Don Kulick, Gay and Lbian Language, Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 29 (2000), pp. 243-285
Contents:
- HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
- HIDN PLA SIGHT: HOW GAY ARTISTS EXPRSED FORBIDN SIRE
- GAY SLANG 1920'S ENGLAND
- GAY SLANG OM THE 1970S
- SYNONYMS OF GAY
HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
Durg Prohibn, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily. * gay slang 1920s *
Part of the fun of rearchg 1920’s and 1930’s Queer subculture New York Cy was g across a wi variety of specialized slang and d terms that flourished among homosexual men and women of the time.
Jocker – man who will only assume active, sertive rol sex wh other men, ually to reta their “stat as men”, generally don’t thk of himself as homosexual.
Vasele Alley – also known as Bch Walk; unbroken le of bench om the southeast rner of Central Park to the Mall; another popular meetg place for gay men.
HIDN PLA SIGHT: HOW GAY ARTISTS EXPRSED FORBIDN SIRE
From “gay” to “poofter” to “fairy” - the words ed by others to fe gay people n say a great al more about them than . * gay slang 1920s *
By the mid-1920s, at the height of the Prohibn era, they were attractg as many as 7, 000 people of var rac and social class—gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and straight alike.
The Begngs of a New Gay World“In the late 19th century, there was an creasgly visible prence of genr-non-nformg men who were engaged sexual relatnships wh other men major Amerin ci, ” says Chad Heap, a profsor of Amerin Studi at Gee Washgton Universy and the thor of Slummg: Sexual and Racial Enunters Amerin Nightlife, 1885-1940.
By the 1920s, gay men had tablished a prence Harlem and the bohemian mec of Greenwich Village (as well as the seedier environs of Tim Square), and the cy’s first lbian enclav had appeared Harlem and the Village. Each gay enclave, wrote Gee Chncey his book Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940, had a different class and ethnic character, cultural style and public reputatn.
GAY SLANG 1920'S ENGLAND
So I have a character who's Irish but livg England who has to talk about other characters (one of whom is his brother, so I need SOME ias that were at least vaguely pole, or at least borrg on ntral/not overtly cel) that are gay. What termology would he e? I know the term… * gay slang 1920s *
Gay Life the Jazz AgeAs the Uned Stat entered an era of unprecented enomic growth and prospery the years after World War I, cultural mor loosened and a new spir of sexual eedom reigned. Though New York Cy may have been the epicenter of the so-lled "Pansy Craze, " gay, lbian and transgenr performers graced the stag of nightspots ci all over the untry. ”At the same time, lbian and gay characters were beg featured a slew of popular “pulp” novels, songs and on Broadway stag (cludg the ntroversial 1926 play The Captive) and Hollywood—at least prr to 1934, when the motn picture dtry began enforcg censorship guil, known as the Hays Co.
GAY SLANG OM THE 1970S
* gay slang 1920s *
” The sale of liquor was legal aga, but newly enforced laws and regulatns prohibed rtrants and bars om hirg gay employe or even servg gay patrons. In the mid- to late ‘30s, Heap pots out, a wave of sensatnalized sex crim “provoked hysteria about sex crimals, who were often— the md of the public and the md of thori—equated wh gay men.
” This not only disuraged gay men om participatg public life, but also “ma homosexualy seem more dangero to the average Amerin.
” By the post-World War II era, a larger cultural shift toward earlier marriage and suburban livg, the advent of TV and the anti-homosexualy csas champned by Joseph McCarthy would help ph the flowerg of gay culture reprented by the Pansy Craze firmly to the natn’s rear-view mirror. Jackson’s lyrics about how only our iends and other gays uld ll faggots was enuragg, g as did om a straight man sgg a song jt before AIDS h.
SYNONYMS OF GAY
Synonyms for GAY: animated, active, energetic, animate, lively, brisk, enthiastic, bouncg; Antonyms of GAY: ad, limp, active, animate, lifels, languid, lazy, listls * gay slang 1920s *
Faggot, often-nsired a slur, has been reclaimed many tim over by gay men, cludg a new play by Declan Greene, The Homosexuals, or “Faggots”, currently showg at the Malthoe Melbourne. The play looks at gay male relatnships and their polics, and is apt as middle-class gay men and lbians stggle wh acceptance all over aga the face of their ll for marriage equaly. And merry-old-England there was abe: one night when leavg gay club Heaven, a bunch of lads lled and our female iends “pooh jabbers”.