Queer Masculinities of Straight Men

Abstract

Many straight men experience and demonstrate “queer masculinity,” defined here as ways of being masculine outside hetero-normative constructions of masculinity that disrupt, or have the potential to disrupt, traditional images of the hegemonic heterosexual masculine. This article proposes language and a typology for such men: (1) straight sissy boys, (2) social justice straight-queers, (3) elective straight-queers, (4) committed straight-queers, and (5) males living in the shadow of masculinity. The benefit of building a typology of straight-queer masculinities is to begin to give voice and legitimacy to the queerness that exists within the straight male world. Naming the diversity of masculinity and its relationship to queerness will ideally provoke greater discourse on the topic and, ideally, extend awareness of the influence of the hegemonically straight masculine context not only over gay men but straight males as well.