title: "Not hiding, not shouting, just me": gay men negotiate their visual identities.
abstract: This study explored how British gay men make sense of their appearance and clothing practices and the pressures and concerns they attend to in discursively negotiating their visual identities. A convenience sample of 20 mostly young, White, and middle-class self-identified gay men responded to a qualitative survey on dress and appearance. The participants clearly understood the rules of compulsory heterosexuality and the risks of looking "too gay." In the data, there was both a strong resistance to the notion of gay as a "master status" and an orientation to the "coming out" imperative in gay communities. The analysis revealed the overriding importance of discourses of authentic individuality for making sense of visual identity and the reported cultivation of appearance and clothing practices that communicate the message that: "I'm not hiding (too closeted), I'm not shouting (too gay), I'm just me (an authentic individual who just happens to be gay)."
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Appearance Research, Department of Health and Social Sciences, Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences , University of the West of England , Bristol , UK.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000523:psychology; D001828:Body Image; D003020:Clothing; D003219:Confidentiality; D005783:Gender Identity; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D017008:Negotiating; D000067029:Physical Appearance, Body; D012649:Self Concept; D012650:Self Disclosure; D013240:Stereotyping; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: adornment; appearance; clothing; compulsory heterosexuality; dress; metrosexuality; qualitative research; qualitative survey; sissyphobia; thematic analysis