Normalizing Desire: Stigma and the Carnivalesque in Gay Bigmen's Cultural Practices. (October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Whitesel, Jason; Shuman, Amy
• Other Names: Farr Daniel guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Men and masculinities. Volume 16:Number 4(2013)
• Page Start: 478
• Page End: 496
• Publication Date: 2013-10
• Subjects: Girth & Mirth -- obesity -- gay men -- fat gay men -- carnival -- pride -- fat stigma; Men's studies -- Periodicals; Étude de genre; Étude sur les hommes; Homme; Identité masculine; Masculinité; Perception sociale; Recherche; Rôle selon le sexe; Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); 305.3105
• DOI: 10.1177/1097184X13502668
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1097-184X

Abstract

Girth & Mirth (G&M) is a social group for big gay men who face exclusion and discrimination from both mainstream and gay communities. Based on extensive ethnographic research and interview data, we consider a variety of the group's activities, including gatherings at coffeehouses, participation in a gay pride parade, and a national carnivalesque weekend retreat. The group engages in performances that are complicit with both heteronormative gender practices and normative gay men's practices and that reinscribe capitalist commodified desires. This exploration of the full range of G&M's activities, from the everyday to the carnivalesque, provides an opportunity to examine how a stigmatized group negotiates visible and less visible forms of discrimination through a playful reconfiguration of heteronormative masculine performances.