, given the proposed associatns wh masculy and ternalized homophobia.

SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'

For example, the relatnship between ternalized homophobia and intifyg as straight-actg might be particularly high for those who prent as more mascule, as they may be both more motivated and better able to f the creria of beg of Current RearchThe aims of the current rearch were to exame predictors of straight-actg intifitn gay men, as well as how straight-actg intifitn self is associated wh health out. Third, as a functn of the prev two hypoth, straight-actg personas will be most monly adopted by more mascule gay men who are also high ternalized homophobia, given that dividuals this group are motivated toward, and n succsfully mata, a straight-actg style.

Addrsg potential out, is hypothized that mascule self-prentatn is posively related to well-beg, given that those who self-prent as mascule will more so avoid experiencg the rejectn om both wh the gay muny and the heterosexual majory (Glick et al., 2007; Hunt et al., 2016).

1 for a nceptual mol) 1Mol monstratg relatnship between ternalized homophobia, masculy, and adoptn of a straight-actg inty, as well as direct and direct relatnships between the variabl and health and psychologil distrsFull size imageMethodParticipants and ProcreThe current study was nducted on a sample of Atralian gay men reced through an onle datg applitn. From the larger sample, 966 men reported currently intifyg as gay and had pleted all relevant measur examed the prent study (among the rt of the larger sample, 22% intified as heterosexual, 14% as mostly gay, 8% as bisexual, 5% as mostly heterosexual, and 1% as none/other).