Recently, when I posted an essay on Gay Masculinities on my blog, one of the first comments I received over email was a complaint that it was a farce to refer to any "gay community" as an identifiable and tangible concept. The reader seemed to scoff at the idea that any analysis beyond the level of the individual gay was silly. What could you possibly say about gay men categorically? There was and is so much variation.
Since the 1990s, both inside and outside of academia, it has become fashionable to reject or at least be highly skeptical of categorical statements about identity categories. We become highly suspicious when we hear things like "Black men do _____" or "Gay men love _____." These anxieties are born out of real, valid concerns. Let me begin by spelling out what I see as the two primary reactions against these kinds of statements:
