gay_wboys photos on Flickr | Flickr

Contents:

• GAY COWBOYS GAY COWBOYS QUOT & SAYGS
• GAY COWBOY
• GAY COWBOY ROMANCE BOOKS
• GAY COWBOY
• WHAT KD OF GAY COWBOY ARE YOU
• GAY WBOYS? ‘POWER OF THE DOG’ DO NOT STAND ALONE GOG THERE

GAY COWBOYS GAY COWBOYS QUOT & SAYGS

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.

GAY COWBOY

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. 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.

GAY COWBOY ROMANCE BOOKS

“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.

GAY COWBOY

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.

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).

WHAT KD OF GAY COWBOY ARE YOU

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.

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

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

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.