I used to have a homosexual friend who puzzled over the phenomenon of the homosexual 'queen'. The performance - screams, limp wrists, hand on hip etc - was a very familiar one, many of one's friends would occasionally indulge in it: the puzzle was that it was reputed to suggest a woman, whereas one never saw women behave in the least like it. The impersonation, though a deliberate breaking of the rules of orthodox 'masculine' behaviour, engendered a freak, a monster, unknown to the species or to ordinary human society.

LRB 29 November 2001 | PDF Download