Manly Gay: Difference between revisions

[[File:manly_gay_guys_2296manly gay guys 2296.jpg|link=Tom of Finland|rightframe|What's [[Rated "M" for Manly|manlier than a manly man]]? A manly man who loves manly men.]]

Sitting on the opposite end of the spectrum from [[Camp Gay]], [['''Manly Gay]]''' is when a homosexual male character is shown not only in lacking [[Camp]] or feminine traits, but kept going in the opposite direction and [[Rated "M" for Manly|into the realm of pure masculinity]].

A character who is [['''Manly Gay]]''' is the complete opposite of the [[Camp]] stereotype. Typically such characters are large and strong, and shown doing masculine things like sports and working class jobs. He may have a [[Carpet of Virility]], he may be a [[Badass]], or he may have [[Stout Strength]]...but regardless of how he got here, the result is the same: While being gay, he's manlier than your average man, straight or [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar]].

This is a stereotype more associated with modern gay porn, but is also a certain distilled ideal of gay men that appeals more often to other gay men -- onemen—one of the reasons it ''has'' become so associated with gay porn. Such characters also appear in other works as a means of telling a [[Gay Aesop]] about homosexuals not all being flaming queens. [['''Manly Gay]]''' characters are often seen as a form of [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar]] by some (especially Western) audiences, while a gay stereotype in and of itself to others (especially Eastern audiences).

Compare with [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar]]. If the character is stereotypically [[Camp]] or [[Played for Laughs]], then he's actually [[Macho Camp]]. May be [[The Bear]], a [[Big Beautiful Man]], a [[Leather Man]] or a [[Gay Cowboy]]. Many a [[Gayngster]] qualifies. May also be an [[Armored Closet Gay]]. Is also commonly a [[Badass Gay]]. See also [[Bara Genre]], the genre where Manly Gay men... have fun with one another. Also see [[Lipstick Lesbian]] for this trope's [[Distaff Counterpart]].

{{examples|Examples:}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Sweden from ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', [[Single -Target Sexuality|at least where Finland is concerned]].

* Apollo and the Midnighter (Apollo is slightly less exaggeratedly tough and may be more of a [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar]]) from ''[[The Authority]]''.

* [[Superhero]] [[Slash Fic|Slash Fics]]s are absolute havens of this trope, usually featuring pairings of two characters reinterpreted as [[Manly Gay]], such as [[Batman]] / Nightwing or [[Captain America (comics)]] / [[Iron Man]].

* ''[[All in The Family]]'': On the program that broke all previous barriers and taboos, one of the earliest came in the Season 1 episode "Judging Books by Covers." Archie is annoyed by one of Mike's outlandish friends (Anthony Geary, long before he played Luke on ''[[General Hospital]]''), [[Camp Straight|who acts and dresses effeminitly but was otherwise heterosexual]]; in fact, Archie is so irritated he goes off to Kelsey's Bar – its first appearance in the series – to vent to his friends about gay people. One of the people involved in the conversation is a middle-aged man, a one-time football player who has normal male interests ... and is a homosexual. No male-on-male affection is shown in the episode, but Archie does learn that outward appearances do not necessarily mean someone is gay or straight.

* Barca from ''[[Spartacus: Blood and Sand]]'' is a solid example.

* Bob Hunter from ''[[Desperate Housewives]]''. Taller and a tad more muscular than his husband, Lee Mc Dermott. Both can be considered as [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar]] though.

* Wade and Trey from ''[[NoahsNoah's Arc]]'', especially Wade who definitely plays up his masculinity (at least early on).

* Riley from [[Degrassi]], also overlapping with [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar]]. Sam also most certainly counts, though he only showed up for one episode and Dylan, Marco's boyfriend.

* "[[Heavy Metal (Music)|Metal]] God" Rob Halford of [[Judas Priest (Music)|Judas Priest]].

** It should be noted that the [[Village People]] were not ''always'' recognized as [[Manly Gay]] early on, because general American culture at the time was relatively more macho than it is now. This misunderstanding was what allowed the U.S. Department of Defense to commission the song "In the Navy", unaware at the time of the Village People's Manly Gay stage persona. Planned recruitment advertisements built around the song were scrapped at the last minute when the Pentagon finally realized this. By the time the Village People had passed the peak of their popularity, they were better understood as Manly Gay, but their music had already entered pop culture, with most of the backlash against them being part of the greater general backlash against [[Disco]] (which as a genre was already partially rooted in gay culture) in the late [[The Seventies|1970s]] and early [[The Eighties|1980s]]. And yet the Village People were still not yet ''quite'' [[Macho Camp]] -- this—this only came with age as their style became more and more dated in comparison with the contemporary years that passed.

* [[Rammstein (Music)|Rammstein]]'s steamy and highly controversial video of song "Mann Gegen Mann" features nothing but a bunch particularly manly men engaging in a kinda... special party. Yes, [[A Party - Also Known Asas an Orgy|that one]].

* [[Queen]]'s Freddie Mercury; even during his more effeminate period in the 70s, he had [[Perma -Stubble]] and a [[Virility Carpet]] that would put [[Sean Connery]] to shame.

* Many [[Professional Wrestling|professional wrestlers]] get accused of being Manly Gays (must have something to do with the oiled-up muscleman physiques and those tight trunks), but the WWE tag team of Billy and Chuck actually had being [[Ambiguously Gay|ambiguously]] [[Manly Gay]] as their gimmick, until they finally came out of the closet... ''as straight''. During a gay wedding ceremony that had been heavily advertised and talked about in the press. Suffice it to say, [[Moral Guardians|GLAAD]] (who actually endorsed the "wedding") was ''not'' happy with WWE.

{{quote| ''Look at this kid, he's so fuckin' ripped, he's built like a gay guy!''}}

* [[Star Fox (Video Gameseries)|Wolf O'Donnell]] is going to [[Memetic Molester|tan your hide]]. Wolf is written as a homoerotically aggressive [[Big Badass Wolf|dominant alpha male]], invoking Japanese [[Manly Gay]] tropes along with being a [[Testosterone Poisoning|hypermasculine]] [[Mr. Fanservice]]. To cap it all off, his appearance is accentuated to scream a variety of gay stereotypes, including [[Leather Man|leather]], and (in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'') [[Gay Cowboy|chaps]] over his pants, and a just-barely-conspicuous touch of [[Macho Camp]] pink and purple in his color scheme.

* ''[[There Will Be Brawl]]'' does this to [[F -Zero|Captain]] [[Super Smash Bros.|Falcon]], who is [[Kid Icarus|Pit's]] lover and ''extremely'' [[Badass]]. "Maybe later you could come by and... [[Catch Phrase|show me your moves]]."

* Most parodic interpretations suggest that [[He -Man and Thethe Masters of Thethe Universe|He-Man]] is this.

* Jean and Paul from ''[[Superjail (Animation)|Superjail]]'', the gay couple, will constantly remind the audience of their gang origins. Remember, they're in prison. They have to be tough. Paul threatened Jean by telling him that he once cut off a guy's dick and stuck it down his throat for disagreeing with him.

* How can anyone forget [[The Simpsons (animation)|DUFFMAN!]]

* Anderson Cooper and Bradley Cooper, two coopersCoopers rumored to be gay. (Anderson lives with his manly gay partner in New York -- ChelseaYork—Chelsea.)

* Rugby players [http://www.newsphotos.com.au/ImageDetail.asp?RefNum=97098163 Ian Roberts] and [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Gareth_Thomas_:Gareth Thomas (rugby_player)rugby player)|Gareth Thomas]]

* English Columnist and provocateur [http://www.marksimpson.com Mark Simpson], who coined the term [[Camp Straight|"Metrosexual"]] as a ''derision'' and suffered the subsequent [[Insult Backfire]], lies somewhere between this and [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar]].

* ''The Butch Factor'' is a documentary that analyzes the aspect of masculinity in gay culture. It has good examples of manly gays as well as some [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar|straight-acting]] and [[Camp Gay|Camp Gays]]s. It can be watched on [[Logo]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130512085530/http://www.logotv.com/video/the-butch-factor/1635466/playlist.jhtml here].

* [[Monty Python|Graham Chapman]] took one look at the camp stereotype, said "No, thank you" and took up rock climbing, pipe smoking and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|being a doctor]]. He also liked playing rugby and by most counts was pretty good at it.

* Japanese writer [[Yukio Mishima]], praising the manly ideal of the samurai. It is likely that Mishima, who fervently admired the ancient samurai, based his vision on the ''[[HagakureThe (Literature)Hagakure|Hagakure]]'''s concept of "pure love" ("burning hearts" in the ''Hagakure'') between men, which was at the time - at least in the work of prominent authors such as Jôchô Yamamoto - considered superior in terms of pureness and virility to heterosexual love (thus deemed necessary to some extent in order to guarantee the perpetuation of the clan's bloodline). Although Mishima himself did not advocate such a "hierarchy" among relationships, he married only to please his parents and stipulated that his wife must not have any interest or involvement in his work.

* A serving US Marine recently got himself hauled up before a court martial for appearing in a gay porn film while wearing part of his uniform.<ref>But not ''all'' his uniform, so the Corps decided he'd only [[Incredibly Lame Pun|bent]] the rules</ref>. <ref> Besides, being known throughout the Corps as the leatherneck who appeared in a gay porn film is probably punishment enough.</ref>

* [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Band_of_Thebes:Sacred Band of Thebes|The Theban Sacred Band]] makes this trope Older Than Feudalism. They were an elite 300-strong unit made up entirely of homosexual couples, the logic being that soldiers would fight harder if their lovers were in battle next to them. Until Alexander the Great came along, they were unbeatable.

** Incidentally, Alexander could have been a [[Manly Gay]] himself, or more likely bisexual.