Ugly Betty: The Birth of the Catty Queen

This past week’s Ugly Betty focused on high school.  Along with the regular Betty-centric plot, there was a subplot involving Justin Suarez and his first high school homecoming.  In the above scene Justin is the victim of a prank where the football team decides to crown him homecoming queen.  As Parker and I were watching it we both noticed the exact moment where Justin’s voice changes from trying to laugh it off to turning the prank back around on them.  It is the moment when he went from young fey to a budding catty queen.

Somewhere in the back of your mind you always know that the bitchy queen stereotype exists as a coping mechanism.  You know that the snark usually comes out when you back a fairy into a corner.  It doesn’t quite click though.  It’s only when you watch a young male — real or fictional — make the transition from boy to man that you allow yourself to make the connection.

It’s even more odd for me because I never knew a catty queen growing up.  My school and neighbourhood had more than their share of fairies, I’m not sure I have more than two straight friends from that time period, but none of us were ever the almost cruel men the stereotype is known for.  We were witty, yes.  Sassy, of course.  Sarcastic, definitely.  But we never had that biting sense of humour Marc, and now Justin, exhibit.  It wasn’t until I moved to the DC area that I met men who made me realise why so many people dislike queens.

I think a large part of this has to do with the way we were socialised.  We didn’t need to be catty, there was no one around to tease us.  If one of us was voted queen for anything it was because we worked hard for it.  The guys who stayed home are still very sweet and very effeminate while those of us who left have developed a bit more of a bite and lost a few of the more extreme camp mannerisms.  None of us are quite like the men I’ve met who grew up elsewhere, it seems that level of cattiness takes years of mistreatment to develop.  We’re closer to the teens I’ve seen in the more liberal areas of the city: happy and relaxed, but able to snap back if needed.

I have to wonder if the growing acceptance of being gay will eventually mean there are no more catty queens.  While a part of me thinks it will, the other part of me realises that accepting homosexuality and accepting variance in gender expression are two very different things.  I have met people who believe themselves to be very gay friendly until asked if they’d be ok with their son being a drag queen.  Very few people have reached a point where they’re just accepting of pink boys (see Sarah Hoffman’s blog for more on this term) as they are of tomboys.

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