Otter is a term ed by gay men, referrg to a subset of men who blend the physil and social tras of both bears and twks, both vokg and fyg tradnal...
Contents:
- WHICH GAY TRIBE DO YOU BELONG TO?
- AN ILLTRATED GUI TO REGNIZG YOUR GAY STEREOTYP
- WHY BODY IMAGE ISSU PERVA THE GAY COMMUNY
WHICH GAY TRIBE DO YOU BELONG TO?
For Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer Pri Month, Dennis Zotigh, a cultural specialist at the Natnal Mm of the Amerin Indian, ved Native iends to tell how their tradnal culture saw s LGBTQ members. A Chirihua Apache iend replied, “Now, Dennis, this is a human qutn, not [jt] Native.” We agree. But we also appreciate hearg what Native Amerins have learned, renstcted, or been unable to renstct about this part of our shared history and experience. * gay body tribes *
Trib and Tribulatns: An Ethnography of College-Aged Gay Men and the Problems They Face. She documents the liv of gay llege stunts, and do so through an engagg wrg style that brgs the rear to the liv of her rmants. However, this dream is not so easy for everyone to achieve, pecially if he or she happens to be gay.
Last semter, I had a chance to observe some of the difficulti first hand while studyg the micro culture of gay male llege stunts. Durg our meetgs I nducted rmal terviews and asked qutns about folk terms and the gay llege muny general.
AN ILLTRATED GUI TO REGNIZG YOUR GAY STEREOTYP
* gay body tribes *
I foced specifilly on the gay muny on a small liberal arts llege mp and ral, more nservative muni, like the on my rmants live and study , the Midwt. The fdgs of my rearch led me to nclu that llege-aged gay men, particularly those studyg at a small liberal arts llege, face a variety of challeng different om those their heterosexual unterparts face and that the men have many ways of pg wh the difficulti.
Over the urse of the semter, I intified several aspects of my rmants liv as gay stunts that they found challengg.
Fally, thgs that are nsired to be general issu faced by all gay men are addrsed at the end of the sectn, cludg: fear of hate crim, difficulti wh people’s relig beliefs (both the beliefs of gay men and those of the people they teract wh), stereotypg, and the rise of the “GBF” (or gay bt iend), as well as self-acceptance and the popular view that homosexualy is a choice. One of the first, and possibly biggt, challeng a gay man fac is the cisn to “e out”, or reveal his sexual orientatn to his fay, iends, and acquatanc.
WHY BODY IMAGE ISSU PERVA THE GAY COMMUNY
Though there is the mon ia that g out has to be a specific s down talk, there are many other ways gay men choose to munite their sexual orientatn, which vary greatly based upon the ntext which a person out. Simon mentned that his boss and many of his workers disvered he was gay bee they heard him mentn durg a nversatn wh another worker. This rmal way of g out is credibly popular wh my rmants (and, acrdg to them, other gay men who are already out wh their fay and iends), and many new iends and acquatanc get a more sual treatment than if they had known Simon or Rorich when they were first explorg their new sexual orientatn.
Comg out is a b easier for Rorich bee his meanor more closely nforms to the mon stereotypil perceptn of how a gay man behav. Simon mentned when he began the procs of his “big” g out (the first time he began publicly prentg himself as a gay man, but after he had e out to his close iends and fay) and he was meetg new people, he would drop hts about his orientatn durg a game lled “20 qutns”.