Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures are subcultures and communities composed of persons who have shared experiences, background, or interests due to a common
sexualSexual identity is a term that, like sex, has two distinctively different meanings. One describes an identity roughly based on sexual orientation, the other an identity based on sexual characteristics, which is not socially based but based on biology, a concept related to, but different from,...
or
gender identityGender identity is the gender, or lack thereof, a person self-identifies as. It is not necessarily based on biological fact, either real or perceived, nor is it always based on sexual orientation...
. Among the first to argue that members of sexual minorities can constitute cultural minorities as well as being just individuals were
Adolf BrandAdolf Brand was a German writer, anarchist and pioneering campaigner for the acceptance of male bisexuality and homosexuality.-Biography:...
,
Magnus HirschfeldMagnus Hirschfeld was a gay German physician, sex researcher, and early gay rights advocate.-Early life:Hirschfeld was born in Kolberg in a Jewish family, the son of a highly regarded physician and 'Medizinalrat', Hermann Hirschfeld...
and
Leontine SaganLeontine Sagan was an Austrian actress and theatre director.Born in Budapest, Sagan trained with Max Reinhardt. The first and most widely known of her two films is Mädchen in Uniform...
in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. These pioneers were followed later in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by the
Mattachine SocietyThe Mattachine Society was one of the earliest lasting homophile organizations in the United States, founded in 1950. The Society for Human Rights in Chicago predated the Mattachine Society, but was shut down by the police after only a few months....
and the
Daughters of BilitisThe Daughters of Bilitis /bɪ’li:tis/ , is the first lesbian rights organization in the United States. It was formed in San Francisco, California in 1955. The group was conceived as a social alternative to lesbian bars, which were considered illegal and thus subject to raids and police harassment...
.
Not all persons of various sexual preferences and gender identify by or affiliate with a sexuality or gender subculture.
Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures are subcultures and communities composed of persons who have shared experiences, background, or interests due to a common
sexualSexual identity is a term that, like sex, has two distinctively different meanings. One describes an identity roughly based on sexual orientation, the other an identity based on sexual characteristics, which is not socially based but based on biology, a concept related to, but different from,...
or
gender identityGender identity is the gender, or lack thereof, a person self-identifies as. It is not necessarily based on biological fact, either real or perceived, nor is it always based on sexual orientation...
. Among the first to argue that members of sexual minorities can constitute cultural minorities as well as being just individuals were
Adolf BrandAdolf Brand was a German writer, anarchist and pioneering campaigner for the acceptance of male bisexuality and homosexuality.-Biography:...
,
Magnus HirschfeldMagnus Hirschfeld was a gay German physician, sex researcher, and early gay rights advocate.-Early life:Hirschfeld was born in Kolberg in a Jewish family, the son of a highly regarded physician and 'Medizinalrat', Hermann Hirschfeld...
and
Leontine SaganLeontine Sagan was an Austrian actress and theatre director.Born in Budapest, Sagan trained with Max Reinhardt. The first and most widely known of her two films is Mädchen in Uniform...
in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. These pioneers were followed later in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by the
Mattachine SocietyThe Mattachine Society was one of the earliest lasting homophile organizations in the United States, founded in 1950. The Society for Human Rights in Chicago predated the Mattachine Society, but was shut down by the police after only a few months....
and the
Daughters of BilitisThe Daughters of Bilitis /bɪ’li:tis/ , is the first lesbian rights organization in the United States. It was formed in San Francisco, California in 1955. The group was conceived as a social alternative to lesbian bars, which were considered illegal and thus subject to raids and police harassment...
.
Not all persons of various sexual preferences and gender identify by or affiliate with a sexuality or gender subculture. Reasons can include geographic distance, unawareness of the subculture's existence, fear of social
stigmaSocial stigma is severe social disapproval of personal characteristics or beliefs that are perceived to be against cultural norms. Stigma is often based on ignorance, irrational or unfounded fears, mass hysteria, lack of education, or a lack of information pertaining to a particular person or group...
, or personal preference to remain unidentified with sexuality or gender based subcultures or communities. Micheal Rubio has suggested that the identities defined by the Western heterosexualised cultures, that are based around sexuality, have serious flaws, and since often no space for mainstream men to discuss these flaws of gender and sexuality exists, they just reject these identity in large numbers, often along with disowning their sexual needs that may subject them to be classified under what they may consider misclassified sexual identities.
LGBT culture
LGBT culture, or queer culture, is the common culture shared by
lesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
,
gayThe term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
,
bisexualBisexuality is sexual behavior with or physical attraction to both sexes , or a bisexual orientation. People who have a bisexual orientation "can experience sexual, emotional, and affectional attraction to both their own sex and the opposite sex"; "it also refers to an individual’s sense of...
,
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
, and
queerQueer has traditionally meant odd or unusual, though modern use often pertains to LGBT people....
people. It is sometimes referred to as "gay culture", but that term can also be specific to gay men's culture.
LGBT culture varies widely by geography and the identity of the participants.
Elements often identified as being common to the culture of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people include:
- The work of famous gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. This may include:
- Present-day LGBT artists and political figures;
- Historical figures who have been identified as LGBT. It has often been questioned whether it is appropriate to identify historical figures using modern terms for sexual identity (see History of sexuality). However, many LGBT people feel a kinship towards these people and their work, especially to the extent that it deals with same-sex attraction or gender identity.
- An understanding of the history of LGBT political movements
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexuality and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...
.
- An ironic appreciation of things linked by stereotype to LGBT people.
- Figures and identities that are present in the LGBT community
The gay community, or LGBT community, is a loosely defined grouping of LGBT and LGBT-supportive people, organizations and subultures, united by a common culture and civil rights movements. The term "gay community" may also refer to gay men only, or gay men and lesbians only. Generally these...
and LGBT cultureLGBT culture, or queer culture, is the common culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. It is sometimes referred to as gay culture; that term can also be specific to just gay men's cultures....
, this could include the gay villageA gay village is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual people live or frequent...
, drag kingDrag kings are mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of their performance. A typical drag king routine may incorporate dancing and singing or lip-synching...
s and queensA drag queen is a person, usually a man, who dresses, and usually acts, like a woman often for the purpose of entertaining or performing. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly from professionals who have starred in movies to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by...
, PrideLGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
, and the rainbow flag.
In some cities, especially in North America, gay men and lesbians tend to live in certain
neighbourhoodsA gay village is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual people live or frequent...
.
LGBT communities organize a number of events to celebrate their culture, such as Pride parades, the
Gay GamesThe Gay Games is the world's largest sporting and cultural event organized by and specifically for LGBT athletes, artists, musicians, and others. It welcomes participants of every sexual orientation and every skill level...
and
Southern DecadenceSouthern Decadence is a week-long, predominantly gay-male event held in New Orleans, Louisiana and its environs by the gay and lesbian community during Labor Day Weekend, climaxing with a parade through the French Quarter on the Sunday before Labor Day...
.
There is some debate among LGBT people about whether an LGBT culture really exists, and whether it is worthwhile.
Polyamory
The
polyamorousPolyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate sexual relationship at a time with the consent of everyone involved....
community is another sexual minority with an associated culture.
Fetish-based cultures
The fetish subculture is a
subcultureIn sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong...
that comprises people with a broad range of sexual fetishes and other
paraphiliaParaphilia is a biomedical term used to describe sexual arousal to objects or situations that are not part of normative stimulation and that can cause distress or serious problems for the paraphiliac or persons associated with him or her.The term was coined by Wilhelm Stekel in the 1920s and...
s, who tend to be more tolerant of other fetishists than the general community, even if they do not share the other person's specific fetish. Alternative terms for the fetish subculture include fetish scene and fetish community.
The most common paraphilias seen in the fetish subculture are
BDSMBDSM is a compound acronym derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , sadism and masochism ....
, leather fetishism and
rubber fetishismLatex fetishism is the fetishistic attraction to people wearing latex clothing, or in certain cases, to the garments themselves. rubber fetishism also, as latex is closely-related to rubber . Latex or rubber fetishists sometimes refer to themselves as "Rubberists"...
. The fetish community is also generally more accepting of
homosexualityHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
,
bisexualityBisexuality is sexual behavior with or physical attraction to both sexes , or a bisexual orientation. People who have a bisexual orientation "can experience sexual, emotional, and affectional attraction to both their own sex and the opposite sex"; "it also refers to an individual’s sense of...
,
nonmonogamyNonmonogamy is a blanket term covering several different types of interpersonal relationships in which some or all participants have multiple marital, sexual, and/or romantic partners. This can be contrasted with its opposite, monogamy, and yet may arise from the same psychology...
s and
cross-dressingCross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with the other gender within a particular society. The usage of the term, the types of cross-dressing both in modern times and throughout history, an analysis of the behaviour, and historical examples are discussed in the article...
than general society.
The fetish subculture supports a strong
nightclubA nightclub is a drinking, dancing and entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark. People who frequent nightclubs are known as clubbers...
scene, in the form of
fetish clubA fetish club is a nightclub, bar or other entertainment venue which caters to clientele interested in some of fetish fashion, bondage, dominance/submission, and/or sadism and masochism...
s.
Influence on mainstream culture
Sexual minority cultures frequently and consistently influence the broader culture at large, including straight culture.
YaleRapidMiner is an environment for machine learning and data mining experiments. It allows experiments to be made up of a large number of arbitrarily nestable operators, described in XML files which are created with RapidMiner's graphical user interface...
sociology professor Joshua Gamson argues that the
tabloid talk showTabloid talk shows are a genre of American television talk-shows that achieved peak viewership during the late 20th century. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through syndication, this genre originated with The Phil Donahue Show and was popularized by the personal...
genre, popularized by
Oprah WinfreyOprah Gail Winfrey is an American media personality, actress, television producer, literary critic and magazine publisher, best known for her self-titled, multi-award winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history...
in the 1980s provided much needed, high impact media visibility for sexual minorities and did more to make gay culture mainstream than any other development of the 20th century.
SlangSlang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language. It is often used as a way to say words that are not appropriate, and is not often found in the standard dictionary for the language...
frequently originates in subcultures, including sexual minority subcultures, which becomes part of the larger vernacular including words associated with descriptions specific to sexual minorities or not.
MadonnaMadonna is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977, for a career in modern dance...
is one of many artists who have borrowed from sexual minority cultures, including her appropriation of
vogueingVogue or "voguing" is a highly stylized modern dance characterized by photo model-like poses integrated with angular, linear and rigid arm, leg, and body movements...
. Recently, the television series
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy depicts straight men being given fashion make-overs or decorating tips from gay men.
See also
- Bisexual community
The bisexual community consists mainly of people who are bisexual, pansexual or queer-identified, and their allies. Alternate terms include bisexual/pansexual community, bi/pan/fluid community, and queer-identified community....
- Gay community
The gay community, or LGBT community, is a loosely defined grouping of LGBT and LGBT-supportive people, organizations and subultures, united by a common culture and civil rights movements. The term "gay community" may also refer to gay men only, or gay men and lesbians only. Generally these...
- LGBT history
LGBT history refers to the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender peoples and cultures around the world, dating back to the first recorded instances of same-sex love and sexuality of ancient civilizations. What survives of many centuries' persecution resulting in shame, suppression, and...
- Queer
Queer has traditionally meant odd or unusual, though modern use often pertains to LGBT people....
- Separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group, often with demands for greater political autonomy and even for full political secession and the formation of a new state...
- Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is a pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, both genders, neither gender, or another gender...
- Girlfags and guydykes
Girlfag and guydyke are terms that developed in queer and pomosexual subcultures. Girlfag refers to a biologically female individual who feels a strong romantic or erotic attraction towards gay males or male bisexuals or their milieu...
- Non-westernized concepts of male sexuality
Further reading
- De La Torre, Miguel A.
Miguel A. De La Torre is an associate-professor of social ethics at Iliff School of Theology, a religious scholar, author, and an ordained minister.-Biography:...
, "Out of the Shadows, Into the Light: Christianity and Homosexuality" Chalice Press, 2009.
External links