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Gender
5 comments
Th ability to act as straight within the queer community has existed forever. It serves as a mask in order to protect an individual from discrimination and targeting by others within society due to their identity. Unfortunately, an individual acting straight means they are rendering their sexuality invisible in order to further themselves within a society that doesn’t accept their identity. This can be by changing minute details such as hand movements, crossing legs, or lowering voice registers, things that people outside of this community do not have to be aware of. However, some people within the LGBTQ+ community do not have the ability to be able to hide their identity as other people can. They are therefore more likely to experience discrimination and violence due to their identity. This results in it being a privilege to be able to act as straight in order to protect oneself or further career prospects.
Protection from Violence
Within the UK, according to Stonewall, 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ people experience hate crime against them or violence of some form. If you would like more statistics I will link the research, however I will include some statistics here. More than a third of LGBTQ+ people do not feel comfortable holding their partner’s hand, 1 in 10 LGBTQ+ people were discriminated against when buying/renting a property, and 4 in 5 LGBTQ+ people experienced a hate crime last year but did not report to the Police. These figures are very bleak, so to protect oneself and feel protected in an environment, many people act straight. This can protect them from verbal discrimination, stalking and physical violence such as being beaten up. In certain societies, gay women or suspected gay women are correctively raped. The ability for someone to act as straight can result in them protecting themselves and their loved ones from experiencing discrimination or being a victim of hate crime due to their sexuality or gender.
Career Prospects
Passing as straight also benefits those in the work environment. An article by Adrienne Rich named ‘Complusory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence’ notes how much further a lesbian woman can get in her career if she acts as straight. This goes to changing clothes that they wear, or vocabulary that they use in order to further themselves in their career. In addition, this can create an environment of safety for LGBTQ+ individuals. According to Stonewall, 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ individuals have received negative comments at work due to their identity and more than a third have hidden their identity. This can result in furthering of career prospects and further protecting oneself from abuse and discrimination in the workplace.
As can be seen, the ability to hide ones sexuality or gender by 'acting straight' serves many purposes. Protection from violence and discrimination, career prospects, a safe environment and many more. However, not all people have this ability and are therefore at an immediate disadvantage and are more likely to experience hate crime and discrimination. Resulting from this it can be seen as a privilege, although incredibly sad, to be able to act as straight and hide ones identity.
References:
Bachmann, C. & Gooch, B. (2017). 'LGBT Britain- Hate Crime', Stonewall. Retrieved from: https://www.stonewall.org.uk/system/files/lgbt_in_britain_hate_crime.pdf
Bachmann, C. & Gooch, B. (2017). 'LGBT Britain - Workplace Report', Stonewall. Retrieved from: https://www.stonewall.org.uk/system/files/lgbt_in_britain_work_report.pdf
Rich, A. (1980). 'Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence', Women, Sex and Sexuality, Signs, 5(4), pp. 631-660.
It sounds to me like this phenomenon is more of a trade off. On the one hand, acting straight comes with a statistically lower chance of being harassed by homophobic agents in society, while also benefitting the actor's career goals and income. As you said, however, "an individual acting straight means they are rendering their sexuality invisible in order to further themselves within a society that doesn’t accept their identity." Making the decision to don the mask of heterosexuality and consciously maintain this every hour you are in public seems exhausting and likely comes with its own set of psychological ramifications. I guess this ability is really only a privilege depending what your priorities are in life, and depending on how much weight you assign to certain factors. Also, certain LGBTQI+ cloaking devices that you describe, such as "changing minute details such as hand movements, crossing legs, or lowering voice registers" or changing clothes, etc. seem to be things one can learn from observation/practice/coaching if the individual so desires. Again, I'm not sure if hiding your sexuality is so much a privilege as it is a choice between two ugly scenarios, each holding different but bad options all the same.
Thank you, that is a good point! I do however think it is a privilege to be able to have the option to make a choice between to horrible scenarios. Whilst both scenarios, as you say, are bad options, some people have that ability to choose the option that makes them feel safest/most comfortable. The people who do not have this option due to the inability to 'act straight' or 'pass as straight' have to contend with the consequences of their position without that ability or privilege of choice.
The privilege isn't the mask itself or hiding your sexuality, the privilege is the choice to do so in order to protect oneself. Those people who don't have the ability to wear the mask and 'act straight' do not have this privilege of choice. This is something I should have made clearer in my initial argument now I have read it back.
Thanks for your comment!
I feel like there's a part of the argument missing here...
There's an implication here that straight-acting people don't realise the damage they're doing (or at least the relative ease they have compared) to those who can't?
Are you also suggesting that straight-acting people shouldn't straight?
I do not think people who have the ability to ‘act straight’ are causing damage to the community and that they should not ‘act straight’. Additionally, much of the time this isn’t necessarily a conscious choice or something an individual realises they are doing.
The consequences of being in the queer community in western and non-western cultures can be dire. Including conversion therapy, corrective rape, forced impregnation, being stoned, murdered, losing job, home and family. Therefore, if you had the ability to take away the thing that an individual unjustifiably hates you for and targets you for then many people would want that danger to be taken away. This is not necessarily a conscious choice to ‘act straight’ it can be a subconscious choice like a survival instinct to stay alive. Much like the fight, flight, fawn and freeze response. An individual can fawn into to make themselves a part of the straight community which has been developed since childhood. Therefore, if an environment wasn’t created through which individuals within the community were under threat and unsafe, then the concept of ‘acting straight’ wouldn’t exist.
Resulting from this, the damage is not done by people who ‘act straight’ as this is a survival response to the threat of wider society. However, this ability to hide one’s identity, whilst incredibly difficult, does offer protection and a greater chance of survival from both threat to life and further physical and emotional violence. This means that is a privilege to ‘act straight’ as a form of survival compared to those who do not have this ability.
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