Pronouns: Why Gay Men Call Each Other "She" and "Girl" | Them

Contents:

• I'M A GAY GUY, BUT THERE'S THIS GIRL....
• ARE YOU GAY? (FOR GIRLS)
• CALL ME BY MY PRONOUNS: WHY GAY MEN CALL EACH OTHER "GIRL"
• I’M THE GIRL WHO FELL IN LOVE WH A GAY GUY
• WHY STRAIGHT WOMEN AND GAY MEN MAKE THE BT OF FRIENDS
• GAY MEN HAVG SEX WH WOMEN?
• A CONTRACT FOR THE GAY GUY/STRAIGHT GUY FRIENDSHIP

I'M A GAY GUY, BUT THERE'S THIS GIRL....

Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love. There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia. 'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage". I've nsired for long hours, and cid that I was gay.

Fally, when I get the mdset and nfince to say I'm fully gay, I meet this betiful, sweet, hilar, and hontly perfect girl who I nnect wh wicked well. I'd really like to jt go date her, but a ltle voice my head always whispers, "You're gay.

ARE YOU GAY? (FOR GIRLS)

You watch gay pR0n. All signs poted to gay, until sudnly a new sign l up flashg "BUT MAYBE NOT!? If you do ci that you're bi or pan or somethg other than gay?

If you re-evaluate and ci "nope, still gay"? You n ci that you want to date girls and that do not validate the time where you intified as gay.

If that was a ght procs for you, some part of you might be jumpg at the chance to go, "see, I'm not actually gay. Tell her that you want to date her, you've intified as gay, but that you're wantg to explore your sexualy more, and you want her to be aware of that.

CALL ME BY MY PRONOUNS: WHY GAY MEN CALL EACH OTHER "GIRL"

Straight, Gay and Everythg Between: On Sexual Fluidy. The e of she/her pronouns by cisgenr gay men, along wh words such as "girl" or "honey, " is a long-standg and creasgly visible practice. For many gay men, g the words wh their iends is a way of embracg femy and showg vulnerabily or affectn to others who share their inti.

I’M THE GIRL WHO FELL IN LOVE WH A GAY GUY

Creatg a shared culture — cludg language — around femy n be a way of reclaimg the bas for opprsn many gay men have experienced, as well as disptg the harmful genr few if any lguistic practic are all one thg, all the time. It may be time to reevaluate cis gay men’s e of words like "she" and "girl" to make sure they align wh ongog efforts to rpect nonbary genr inti, and avoid makg assumptns about people’s pronouns. Lguists, social scientists, and crics have observed and studied cis gay men’s e of “she, ” and their asssments pot to the multiple and often nflictg dimensns of the practice.

So for even to make sense for gay men to e ‘she, ’ we have to have some kd of associatn wh ‘she, ’ and ually that associatn is femy, whatever that might mean to or our culture. “Men g women’s pronouns, and women g men’s pronouns, has got an enormo time pth Amerin lbian-gay English.

WHY STRAIGHT WOMEN AND GAY MEN MAKE THE BT OF FRIENDS

It’s not a recent formatn at all, ” explas William Leap, an emer profsor of anthropology at Amerin Universy and pneerg expert on queer men llg each other "she" or "girl" was historilly a way of protectg themselv as well as buildg muny the ntext of homophobic and vlent mastream culture. In the 1940s, ary censors were on the lookout for evince of homosexualy, which uld provoke a ary vtigatn.

”Usg words like "she" and "girl" n be a way for cis gay men to bond and embrace femy. ”Yet some women have experienced gay men g words like “girl” toward them ways that don’t feel all that different om the misogyny they have experienced om straight men.

“I also saw beg negatively ed when whe gay men would say, like, ‘Oh girl, what are you talkg about, ’ and they would be talkg to a woman of lor, pecially a Black woman. ”Consirg misogyny wh gay men’s language practic rais the qutn of how g words like “girl” or “honey” is nnected to their e of other, more ntroversial words that have historilly been ed to mean women, such as “bch” and “cunt.

GAY MEN HAVG SEX WH WOMEN?

” Multiple terviewe referenced RuPl’s Drag Race as a show that has popularized the e of words associated wh femy among cis gay men. ”“Gay men are a large group of people wh a lot of different kds of relatnships to genr, and I thk there are absolutely gay men who operate relatn to feme language that really is a reflectn of their male privilege, whether ’s through g ways that nigrate or stereotype women, or whether ’s jt feelg license to e the language how they see f, ” says Zimman, the lguist om UC Santa Barbara. “Of urse, gay men are men.

Paris Is Burng, the 1990 documentary on Harlem’s drag ball scene, as well as Drag Race, have brought the e of words like "she" and "girl" between Black and Latx drag queens to a wir gay (and straight) dience; today this is somethg employed by gay men of all rac. Wealthy whe gay cis men llg each other "girl" may be drastilly different om Black or Latx gay cis men who ntue to be margalized very different is visible a film like Paris Is Burng, a few s ago there were more shared spac, language, and culture between cis gay men, trans women, and genr-nonnformg dividuals. “This is the mastream gay ia of beg jt like straight people, except for whom one is attracted to.

That kd of rejectn of genr nonnormativy also giv the suatn we fd today, where we have more of a spl between gay men and trans women, for stance, than we might have seen prev s.

A CONTRACT FOR THE GAY GUY/STRAIGHT GUY FRIENDSHIP

“Wh ‘girl/she/her, ’” they say, “if I’m socializg wh cis gay men and that’s what they’re g to scribe each other and to scribe me, there is a ltle b of dissonance there, bee I’m not really sure if they’re g that to validate my genr, or if ’s beg ed as ’s ed wh other cis gay men.

Gay men’s tradn of playg wh pronouns and refg to abi by the genr bary n be a part of this effort. You feel really stupid “what kd of girl am I to fall love wh a guy I should have known was gay? Girls, never feel stupid for fallg for a gay guy, happens way more than you n image!

And guys, if you’re gay and feel like a girl starts fallg for you, tell her as soon as possible and keep her close, she will be an amazg iend to you!