|
|
 
words: Fairy
Today "fairy" is a
nasty epithet used against gay people, but it once had a richer, more specific meaning.
In New York City in the early 1900s, some men who liked to have sex with men
dressed up in makeup and feminine clothes in hopes of catching a straight man for
sex and
sometimes worked as male prostitutes. The medical idea that both men involved in a
sexual interaction must be homosexual was not as widespread as it is today, so many of the
sexual partners of fairies considered themselves straight. Since the fairy played the
receptive role in a sexual interaction his straight-identified partner's sense of
masculinity and normality remained intact.
Further Reading
Chauncey, George, 1994. Gay New
York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940. New
York: Basic Books.
© 1999
Andrew Wikholm
All Rights Reserved
|