'Str8 acting' and 'camp'

mmm when i was a lot younger i was like "amg i hate girly gay guys blah blah" and tried really hard to convince all my friends that i wasn't like that so they would accept me more. buuut i came to the conclusion that thinking that way is really... kinda discriminative and i remember once i called myself out on how stupid that was for me to be in that mind set things got a lot easier for me that is. i stopped thinking about the image i was giving off and though im still quite neutral as far as masculinity/femininity goes i really appreciate everyone for whoever they are =]. i personally am attracted to more of the athletic masculine guys but honestly, ive found that the more feminine guys are funny as hell and i normally have a really awesome time hanging out with people that aren't so masculine cuz i guess i have more in common with someone who's not so masculine buuut i mean i hate labels so. i just think the realization that i was hating on people for being... kinda the same way i am / can be sometimes was fucked up and that was a very important epiphany for me =]

 

I'd say that campy to the extreme can be a bad thing, if it's done for the wrong reasons, if it's an act and not someone's actual personality, and you can usually tell the difference. I'd say that I'm somewhere in the middle-to-masculine area myself. I'd NEVER tolerate someone dissing someone just because they were effeminate. The other day, this guy I'm sort of going out with said something along the lines of, "I wouldn't go out with one if those limp-wristed guys," and we nearly got in an argument over it. I definitely have friends on both sides, and I'd say that both ends of the spectrum have amazing and unique qualities to them that command equal respect.

 

When I was young and first coming out, I would go to gay bars and see a number of men who were extravagantly flamboyant and campy. I wondered why I never saw men like that anywhere else I ever went.

Eventually, it dawned on me that this was an act for many of those men. They were one way in the bar and a very different way everywhere else.

Some gay men are just naturally nelly...sort of quiet, not terribly butch or jockish. Other gay men tend to be campy. I think of really over-the-top gestures and tones of voice, and I can't help but think that at least some of this is intentional for at least some men.

I've known gay men who are very critical and bitchy around men who aren't quite so flamboyant or campy. I think that for many men, it is perfectly natural and normal not to be so flamboyant or campy and it doesn't mean that we're trying to hide our true natures.

 

sorry this is just stupid, you haven't been around enough diverse groups of gay men then.
i agree with only a few other posts. because a gay guy is masculine doesn't mean he's hiding or putting on a facade at all. i find that the bitchy/catty guys become that way from peer environment and cliques. from then, personality (genetic or environmental) sets in, being comfortable being campy or not. so masculinity is just masculinity so w/e.

i highly recommend watching this lil documentary called The Butch Factor. heres a trailer, but you can find the whole movie on other sites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oTB_NkZjLM&feature=related"]YouTube - The Butch Factor

 

tough question yo...

I allways forced myself to be as straight acting as possible from when I was younger and got gay bashed up the yin yang.

a have a lot of campy friends, have dated a few, they can be a little annoying but oh gosh I am in secret a campy ass mother fucker.

 

Ugh straight guys saying they don't like fems is such a fucking tard move. I am not yet out of the closet but I love acting gay and that doesn't stop me, and I'm not really fem but I do whatever feels good. I get told a lot by my family "omg you look so gay" and I smile and take the compliment. I don't dress fem either but when I wear my short shorts you best know I'm walking as gay as possible! I love people thinking I'm gay but not really knowing. I actually want to thank all the fems out there because they are what help ignorant mofos tolerate our sexuality little by little instead of these homophobic homos.