I was rebutting someone's comment about how anal sex is somehow poisoning the gay culture. Obviously I don't agree with it because I know the gay culture has never ever focused on primitive things like sex and that has nothing to do with the gay culture anyways. But then I realized; my understanding of the gay culture is really limited to me being a gay person. So I'm here to ask, can someone explain to me, in-depth, what exactly goes on in gay culture? And what it's all about? On the top of my mind, I can only say that the gay culture revolves around embracing our differences and acceptance and etc. But what are your takes on it? What is the gay culture politically considered as?
There isn't really one single gay culture. Rather, there's a bunch of different subcultures that band together to form the gay community. There are gay subcultures that are very sex-focused, this was especially true early in the history of the movement when being in a same-sex relationship was either considered unfeasible. I've heard that this also happens in parts of the ex-gay movement because they've been so conditioned that same-sex relationships can't happen. Even now, there's large segments of the gay community involved in a substantial hookup culture (hence the popularity of certain dating apps which I won't name in accordance with the Code of Conduct), and in many areas the gay bar remains the focal point of the local community, which often leads to a more sexualized environment. At the same time, there are gay subcultures like EC which aren't oriented towards sex and relationships, but to support, friendship, and camaraderie. And others which are more relationship- or couples-oriented. Basically there's as much variety as there is in straight subcultures which include everything from people who are voluntarily celibate to swingers. However, I do think that gay cultures tend to be a bit more sexualized simply because what brings us together is our common experience as a sexual minority. And all that's without the difficulties of going into what happens when the gay community teams up with the lesbian community and trans community. AFAIK there aren't any specifically bi communities, bi people tend to attach themselves to either the gay or lesbian community depending on their sex.
Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking too when I was trying to understand why the guy said what he said. And oh, yeah I guess I was more focused on the gay culture like EC. I usually don't roam in the sex-focused ones, just not my thing. Though that is interesting that the gay culture is very sex oriented. This is probably because the reason why the gay culture exists is due to our common interest in our same gender. However I do think that the gay culture also branches beyond just plain sex and into love too. But that might be taking elements of things together, or I'm thinking too much about this.
EC is, to the best of my knowledge, unique among gay internet fora in working very, very hard to discourage its members from meeting up for sex, having cybersex, etc. The ban on giving out personal info in the public areas of EC is in part to make it less attractive to people who only want to meet other gay people for sex.
That's like asking me to explain the "Asian culture" there's no such thing that universally explain 90% of Asian people... or "gay people" other than that "gay people", are, most likely, "likes other dudes"
Yeah, I know. I was saying that when I think of the gay culture, my thoughts are usually based on characteristics that EC focuses on; support, comfort, etc. Also, I think we all know why gay dating forums that allows teens are ALWAYS discouraged ...lol. ---------- Post added 25th Oct 2012 at 09:28 PM ---------- I'm actually going to disagree with that. You can have Western culture, subcultures of Asia (Vietnamese/Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Malaysian/etc. cultures), Spanish culture, and so on. You CAN have an Asian culture. The ideals and way of life in Asia was different than other cultures. The same could be said for other cultures in relation to many Asian cultures.
But not even everywhere in the west is the same. Like if you compare Americans to British or French or Russians. You don't see Americans eating fish and chips like pizza, right? Of course, comparing social culture to racial/regional culture might be unfair comparison...
lol yeah, I don't know how social cultures is relevant to racial cultures. And I'd say that in America, you can have a general AMERICAN culture with sub-cultures making it up. Same for any other culture. The mentalities are just similar, but not exact. You can't say that an American subculture=another subculture. But you CAN say that they encompass the American culture.
so add to the discussion, what is an "American Culture"? Just like not everyone is into football, not everyone is into a single "gay culture"
Well yeah, ofc. Mog established that with his sh-peel on the subcultures in the gay culture. Also I'm not trying to say that you can generalize people by their culture. Obviously this is false, as we're all different. I guess you can say the way we respond to things/ideas of manners/perception of things are what makes us part of a 'culture'. I know that isn't a very politically correct definition, but that's the closest thing I can draw the line for it atm. Obviously there's going to be those people who were never affected by culture and just act upon their own accord. And going beyond that, I also think defining a culture is very relative in how exposed we are to whatever we're defining and the angle we look at it. I can't really say I know much about the American culture because I kind of just do my own thing (whether I'm indulging in it without consciously being aware of it is another thing).
