Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-233) and index.
Acknowledgments; 1 In Their Natures: Gay Men, Queer Men, and Gendered Strategies of Resistance; 2 Girlymen: Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Effeminacy; 3 Fae Spirits and Gender Trouble: Resistance and Compliance among the Radical Faeries; 4 Bear Bodies, Bear Masculinity: Recuperation, Resistance, or Retreat?; 5 Feeling a Bit under the Leather: Hypermasculinity, Performativity, and the Specter of Starched Chiffon; 6 Fielding Questions, Fielding Possibilities; Notes; References; Index.
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Over time, male homosexuality and effeminacy have become indelibly associated, sometimes even synonymous. In Faeries, Bears, and Leathermen, Peter Hennen contends that this stigma of effeminacy exerts a powerful influence on gay subcultures. Through a comparative ethnographic analysis of three communities, Hennen explores the surprising ways that conventional masculinity is being collectively challenged, subverted, or perpetuated in contemporary gay male culture. Hennen's colorful study focuses on a trio of groups: the Radical Faeries, who parody effeminacy by playfully embracing it, donning p.