Male enough?

The differing parental attitudes of handling a gender confused child says a lot about the cultural aspect of gender. As a six year old, effeminate, chinese boy Lee's mother told him "we'll have to take you to the hospital and get your pee-pee cut off so that you can become a girl." Rather than creating uproar his mother used a slight scare tactic, yet her tone assured Lee that his behaviors (deviant to traditional male behaviors) were accepted and supported. Sedgwick, on the other hand, notes that in concealing "parents name their own feelings as hatred and rage" towards their son who may have effeminate qualities. They cannot culturally accept their white son and have a tendency to blame themselves for some fault in their child's early developmental stages.

Language also prevents a barrier for those who cannot be classified specifically as a straight male or gay male. Specific criteria is present in each group and those who do not fit are shunned. Lee comments, "This alienation may be compounded by the tradition. specifically in gay male life, which defines male femininity as the antithesis of sexiness." This categorization can also be extremely hard for the non stereotypical homosexual men Sedgwick refers to who actually grow out of their feminine qualities of youth and fit more into the societal heterosexual masculine mold. Men who fall in the in-between categories must continually face discrimination and personal insecurities with their individuality.

- Mandi Brooksbank