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This research investigates the ways that gay men use different self-presentation strategies to manage their gender and sexual identities in various social spaces. Thirty self-identified gay men participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews and described how they perform sexuality (i.e., gayness) and gender both separately and simultaneously. Hegemonic masculinity, a pivotal concept to gender studies, explains that gender organizes social life, favoring certain performances of masculinity over others. The result is a hierarchical structure where men are dominant, while women and gay men are subordinate. In analyzing men’s responses about how they perform gender and gayness, I develop the concept of hegemonic sexuality – one that explains how certain performances of sexuality are rewarded more than others. Specifically, I investigate performances of gayness, and discuss the choices gay men make in considering performances of their sexuality. These performances are always contextual – the place, time, and audience are commonly mentioned as being important to men as they perform gender and sexuality strategically. In examining the ways men interpret their own experiences performing identities, this research contributes to the scholarship of gender and sexuality by highlighting how sexuality, as an organizing principle, contributes to the marginalization of an already marginalized population of gay men, via hegemonic sexuality. In this study, men frequently describe the workplace as an environment where they make conscious efforts to perform their gender and sexual identities strategically. The men’s stories help us understand how certain performances of sexuality permit some men to be recognized as “acceptable gays,” while others are labeled “too gay” in different social situations. |
