Queering Heteromasculinities

Queer heteromasculinity is displayed by men who disrupt people’s ideas of how straight males are supposed to be. These are men who destabilize, or queer up, the binary gender categories. They confuse people by having qualities associated with the feminine, or by supporting women’s rights and gay rights, even as they are clearly straight men. Their so-called feminine behaviors may be as simple as using their hands when they talk or saying that a shirt they see at the store is beautiful or pretty. Or they may appear typically male but have attitudes and beliefs not commonly expressed by heterosexual men, such as interrupting sexist, homophobic, biphobic, or transphobic jokes or bullying. They may also talk, even at a young age, about looking forward to ...