Thursday, March 30, 2006
David de Alba: Masculine gay males in denial
Today in social psychology class I showed the Christmas Day, 1977, episode of All in the Family where transvestite Beverly LaSalle is killed by thugs and Edith has a crisis of faith as a result of the loss.
In looking for more information about the man who played BLS, Lori Shannon, I found an interview with female impersonator, David de Alba. The interviewer was Chris Lee and I found this exchange interesting.
Chris: What's your explanation of the connection between Female Impersonation and Gay men? What's all that about? I'm speaking both from the standpoint of most FIs being Gay and most FI fans being Gay.
David: I hope I am answering your question correctly, but although most of the FIs I knew were gay, there are some who claim that they were bisexual and were married to straight women. In fact we had several FIs like that at Finocchio's. There are many gay men and lesbians who I have known in my showbiz past who loved FIs and my work as an FI, but there are some gay men trying to be so 'butch' that they claim they don't like female impersonators. Somewhere in their personalities there are femme characteristics they want to deny. Putting us FIs down makes them feel like a straight male talking rough and putting down a gay male. Strange how some people feel they have to play roles. If people were true to themselves this world would be an easier place to live in.
In light of discussion on this blog about masulinity and homosexuality, I thought it was interesting that this icon in the San Francisco gay community described masculine gay males as being in denial about their feminine side. Being a masculine gay male seems to be doubted from a variety of perspectives. I am not making an opinion statement here, just blogging.
In looking for more information about the man who played BLS, Lori Shannon, I found an interview with female impersonator, David de Alba. The interviewer was Chris Lee and I found this exchange interesting.
Chris: What's your explanation of the connection between Female Impersonation and Gay men? What's all that about? I'm speaking both from the standpoint of most FIs being Gay and most FI fans being Gay.
David: I hope I am answering your question correctly, but although most of the FIs I knew were gay, there are some who claim that they were bisexual and were married to straight women. In fact we had several FIs like that at Finocchio's. There are many gay men and lesbians who I have known in my showbiz past who loved FIs and my work as an FI, but there are some gay men trying to be so 'butch' that they claim they don't like female impersonators. Somewhere in their personalities there are femme characteristics they want to deny. Putting us FIs down makes them feel like a straight male talking rough and putting down a gay male. Strange how some people feel they have to play roles. If people were true to themselves this world would be an easier place to live in.
In light of discussion on this blog about masulinity and homosexuality, I thought it was interesting that this icon in the San Francisco gay community described masculine gay males as being in denial about their feminine side. Being a masculine gay male seems to be doubted from a variety of perspectives. I am not making an opinion statement here, just blogging.
# posted by W. Throckmorton @ Thursday, March 30, 2006 
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I agree most with paragraphs two and three of Boo's comment. For one thing, paragraphs one and four posit that "all" are absolutely one sexual behavior, which cannot be the case, as there are usually exceptions to every rule.
I have known masculine homosexual men--they do exist--although most gay men I would say veer toward feminine characteristics.
The more modern thinking about such sexual behaviors is not exclusively "gay, bi and/or straight," but along a spectrum existing over a lifetime, with shades of gray along the way.
A person who is predominantly one orientation or another may have isolated or multiple experiences of the orientation opposite to what he/she may be.
Also, such experiences may be situational, at a certain time in life, or reflective of adolescence, a mid-life crisis, etc.
To a middle-aged man, bored in his heterosexual marriage, a younger male may appear more attractive than his aged wife. To an adolescent, heterosexual boy, still heterosexually virgin, an experiment with another male may be viewed as "practice" or as a "release," until heterosexual sex is available.
And. of course, there are many repressed homosexual men who even get married to women and father children, then admit/realize their truer homosexual proclivity.
Of course there are all kinds of variants of the above and more, but there are those who are staunchly of one orientation--heterosexual or homosexual. The bisexual might think such persons are in denial of their "other" sides, that, at least mentally, all persons are innately bisexual across the range of their whole lives.
Of course, even today, what "causes" sexual orientation is still a controversial topic. I read recently that a baby formula (containing elements of the female hormone) given infants in the Baby Boom era caused a surge of homosexuality in males. And if one believes in Darwinian theory, such traits could manifest themselves in an increased manner in future generations of human beings. In effect, the baby formula caused an increase in the percentage of male homosexuality in the populace that had, theretofore, been a lower average.
Such an occurrence, also, might lend credence to those male homosexuals (of Boo's paragraph one) who believe all male homosexuality is related to effeminate behaviors.
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I have known masculine homosexual men--they do exist--although most gay men I would say veer toward feminine characteristics.
The more modern thinking about such sexual behaviors is not exclusively "gay, bi and/or straight," but along a spectrum existing over a lifetime, with shades of gray along the way.
A person who is predominantly one orientation or another may have isolated or multiple experiences of the orientation opposite to what he/she may be.
Also, such experiences may be situational, at a certain time in life, or reflective of adolescence, a mid-life crisis, etc.
To a middle-aged man, bored in his heterosexual marriage, a younger male may appear more attractive than his aged wife. To an adolescent, heterosexual boy, still heterosexually virgin, an experiment with another male may be viewed as "practice" or as a "release," until heterosexual sex is available.
And. of course, there are many repressed homosexual men who even get married to women and father children, then admit/realize their truer homosexual proclivity.
Of course there are all kinds of variants of the above and more, but there are those who are staunchly of one orientation--heterosexual or homosexual. The bisexual might think such persons are in denial of their "other" sides, that, at least mentally, all persons are innately bisexual across the range of their whole lives.
Of course, even today, what "causes" sexual orientation is still a controversial topic. I read recently that a baby formula (containing elements of the female hormone) given infants in the Baby Boom era caused a surge of homosexuality in males. And if one believes in Darwinian theory, such traits could manifest themselves in an increased manner in future generations of human beings. In effect, the baby formula caused an increase in the percentage of male homosexuality in the populace that had, theretofore, been a lower average.
Such an occurrence, also, might lend credence to those male homosexuals (of Boo's paragraph one) who believe all male homosexuality is related to effeminate behaviors.
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