Contesting Masculinity’s Makeover: Queer Eye,Consumer Masculinity,and “Straight-Acting” Gays

Abstract

This article analyzes conflicting and competing discourses about gay masculinities in and about Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The author analyzes Queer Eye’s normalization of consumer masculinity, which rejects aspects of traditional masculinity and depends on vanity consumption. The author argues that consumer masculinity is at odds with the masculinities that the gay men on StraightActing.com are attempting to uphold. Their interpretations of Queer Eye differ significantly from academic media critic Kylo-Patrick Hart’s interpretation that Queer Eye is the most positive representation of gay men ever. It is in the struggle over mediated masculinity that the men of StraightActing.com find themselves paradoxically aligned with radical conservatives in fearing the impact of Queer Eye on heterosexual audiences but for completely contradictory reasons.

Keywords

gay men and television hegemonic masculinity consumerism internet community

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alexander, S. M. (2003). Stylish hard bodies: Branded masculinity in Men’s Health magazine. Sociological Perspectives, 46, 535-554.

Bordo, S. (1999). The male body. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Brookey, R. A. (1996). A community like Philadelphia. Western Journal of Communication, 60, 40-57.

Buchanan, P. (2003). Pushing the limits of reality TV. Human Events, 59, 26-27.

Butler, J. (1993). Imitation and gender insubordination. In H. Abelove , M. A. Barale , & D. M. Halperin (Eds.), The lesbian and gay studies reader (pp. 307-320). New York: Routledge.

Cloud, D. L. (1998). The rhetoric of “family values”: Scapegoating, utopia and the privatization of social responsibility. Western Journal of Communication, 62, 387-410.

Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

Connell, R. W. (1992). A very straight gay: Masculinity, homosexual experience, and the dynamics of gender. American Sociological Review, 57(6), 735-751.

Donaldson, M. (1993). What is hegemonic masculinity? Theory and Society, 22(5), 643-657.

10.

du Fresne, K. (2004, March 10). Straight path back to manhood. Nelson Mail, p. 15-15.

11.

Ehrenreich, B. (1983). The hearts of men: American dreams and the flight from commitment. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

12.

Fejes, F. (2000). Making a gay masculinity. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 17(1), 113-116.

13.

Finn, B. A. (2004, March 25). Metrosexualizing our identity. Harvard Crimson. Available from http://www.thecrimson.com

14.

Hart, K. P. R. (2000). Representing gay men on American television. Journal of Men’s Studies, 9, 59-82.

15.

Hart, K. P. R. (2004). We’re here, we’re queer—and we’re better than you: The representational superiority of gay men to heterosexuals on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Journal of Men’s Studies, 12, 241-253.

16.

Holt, D. B. , & Thompson, C. J. (2003). Man-of-action heroes: The pursuit of heroic masculinity in everyday consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(2), 425-440.

17.

Kimmel, M. S. (2003). Masculinity as homophobia: Fear, shame, and silence in the construction of gender identity. In T. E. Ore (Ed.), The social construction of difference and inequality (pp. 119-135). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

18.

Lowry, B. (2003). Queer eye exposure a worry for some gays. Los Angeles Times, p. C6-C6.

19.

Mackinnon, K. (1997). Uneasy pleasures: The male as erotic object. London: Cygnus Arts.

20.

Nardi, P. (2000). Anything for sis, Mary: An introduction to gay masculinities. In P. Nardi (Ed.), Gay masculinities (pp. 1-11). London: Sage.

21.

St. John, W. (2003, June 22). Metrosexuals come out. New York Times, p. 9(1)-9(1).

22.

Trujillo, N. (1991). Hegemonic masculinity on the mound: Media representations of Nolan Ryan and American sports culture. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8, 290-308.