criticizing the stereotype of the gay male as effeminate. . . Fiction author John Rechy. John Rechy's fiction was one of the original celebrants of the masculine gay. His more recent material is far more concerned about compulsory masculinity in gay culture. Here are two excerpts from Rushes [NY: Grove Press 1979]:

All of the men clutch their drinks - usually beer - too tightly, as if in protection against a dreaded effeminate move. To further ward off that curse, they pose slouched against the walls, the bar, on stools, beer crates. . .
The former "sissies" have developed a tough, bruised beauty, as clearly homosexual as drag; contrived, studied. Unreal. Increasingly alike, Endore sees. . .
The new masculinity is damned to bouts with the tenacious vulnerability.
(pp. 18-19)

The hardened practiced looks, the mirthless laughter, the ravaging alcoholism which began so much earlier now, the reliance on sexual drugs - these came with uniforms of policemen, of storm troopers, of fascist militarists, even of hooded executioners. Black leather deaped the body in sexual mourning. . . The clothes and the stances became as obvious as those of the old effeminacy; a new drag - but now effeminacy was despised, forbidden, outlawed. The masculine homosexuals had become the new sissy-haters, like the bullies who had taunted them as children.
(p. 94)


Here is a newsgroup for guys who don't exactly fit the stereotype.

And a relevant web site on the topic. (worth checking out)

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