Closeted

Plthe talk page for details. (September 2007)

The expressions "closeted" or "in the closet" generally refer to undisclosed sexual behavior, sexuality or sexual orientation. The most common of these are homosexuality or bisexuality but also include the gender identity of transgender and transsexual people and individuals who engage in kinky sexual behaviors such as BDSM or fetishes. The closet is a "life-shaping pattern of concealment"^{[citation needed]} where gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex individuals hide their sexuality/gender-identity in various areas of life, with family, friends, and at work. Individuals may marry or avoid certain jobs or social situations in order to avoid suspicion and exposure. "It is the power of the closet to shape the core of an individual's life that has made homosexuality into a significant personal, social, and political drama in twentieth-century America".^[1]

The term 'closet' is also used in a more general way for any behavior that is potentially embarrassing or controversial, and thus kept hidden. (e.g., "He's a closet drinker" or "I'm a closet Trekkie".)

[edit] History of the closet metaphor in reference to sexuality

"The word closet was first used to mean secret or unsuspected as early as the 1600s, but not in relation to a person's sexuality. Closeted also came into use around the same time and meant to keep something hidden or secret from others. Closet case, closet queen, or closet homosexual began to be used during the middle of the 20th century to mean that someone was hiding their homosexuality from others. Similar terms used around this time period were canned fruit, cedar chest sissy, and dry queen, which have now fallen into disuse."^[2]

The closet, as it is now used, dates from 1950s post-war America, when the deliberateness and aggressiveness of heterosexual enforcement increased. "Gay people in the pre-war years [pre-World War I]... did not speak of coming out of what we call the gay closet but rather of coming out into what they called homosexual society or the gay world, a world neither so small, nor so isolated, nor... so hidden as closet implies"^[3]. In fact, "using the term 'closet' to refer to" previous times such as "the 1920s and 1930s might be anachronistic" (Kennedy 1996).^[4]

NatalieCunialLulz wrote:

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<3 elaborate insults that boil down to " u r retarded lolz"