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Queer people’s identities play a significant role in how they navigate community spaces because many do not fit into the “traditional moral standards” associated with rural life. The fact that they are different from their straight neighbors can impede their ability to sustain a living in rural environments. Rural environments also tend to lack resources for queers and foster a sense of isolation in these people, thus leading them to move to more urban environments.〔 ==Rural queer lifestyle== In rural areas, the heterosexual family unit is valued as an essential part of life. It is the overtly dominant lifestyle in these spaces, which makes being queer a different experience than one would have in a metropolitan area. Masculine and feminine gender representations operate differently for those in rural areas because work done by both genders is perceived as masculine behavior in other non-rural areas. Both men and women can exhibit masculine features and be perceived as normal. Many rural women work alongside men on farms or in construction work, thus certain types of masculinity displayed by rural women is not interpreted as lesbian behavior as it might be in an urban or suburban environment. As a result of female gender representations being more masculine for women in rural spaces, femininity operates very differently there, and thus so does lesbianism. This masculine dynamic allows for some lesbians to blend in quite easily, where typical female attire can be wearing flannels and cowboy boots. However, deviations in style, such as short hair or wearing ties, can still result in judgment from the woman’s surrounding community. Emily Kayzak notes that “the sexual identity of rural butch lesbian women is not invisible in urban lesbian cultures, their more butch gender presentations do not do the same work in rural areas because those gender presentations are also tied to normative (hetero)sexuality.” Generally, lesbian-butch women are compatible with rural lifestyles as long as they can fit in with the typical masculine-female appearance. Rural spaces have even been referred to as makings for “lesbian lands,” in part due to their ability to blend in. In the 1970s, women began to move to agricultural communes where they could live and work with other “country women”. In these communities, lesbian women built communes where they grew their own food and created societies away from men. They believed that living and working in nature allowed them to embrace their inherent connection with nature. Gay men also partook in similar activities; Bell and Valentine note how the Edward Carpenter Community in England hosts Gay Men’s Weeks where they conduct events related to free-spiritedness and the embracement of one’s sexuality. For rural men, on the other hand, “publicly disrupting normative gender expectations arguably remains as, if not more, contentious than homoerotic desires.” In many places, as long as a gay man subscribes to masculine representations and activities, such as wearing traditionally masculine attire and working in manual labor, acceptance comes much more easily. Deviations in appearance, like dressing up in drag, would be seen as very unacceptable, and can result in harassment. Male effeminate expressions and rurality are generally seen as incompatible. Many gay men in rural communities reject femininity and embrace masculine roles. Feminine gays typically face persecution and disapproval from their community members. Queers in rural areas, as in many other places, face discrimination and violence. In small rural areas, perpetrators and victims are typically both known to the surrounding community. Even police, who are intended to hold up the law, are known to commit crimes against sexually marginalized people. Brett Beemyn’s review of John Howard’s piece "Men Like That: A Southern Queer History" explains some of the roots of violent hate crimes and discrimination against queer people. In the 1960s, amongst the acrimony of racists was the tendency to depict African Americans as sexual deviants. In addition, during the civil rights movement African Americans were known to have queer allies, thus stereotypes of racial justice supporters as engagers in perverted sexual acts became prevalent in the 1960s and the focus of discrimination spread to include queers in a more direct manner. In contrast, queer urbanites have gained much more acceptance and visibility as a result of gay rights movements and the recognition of the potential of the queer economy. Acceptance of queerness is also much more common in suburban and urban communities, because there is a higher acceptance of diversity in general. All cities have recognized, visible gay neighborhoods. Gay couples are more likely to live in urban areas than are lesbian couples, as the urban setting can be much more conducive to gay culture and life. Amongst those with higher income or education, acceptance is also more prevalent. These two points have led to an increase of the migration of queers from rural communities to metropolitan areas. The cost of moving to a city filters out some with lower incomes, creating a class bias for those who are more affluent. Yet discrimination from community members, local police, and even state governments still occurs in urban spheres, although cities typically maintain a relative liberalism. Assumptions made about queer rural spaces are sometimes crude. In media, rustic sexual expression can take the form of homosexual rape, as seen in ''Pulp Fiction'' and ''Deliverance'', and bestiality, which is also a theme in these films. After James Michael Taitt died after paying to be anally penetrated by a male horse, bestiality became linked to country happenings, and induced a nationwide “bizarre sex panic.” Heterosexual activities that are not heteronormative become contextually queer activities, some of which take place in rural areas, because they are viewed as a place to retreat and sexually experiment. Practicing “dogging” occurs, in which people can engage in public sex, voyeurism, exhibitionism, swinging, group sex, or partner swapping. Quiet roadsides and rest areas make for private places to meet, making cars vital for maintaining heterosexual and non-heterosexual queer interactions as well. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Queerness and rurality」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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