Although this question references ballet in particular, I'm interested in the general process by which some hobbies became appropriate for any red-blooded American male to pursue and others became "gay."
It's always struck me as odd that where I grew up (the American South), some hobbies were fine for men to pursue and others were policed as unacceptable. Dance, singing, and gymnastics are gay; football and boxing are straight. My uninformed speculation is that this happened in the USA as gay culture became more visible as a way to signify straightness, while in other cultures where homosexuality was less visible (Soviet Russia?) these activities never received that coding. What's the evide
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