# Why are male interior designers gay? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367 "2011-09-23T19:12:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/1 "2011-09-23T19:12:25Z")
Someone said (word on the street) that (most) (male) interior designers are gay. But female interior designers are not. Why are interior designers (male) gay? Why would that be? Other things that are creative and artsy are not that associated with gayness, like creative writing, poetry. But this one thing is. So explain? ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/2 "2011-09-23T19:19:33Z")
I would imagine for the same reason that [most] male clothing designers are gay. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/3 "2011-09-23T19:25:44Z")
The same people who think that male interior decorators are gay also think that all musicians do drugs (including specialists in baroque and people in drums’n’metal bands), all male hairdressers are gay (but not female ones), all engineers are in the autism spectrum and girls do not like math or computers. Santi’s wife would be quite surprised to hear her husband and father of their three kids bats for the other team; Pepe’s blood pressure still goes through the roof remembering that time the receptionist insisted that all-all-all musicians do drugs (aside of a long-time musician, he was the factory’s EHS manager); while Llongueras has a bad case of droopy wrist he’s another one who’s married with several children; I do promise there is such an animal as a sociable engineer; the girl who just promised that is an engineer who works in pseudo-IT and likes videogames 😛 The lr:dr version: male decorators aren’t gay any more than hairdressers, actors, musicians, or poets, all these being professions which have or had a reputation for gay-ness in different cultures/periods. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/4 "2011-09-23T20:23:43Z")
> [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](#): > > Other things that are creative and artsy are not that associated with gayness, like creative writing, poetry. But this one thing is. Urm, poetry and creative writing have implications to many people as well. Interior design is just one of those traditionally feminine vocations in some cultures. A woman’s touch, and all that. An eye for color coordination and a fascination with throw pillows just isn’t a trait readily associated with heterosexual males, particularly in America. Compound that with the fact that many interior designers are proud to be who they are and are often flamboyantly out, and you have a perfect storm for hemming interior designers together. True or not, the stereotype exists because people perceive evidence of it. Conversely, a burly and macho home decorator is a comic trope. Excluding someone from the possibilty that they can throw a room together just because it bends gender norms is just as absurd as trusting a random man with a lisp to do it adequately. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/5 "2011-09-23T20:40:06Z")
> [@Teufelblitz](#): > > Urm, poetry and creative writing have implications to many people as well. > > Interior design is just one of those traditionally feminine vocations in some cultures. A woman’s touch, and all that. An eye for color coordination and a fascination with throw pillows just isn’t a trait readily associated with heterosexual males, particularly in America. Compound that with the fact that many interior designers are proud to be who they are and are often flamboyantly out, and you have a perfect storm for hemming interior designers together. True or not, the stereotype exists because people perceive evidence of it. > > Conversely, a burly and macho home decorator is a comic trope. Excluding someone from the possibilty that they can throw a room together just because it bends gender norms is just as absurd as trusting a random man with a lisp to do it adequately. A friend of mine is the daughter of a ( now deceased ) highly renowned male interior designer. While I cannot directly confirm her fathers sexual preference I do know that he was happily married for many years and fathered several children with his wife. His wife had one of those WASPy first names that was a family name and happened to generally be considered a man’s name. One day my friend overheard one teacher tell another that “Marianne ( not her real name ) has TWO daddies”. It really did turn out that pretty much everyone at the school who had never met her family had seen the names on a parent’s list and made the assumption that her dad was gay. So there may be a lot of assuming going on, and a lot of people may be incorrectly assuming a sexual orientation based on the way they present themselves and relate to their female clients. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/6 "2011-09-23T20:42:39Z")
It’s not like all rooms are covered with frilly, fluffy, flowery shit and pastel colors or something. What if I want a room to be styled like a 19th century German hunting lodge? What if I want a stark modernist interior? The association of “gay = feminine”, I can understand, even though it’s not always true. But the association of “rooms design = feminine, therefore gay” is beyond me. _Certain kinds_ of rooms have a feminine look, but _not all of them!_ It’s not considered gay to be an architect who designs the _outside_ of a house, but it’s considered gay to design the inside. I don’t understand this at all…it’s insane. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/7 "2011-09-23T20:51:24Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > It’s not like all rooms are covered with frilly, fluffy, flowery shit and pastel colors or something. What if I want a room to be styled like a 19th century German hunting lodge? What if I want a stark modernist interior? The association of “gay = feminine”, I can understand, even though it’s not always true. But the association of “rooms design = feminine, therefore gay” is beyond me. _Certain kinds_ of rooms have a feminine look, but _not all of them!_ > > It’s not considered gay to be an architect who designs the _outside_ of a house, but it’s considered gay to design the inside. I don’t understand this at all…it’s insane. Established gender roles in general are insane. Male nurses who aren’t just there to hoist patients and keep the unruly in line are just now becoming more common. Female chefs still aren’t nearly as well respected as they should be. Architecture, engineering, and carpentry are all previously male dominated fields and still carry a masculine shadow with them. It really wasn’t that long ago that people had the mindset that “the little woman” was a homemaker who made all the decorating decisions while the “breadwinner” had a “real job” that provided her with the money to do so. Entirely absurd, but hard to shake when people are living longer and passing this nonsense on to their children. ---
**Author:** ![randomface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@randomface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randomface)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/8 "2011-09-23T21:19:02Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > It’s not like all rooms are covered with frilly, fluffy, flowery shit and pastel colors or something. What if I want a room to be styled like a 19th century German hunting lodge? A random aside, the character Gaston from Beauty and the Beast was a celebrated interior decorator as well as the town’s greatest hunter, spitter, fighter, etc. He uses antlers in all of his decorating, at least according to the movie. But he’s French, so I’m not really sure how the stereotype works for Europe. (I have younger cousins and nieces/nephews who think it’s pretty neat to watch those “old movies” like Aladdin and the Lion King and all the other random movies from my childhood. I’m only 22 and they make me feel ancient.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/9 "2011-09-23T21:21:14Z")
Well they must be gay. Aren’t all stereotypes true? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/10 "2011-09-23T23:18:26Z")
I seem to remember there was a _Cheers_ episode about this. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/11 "2011-09-23T23:33:10Z")
Before the other interior designers let you join their club, they take you to the forest to…initiate you. After that, you’re gayer than a $3 bill. Its not that gays are attracted to interior designing, not at all. Interior designers only let gays apprentice with them. Insurance kickbacks, you know ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/12 "2011-09-23T23:39:42Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > It’s not like all rooms are covered with frilly, fluffy, flowery shit and pastel colors or something. What if I want a room to be styled like a 19th century German hunting lodge? What if I want a stark modernist interior? The association of “gay = feminine”, I can understand, even though it’s not always true. But the association of “rooms design = feminine, therefore gay” is beyond me. _Certain kinds_ of rooms have a feminine look, but _not all of them!_ > > It’s not considered gay to be an architect who designs the _outside_ of a house, but it’s considered gay to design the inside. I don’t understand this at all…it’s insane. You’re right – it is insane, and the idea’s pretty archaic IMO, but while a man’s home was his castle, the wife’s job was to run the home and make sure everything was decorated properly. That was her domain, not a man’s, so if a man was making decisions about draperies and throw pillows, he would be considered a fairy. I’m not saying I subscribe to that line of thinking now or ever in the past, and I’m sure as hell not justifying it. But I have vivid memories of the mid-60s, just before Women’s Lib, and that was the overall mentality of the postwar time. On the other hand, you can bet that men designed pool rooms and bars in that era, and no one said a thing to them. But it’s like sewing–it wasn’t manly to be able to sew, but you had to darn your own socks in the military, or in civilian life, it was okay for a man to be a tailor. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/13 "2011-09-24T02:45:31Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#): > > You’re right – it is insane, and the idea’s pretty archaic IMO, but while a man’s home was his castle, the wife’s job was to run the home and make sure everything was decorated properly. That was her domain, not a man’s, so if a man was making decisions about draperies and throw pillows, he would be considered a fairy… Pretty much. The husband was not expected to even care or want be involved at all (other than setting a budget), with the possible exception of his own den (a masculine room like a bar or billard room). This is still true to some extant today. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/14 "2011-09-24T02:57:55Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Before the other interior designers let you join their club, they take you to the forest to…initiate you. After that, you’re gayer than a $3 bill. Its not that gays are attracted to interior designing, not at all. Interior designers only let gays apprentice with them. Insurance kickbacks, you know I believe a tent peg is involved in the process. /obscure snark ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/15 "2011-09-24T03:26:21Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Pretty much. The husband was not expected to even care or want be involved at all (other than setting a budget), with the possible exception of his own den (a masculine room like a bar or billard room). This is still true to some extant today. you just know that every single trophy, medal, and award Wayne Gretzky has ever won are stored in a box in the attic. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/16 "2011-09-24T03:44:37Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > I seem to remember there was a _Cheers_ episode about this. Yep, turned out that Norm Peterson was a natural interior decorating genius. The joke being that he hated his wife. The main reason he started hanging out at Cheers was to avoid going home and spending time with her. She never appeared on screen. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/17 "2011-09-24T04:45:38Z")
Because interior design is FABULOUS! ---
**Author:** ![DaveBfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DaveBfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveBfd)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/18 "2011-09-24T05:31:36Z")
FWIW, I work with a fair amount of designers. My job is to supply them the stuff to decorate/design with. It seems that a very large amount “share common popularized gay characteristics.” Are they gay? Im not sure, but I would put a guess out that about two thirds or more act in a way that would have them perceived as gay. I dont _think_ Im stereotyping about this, but it seems the only times I ever run into people who can be perceived that way are when they are doing “feminine” jobs, such as designing or decorating. Is it that only gay men are interested in the job? I doubt it. If anything I would assume that the reason for it is simply to fulfill the stereotype of gays in the industry as the customers may be more trusting and confident in the work if they think the person serving them is gay. That is, companies tend to hire them more then average joes, and if they become famous it may be because they fulfill that stereotype and are received better because of it. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/19 "2011-09-24T07:56:52Z")
Because they are sexually attracted to other men ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367/20 "2011-09-24T10:52:18Z")
> [@Teufelblitz](#): > > Female chefs still aren’t nearly as well respected as they should be. This one never made sense to me. The stereotype should be flipped around. Back in the day especially guys who were interested in cooking should’ve been joked about behind their back just like guys who wanted to be nurses, flight attendants, etc. The kitchen trolls are the largest youtube bloc even today. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-male-interior-designers-gay/597367.md?page=2)