"But today that's an obsolete model of things. And so for example, I'm not sure why, but linguistics tilts gay among men. A disproportionate number of men who major in linguistics are gay. And so I get a sense that [there are] a great many comfortably gay 19- and 20-year-olds to an extent that was not true when I was in college, despite [the fact that] gayness was hardly completely under-board."
John, that poses an interesting question. Does Linguistics, as a field of study, attract gay men, more than some other fields in liberal arts or social sciences. I don't think it did in my time (PhD, 1981, didn't stay in academics). Are there particular fields which attract 'queers'? Or, is the point that there are fields where it pays to self-describe?
"But today that's an obsolete model of things. And so for example, I'm not sure why, but linguistics tilts gay among men. A disproportionate number of men who major in linguistics are gay. And so I get a sense that [there are] a great many comfortably gay 19- and 20-year-olds to an extent that was not true when I was in college, despite [the fact that] gayness was hardly completely under-board."
John, that poses an interesting question. Does Linguistics, as a field of study, attract gay men, more than some other fields in liberal arts or social sciences. I don't think it did in my time (PhD, 1981, didn't stay in academics). Are there particular fields which attract 'queers'? Or, is the point that there are fields where it pays to self-describe?