There’s a plethora of home redecorating and makeover shows on television in the United States, and the number is increasing almost exponentially.
One thing these shows have in common; the majority of the redecorating and makeover specialists are gay men … very flamboyant gay men, who use the word “fabulous” a lot to describe a space, a style, an attribute, or what they’re going to do with a living room or someone’s wardrobe.
Why the attachment to the word “fabulous?” How did it become a cliche among gay men? Is there a similar chiche stereotypically uttered by lesbians?
I’ve been watching those home improvement shows on HGTV, and I was thinking the opposite: that when casting men on these shows, the network seems to be consciously avoiding men who look stereotypically gay. Ditto with male chefs on television.
Well, I don’t know where it comes from, but I certainly notice that the word is used a lot. I like it, personally. I don’t know of any cliches regarding gay women. I don’t think the ‘butch’ thing is accurate at all. I can sometimes tell if a guy is gay, but I can NEVER tell if a woman is. Except when they hit on me, which happens rather frequently (for a middle aged woman who lives in a farmhouse). I don’t know why that is.
This question was asked a little while ago, but without a satisfactory answer. Good luck in your endeavor. The posters in the previous thread did not seem to understand the question.
Well, since we’re talking stereotypes, let’s run with it:
Gay men are more verbal than straight men (just like women are more verbal than men). Thus, they’re more likely to use more elaborate adjectives. IOW, straight men say it’s ‘great.’ Gay men and women say it’s fabulous, or darling, or exquisite, or outstanding, or stupendous, or you get the idea.
We see this with colors: straight men only know the basic colors. Gay men and women know the names of many shades of color. Straight men only know the names of a few basic flowers. Etc., etc… (Although, somehow, straight men can identify and name car models despite their subtle differences.)
Also, words starting with f are more evocative, if you freaking know what I mean. You do? Faantaaaastic!
I’ve worked in hotels my whole life and there are certain words that gay people use. It’s really not gay it’s just more “in” to say that. Fabulous is such a word. I say it was taken from AbFab. The thing is a lot of European influence hits here in the gay community before it becomes mainstream. For example Donna Summmer and the like were SO popular in Europe before Disco hit here.
You can sometimes get clues. For example a friend of mine is BI (gay but won’t admit it ). Anyway he collects Hard Rock Cafe pins. He keeps them in a box. I said “why do that, you got an empty living room, put them in a case on display.” He looks at me and says “No, that’s really more of a den piece.” Now I don’t care what you say…No straight man would ever say that.
But it’s not unique for gay people. Most of the people I hang with are black.(I’m white) And so half the time if they are talking one of them will look at me and tell the one that’s talking “hey man, Mark’s here you know you gotta break it down for the white guy.”
I guess it all goes back to the Brady Bunch…
Greg) We got a real cool Gig?
Mike) Gig?
Greg) A job, the guys are really heavy
Mike) By that I take it to mean they aren’t overweight
I’ve worked in alot of restaurants and I’ve never known a gay male chef. A gay male baker, yes. A gay male party manager, yes. But never a chef. I didn’t know that was a stereotypically gay job for men (like decorators).
I happened to catch the movie *“Lovers and Other Strangers” (1970) a short while back. One of the characters in it is an interior decorator(?), played by the late Anthony Holland (looking eerily similar to Charles Nelson Reilly). He uses the phrase “absolutely fabulous.” I doubt that that’s the first occurrence, but that predates anything presented so far.
*Written by real life husband and wife Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor (Fran Drescher’s TV mom).
Huh. Most of the male TV chefs that come to mind seem more stereotypically gay to me, even though they’re not: Bobby Flay and Tyler Florence and Michael Chiarello, f’r ex. Mario Batali, on the other hand, doesn’t seem stereotypically gay to me, yet is. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
So I’d dispute that assumption about male TV chefs.
Me neither. I’m a Food Network junkie, and the only flamboyant (I don’t recall if he was gay or “out”) man I can recall is Reggie, from Who Wants to Be the Next Food Network Star?.
Home improvement shows and decorating shows are not the same thing. The OP is thinking along the lines of “Design On a Dime” or “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”, not “This Old House.”
Among decorating shows, it does seem as if most of the men on them are very obviously gay. Straight male decorators appear to be a rather rare commodity, and straight male fashon consultants are pretty much non-existant.
Fabulous is more than wonderful…it gives a sort of “star” quality to whatever’s being described and you can almost see the sweeping wrist movement and hear the basket of hissing snakes at the end. I see why straight men avoid it. But a slight wag: I have a friend from Mexico City who uses the word “precious” (like when describing a baby). His entire family uses the word freely. The men are all straight. I never hear straight men here use “precious” to describe anything but apparently its ok in Mexico City.
I am a straight guy, and I noticed an interesting insight into how my brain works. I was once waiting for a firend to pick me up. I was standing by the side of the road, waiting for the nose of her car to appear from a side street. If there’s one thing distinctive about her car it’s that it’s bright, fire-engine red. Anyway, I saw her car appear, and it took me several seconds to realise, “Hang, on. That car is dark green!” My brain had instantly picked up, from just a gmlipse of the front of the car, the model, but the colour took longer to process. I was looking for a '95 Mazda 323 sedan, and a glimpse of about a foot of fender triggered the response. Maybe a woman would have been looking for a red car. I don’t know, but it was surprising.
). Anyway he collects Hard Rock Cafe pins. He keeps them in a box. I said “why do that, you got an empty living room, put them in a case on display.” He looks at me and says “No, that’s really more of a den piece.” Now I don’t care what you say…No straight man would ever say that.