Liminality, a concept used by anthropologist Victor Turner, describes the middle stage an individual enters, one where they neither belong to one structure or another. There have been attempts by different fields to identify the reasons behind the negativity towards feminine males and others who don’t fit mainstream roles. Phrases like “Only into Masc,” “no queens, no fems, be a man” or “only into str8 acting, no bitches” litter the online dating-verse. Sosa and others who have taken a peek at the online dating circuit can attest to the rampant disdain towards femininity in the LGBT community. Sosa belongs to the group Queer People of Color, dedicated to open campus LGBT discussions like last week’s “I Like Them Straight Acting Boys.” All these stereotypes that used to be employed against women as a whole during the last 50 years,” said Heather Sosa, a senior anthropology major at UC Riverside. You lack leadership skills, you’re emotional. “If you’re a femme in any way possible, people think you can’t be dominant. This makes the LGBT community come off as nothing but hypocritical. It wasn’t until college that I recognized the rampant discrimination of femininity in the LGBT community, one that often escalates to marginalization in a group that already has enough hardships and disconnect. Worse, being slightly feminine at the wrong moment in front of a hostile crowd of heterosexual or homosexual individuals would often invite insults like “queen,” or even the pseudo-loving “gay face” comment. It was a compliment for someone to tell you that you could “pass as straight.”
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Growing up in California, I found out early on that masculine qualities were, for all intents and purposes, ideal in the LGBT community.
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The man is a man’s man, without the weird gay implications. He doesn’t look gay because he doesn’t have a limp wrist, hates musicals and packs on the muscle like it’s going out of style. In your life have you muttered that statement or at least of thought it? It’s a sentence that relies heavily on old stereotypes produced by our culture.