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Abstract

This article examines discourses of gay visibility in the online gay community of StraightActing.com. In this discourse the “flamer” and other “gay-acting” gender performers are frequently criticized for fear of their power to teach gay and straight people that one particular type of gay person is the norm. The author argues that this conceptualization of the term norm attributes gay visibility the power to construct a singular gay identity as preferred and positions gay men to fight among themselves for dominance over that one identity. It is essential we conceptualize the power of the visibility as able to produce multiple conventions of gay identity. The battle over control of a “gay norm” demonizes those who perform different degrees of transgression and impedes progress toward queer liberation.

Keywords

visibility politics gay representations transgressive performances

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The Limitations of the Discourse of Norms

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