Robin Williams tried to get Nathan Lane to do it in The Birdcage, Russell Tovey fancies himself rather good at it, and countless dating app profiles proudly boast that they fully embody it.
“Straight-acting” — those two little words that represent a complicated social order of internalized homophobia rooted in our expectations of how a man is or isn’t supposed to present to the world.
This lesson in straight-acting from season one of Tina Fey’s buzzy new Netflix comedy Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt points out the terrible nature of it all:
Xzamilio
LOL… that was funny.
Nikkidane
Hilarious.
DarkZephyr
Ha ha that *is* hilarious.
redcarpet30
Unbreakable, They alive damnit! It’s a Miracle!
I’ve had that song stuck in my head all weekend. Tina fey really hit it out of the park on this one. It’s still very much in the same comic vein as 30 rock but a whole new story.
BJ McFrisky
Masculine gay men represent “a complicated social order of internalized homophobia”?
How absurd.
jwtraveler
@BJ McFrisky: I didn’t read that in the story. Where did you? Or is it a paranoid fantasy?
SteveDenver
I look forward to seeing this, just this bit of writing is hilarious!
OrchidIslander
@redcarpet30: I couldn’t agree with you more. Hilarious! Titus and Carol Kane are so good in their supporting roles. Only Tina Fey could pull this off and Netflix is the perfect home for the show. I don’t see how it could make it on traditional network broadcasting.
Spoiler Alert: My favorite bit had Titus uber worried about being old. Combined with being black and gay, he was concerned that he wouldn’t know which box to check on the Hate Crime Form!
Hilarious!
Tina Fey has done it again and I’m hooked!
Giancarlo85
@BJ McFrisky: Just another paranoid delusion you have.
Saint Law
@BJ McFrisky: Bitch u batshit.
IvanPH
There are no such people as “straight acting gay men”. There are merely gay men who refuse to fit the stereotype and be flamboyant because that is not who they are.
DarkZephyr
@IvanPH: Was with you til the “There are merely gay men who refuse to fit the stereotype and be flamboyant because that is not who they are.” part. Then you went into fem shaming douche mode.
DarkZephyr
Has anyone else noticed that a lot of guys who claim to be “masc4masc, no fems” and accuse their feminine identified brothers of “fitting stereotypes” kind of aren’t all that “masc” when you meet them?
Tracy Pope
@BJ McFrisky: That you equate “Straight acting” (quotations included) to “masculine gay men” speaks volumes.
On the flip side – I’ve never had the fortune of a meaningful conversation with anyone who used the term “internalized homophobia” in an attempt to marginalize gay men who happen to be masculine.