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Cowboy lore has never really been my thing. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed my share of Western romances, both the MM and MF variety. However, I’m a city girl. I gravitate toward the natural chaos of lights, crowds and an eclectic ambience in my real life and in my writing. But I can’t deny there are certain stories that transcend my urban sensibilities. One of those is Brokeback Mountain. Hang tight, pardner, I’m not going to write a decade old report on the significance of the film or the short story, but I came across this quote the other day and I started thinking about, well… cowboys. “Americans don’t want cowboys to be gay.” – Larry McMurtry
Keep in mind that Larry McMurtry is a renowned writer who famously won an Academy Award (along with Diana Ossana) for best screenplay adaptation of E. Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain. Taken out of context, I admit I initially bristled at the implied ignorance. (The current political times in which candidates are pointedly trying to remind us who’s American and who isn’t makes me a more than a little crazy.) Once I saw the source, I realized it was an acknowledgment of sorts that the general public has a preconceived notion of what cowboys look, act and sound like. Namely, they’re white and they’re men. Period. No women, and no one of color or an ethnic background that isn’t well…Protestant. The lore of a cowboy is that of a lone powerful white man who kicks ass and takes names later. The notion a homosexual man embodying all that…Americanism was just difficult for some idiots to wrap their heads around. Perhaps for some it still is.
But let’s be real…cowboys aren’t just men. Nor are they necessarily Caucasian and they don’t all pray to the same God. And it’s fair to surmise they don’t all love the same way. Some are gay, bi, trans. What they have in common is their profession. That’s all. The myth or mystique (or label) is all in our heads. It’s a story we’ve been fed until we can’t remember the source or whether or not it’s fiction. Stories like Brokeback Mountain are important because they challenge our perceptions and make us think. In a way, Jack and Ennis’s story inspired change. I won’t make any major claims or write the report I promised I wouldn’t, but powerful stories spark dialogue. Sometimes, it may be the catalyst that challenges and exposes archaic thought for what it is… outdated thinking.
The LGBT community and its supporters have witnessed monumental change in the past decade. It is a testament to those who have diligently fought for change and continue to do so, by standing up daily against those who want to label and belittle others based on their own prejudices. Religious freedom bills? You’ve got to be joking! To the men and women who refuse to accept a role appointed by someone else to appease traditional sensibilities. To the cowboys and cowgirls who do their jobs without question and rise above the notion they might not look, sound or act like the Lone Ranger… you are the real heroes.
The power of words never fails to amaze me. A simple quote noting the climate of the times is somehow inspirational because hey… as it so happens, I’m an American and yeah, I want my cowboys gay, lesbian, bi, trans and even straight. But unlike Brokeback Mountain, I’m hoping for a HEA. The guys deserve it. Hell, I may even write a one of them there stories myself someday. 😉
Lane Hayes![KindofTruth[A]_FBbanner_DSP](https://lovebytesreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/KindofTruthA_FBbanner_DSP.jpg)
Lane Hayes is grateful to finally be doing what she loves best. Writing full-time! It’s no secret Lane loves a good romance novel. An avid reader from an early age, she has always been drawn to well-told love story with beautifully written characters. These days she prefers the leading roles to both be men. Lane discovered the M/M genre a few years ago and was instantly hooked. Her debut novel was a 2013 Rainbow Award finalist and subsequent books have received Honorable Mentions in the 2014 and 2015 Rainbow Awards. She loves red wine, chocolate and travel (in no particular order). Lane lives in Southern California with her amazing husband and the coolest yellow Lab ever in an almost empty nest.
Books by Lane Hayes (Dreamspinner Press):
Better Than Good, Better Than Chance, Better Than Friends, Better Than Safe, The Right Words, The Wrong Man & The Right Time And A Kind Of Truth
And coming soon… A Kind of Romance (June 6, 2016)
Contact Information:
Website: http://lanehayes.wordpress.com
Twitter: @LaneHayes3
Facebook: LaneHayesauthor
Email: lanehayes@ymail.com
[…] Speaking of stereotypes…I wrote a blog post today at Love Bytes regarding the “cowboy myth”. The notion any one should act or be a certain way based on skin color, sex or religion is unconscionably irresponsible thinking in a modern era. Media coverage of political yahoos telling us how to take back America is reckless and ridiculous. I won’t go much further or I’ll be here all day pontificating on the idiots with money looking for a spot in the White House. Ugh! Check out my post here. […]
I can’t understand why the world still continues to pack people into boxes determined by their gender, occupation and age. In a modern first world society we should be intelligent enough to work out that we should be looking at is the person, the individual not whether they tick all the boxes you have in your mind of what they should be, because it is very presumptuous of us to expect everyone to conform to our own individual assumptions.
So, for me as long as the person I am dealing with is honest, kind and being the best they can be in the life they have chosen I couldn’t care less of their own sexual preferences just as much as the colour of their skin is unimportant.
If we want people to respect us then we also have to learn to respect them, regardless of whether it is a lifestyle we would have chosen.
Well said, JJ. Respect and honesty. Everything else is unnecessary and ignorant.
After reading Brokeback ‘Mountain’… who wouldn’t want a cowboy?
I loved that short story. The language was gorgeous and yeah… the cowboy story can be a very compelling one.
I so agree. Just yesterday I commented on a book review because one phrase stood out like a sore thumb. “…a male nurse who worked in the children’s ward…”. That qualifier of “male” in front of “nurse” ruffled my feathers. The reader already knew that the character was a male.
This is 2016, and a nurse is a nurse. Since we already knew that the character was a male, I suggested that the reviewer simply say/write “pediatric nurse” in the future to define such a character. I’d THOUGHT that gender bias in the medical field was long gone by now, especially when reviewing a M/M romance. If I was a bit perturbed, being a female reader, how would a male reader react to that qualifier of “male” nurse? A gay male reader? It just irked me, as no one says “female nurse”, and I also mentioned that old, sexist joke about the female surgeon.
Hopefully one day society won’t succumb to stereotypes and assumptions based on occupation. We’ve come so far yet not nearly far enough.
Yes! My point exactly. There are so many layers to this. The assumption we make based on titles and then how those people should look, act, talk,etc from there. It’s woven into the fabric of our society and frankly it’s going to take a long time to unravel.
It’s interesting that I don’t put Brokeback Mountain with the cowboy sub-genre. I do have to say I have enjoyed plenty over the years, so here are a few of my earlier read titles.
Rattler by Cap Iversen
Calico by Dorien Grey
Bareback by Chris Owen
Longhorns by Victor Banis
Murder at the Rocking R by Cat Ford
and two Aussie series
Lang Downs by Ariel tachna (oops thats a sheep station sorry)
Red Dirt Heart by N.R. Walker
Say it out loud (autobio) by Adam Sutton
All great books! Brokeback wasn’t a romance in the traditional sense like those you’ve listed, but it was definitely in the cowboy sub-genre. It’s a wonderful short story. I highly recommend it.
waaaaaaittt!! you mean cowboys AREN’T all white hetero males??? my illusions are shattered!
….thank goodness! 🙂
LOL! Happy to help with the shattering! 😉
[…] Speaking of stereotypes…I wrote a blog post today at Love Bytes regarding the “cowboy myth”. The notion any one should act or be a certain way based on skin color, sex or religion is unconscionably irresponsible thinking in a modern era. Media coverage of political yahoos telling us how to take back America is reckless and ridiculous. I won’t go much further or I’ll be here all day pontificating on the idiots with money looking for a spot in the White House. Ugh! Check out my post here. […]