User:Evanweisberg96/sandbox

Femme identities and behaviors are constantly under scrutiny and lack proper and positive representation and visibility. This scrutiny is extremely likely to carry over into the media, and femme-identifying and femme-presenting characters will face discrimination from both the other characters in their respective media and from the consumers of said media.

Oftentimes, men are erroneously left out of the conversation on femmephobia because of its conflation with femaleness and being a woman. However, this is not always the case, especially with gay men. Homophobia and femmephobia overlap greatly, and it can be difficult to distinguish the two at times. In addition, femmephobia towards gay men comes in the form of internalized homophobia from other gay men. One website, StraightActing.com, serves to document the experiences of masculine gay men, self-described as "straight acting," hence the name, and their interactions with femme gay men. In an article entitled The Limitations of the Discourse of Norms: Gay Visibility and Degrees of Transgression, author Jay Clarkson documents these occurrences and how they contribute to the overall problems of internalized homophobia and femmephobia. Different subsections of the article discuss the issues of visibility, particularly with pride parades, and the concept of a singular, homogeneous lived experience among gay men, and the "right" ways to navigate through a gay male experience. According to the author, "[t]he reliance on this discourse of normalization suggests that what media representations contribute to is a single norm for gay men, and all else are abnormal or less than acceptable". The media absolutely contributes to the femmephobia, homophobia, and internalized homophobia: stereotypically campy gay characters like Jack McFarland from Will and Grace exist as comedic relief.

Similar stereotypes are found in lesbian communities as well. However, instead of the "masc/femme" binary, there exists a "butch/femme" dichotomy. In this case, butch is the equivalent to masc, but it is more female-specific. Lesbians are identified and can self-identify somewhere on this butch/femme spectrum, and terms like "soft butch" and "futch" are used to determine where on this spectrum an individual may lie. With terminology like butch and femme being the embodiments of masculine and feminine behaviors, mannerisms, and gender expressions for women, stereotypes and generalizations arose, particularly focused around sexual behaviors. A study conducted in 1999 showed that "as women’s self-identified 'butchness' increased, they were more likely to report being the 'giver' of sexual pleasure". Likewise, the more femme a lesbian identified herself, the more likely it was for her to be the receiver during sex. The position of giving is referred to as a "top;" its counterpart is aptly known as a "bottom." Unfortunately, when lesbians deviate from these stereotypical roles in bed, their identities as butch, femme, or in between are questioned and invalidated. They are told that they are not as femme or as butch as they define themselves. This is especially true for femme-identified lesbians, as many people, both within and outside of the lesbian (and even the LGBTQ community) oftentime equate femmeness with heterosexuality in women and butchness with lesbianism. Thusly, there are many layers to when a femme lesbian's identity is scrutinized and critiqued.