This blog entry is in response to an article that Mike Alvear wrote for the Huffington Post entitled "Is Effeminancy in Gay Men a Function of Nature or Nurture"

My friend Jake posted this news article on facebook the other day and from the second that I saw the title I knew I was going to have a strong opinion about it one way or another.
 
The nature versus nurture debate is tired and outdated. Sometimes I think commentators believe they are being witty or engaging if they play this devil’s advocate crap with the nature versus nurture discussion. As a former psychology major – who focused on both social psychology & biopsychology – pretty much everything in life is a combination of the genetic predispositions one has and the environment in which they were raised that encouraged certain behaviors and eliminated others.
 
I think the article started going into dangerous territory when the author put forth the notion:
 
I've always maintained that effeminacy is like obesity. Sometimes it's glandular, but mostly it's cultural.
 
Umm hello. Effeminacy is just like obesity. Excuse me, couldn’t have picked a better analogy. Hmm effeminacy and obesity, two traits that are often frowned upon and deemed unattractive in the gay male community, great choice of words. Secondly, “sometimes it’s glandular”. What the hell is that? Like my pituitary gland is pumping estrogen and fucking rainbows through my body.
 
I think that I am a Broadway loving, Project Runway watching, rainbow scarf wearing, footlong Subway sandwich eating faglicious homo because that’s just who I am. I think I would probably have many of the same traits and tastes if I was straight. Sometimes I like to entertain the notion that if I were straight I would be exactly the same person only I would have sex with women.
 
The question to ask though is what makes me – or any gay male for that matter – effeminate? Are we effeminate if we listen to Broadway, Disney, and High School Musical? Are we effeminate if we were makeup from time to time? Are we effeminate if we groom ourselves and practice personal hygiene? Are we effeminate if we enjoy the occasional romantic comedy or Real Housewives of New Jersey marathon? Or perhaps it has less to do with our tastes in pop culture and fashion and instead have more to do with our mannerisms and behaviors. Are we effeminate if we have a higher pitched voice? Are we effeminate if we walk with a little swish in our hips? Are we effeminate if we gesture emphatically? Who gets to determine these obscure criteria to determine if we are in fact effeminate and then determine if that effeminacy is a result of the culture I grew up in or a result of some effeminate gene.   
 
My other issue with this article was the author's commentary on how effeminate men are attracted to beefy masculine men who spew testosterone from their pores. Furthermore, the reason why effeminate men like these G.I. Joes is because secretly we have internalized hatred for effeminacy and therefore look for the opposite in our sexual partners. Now I like to consider myself an equal opportunist when it comes to the love department …. Well unless you have a vagina … then not so much. I think most of the time that my desire for men that look like refrigerators has less to do with notions of effeminacy and masculinity and more to do with the fact that I am a plus-sized girl and have fears of breaking some skinny-ass twink in half like a toothpick. I don’t feel that my sometimes desire for “masculine” men comes from a place of deep-rooted hatred for my sissiness. 
 
Last but certainly not least. Yes I am effeminate and proud of it. However, I also played hockey for 8 years of my life, took Karate for six - and yes this drag queen can hold her own in a throw down -, enjoys watching college football, drinks the occasional beer, and even sometimes you can find me "roughing" it through the woods and camping. So where do these facets of my personality and genetic makeup factor into your discussion of effeminacy in gay men. Hmmm perhaps the author should have taken the opportunity to broaden the discussion and discourse on gender and gay men instead of merely succumbing to the myriad of stereotypes and conventional notions of gender that have been on the table for years.

What are your thoughts on this whole debate?