Farm boys and wild men: rurality, masculinity, and homosexuality.

摘要

This paper explores cultural constructions of 'rural gay masculinity' focusing first on the stereotype of the 'rustic sodomite' seen in a number of Hollywood movies; second, on the construction of an idyllic Eden in the gay imaginary; and third, ongendered and sexualised performances among members of the men's movement and the 'radical fairies'. In doing so, it suggests how the rural/urban divide is meshed, in complex and distinct ways, with homosexual/heterosexual and masculine/feminine dichotomies in cultural texts and practices. Set against these representations, of course, are the lives of homosexual men born and raised in the country: the paper discusses accounts of the lives of 'farm boys' as a way of contextualizing and complexifying the dominant modes of representation outlined. In all of these portrayals, 'rural gay masculinity' is figured in distinct ways, especially in relation to urban effeminacy. The paper ends by calling for further exploration of these issues in an effort to morefully theorize the cultural meanings and experiences of 'rural gay masculinity'.