I just got called a “fake gay” by a straight girl because I didn’t fit the criteria made up in her mind that she considered to be “gay” (I didn’t talk fashion, flamboyantly enough, and my best friends aren’t girls).

This is an example of the majority imposing their point of view onto a minority as to how they’re supposed to act because of preconceived ideas thought of in the majority person’s head.

It’s the same thing that has been happening in Japan since the country ended its closed border policy in 1854 and Europeans poured in to study their culture. The white European male determined that the Japanese culture was one that was in direct opposition of Europe’s. West vs. East/ Masculine vs. Feminine/ Adult vs. Child-like/ Full-sized vs. Miniature/ Political vs. Aesthetic/ Active vs. Passive/ Occidental vs. Oriental.

Such is the life of a minority, with the privileged majority trying to make the minority as unique as possible. If the minority group shows any sign of similarity, the majority sees this as a threat and tries to suppress it. When Japanese fashion designers came to Paris to show off their collections in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, European critics wrote off anything that didn’t have an obvious “oriental” influence behind it as “not quite” or “a cheap imitation” of Parisian (non-Asian) fashion. Only when it did what critics dubbed “returning to their [the Japanese designers’] roots” was it worthy of any sort of praise. Only when it somehow represented the majority person’s conception of minority culture did it possess an aspect that made it a “good” piece of clothing.

Only when I talk about fashion to my group of girl friends with an effeminate voice and animated hand motions do I become a “good gay”.

Otherwise I’m just “fake.” “Not quite.”

“A cheap imitation.”