Banjee

Banjee or banjee boy is a term from the 1980s or earlier that describes a certain type of young Latino, Black, or multiracial man who has sex with men and who dresses in stereotypical masculine urban fashion for reasons which may include expressing masculinity, hiding his sexual orientation and attracting male partners. The term is mostly associated with New York City and may be Nuyorican in origin. ["Bangee" and "Banjy" should probably be regarded as a misspellings rather than variant spellings based on the well-established use of "banjee" in print since at least the 1990 release of "Paris is Burning".] [http://www.bravesoulcollective.org/perspectives/topic-of-the-month/maskulinity/deconstructing-banjee-realness/] Deconstructing Banjee Realness] [Tank tops, "wifebeaters" and other muscle shirts that show off the wearer's physique are a major part of banjee fashion (as evidenced by the promotional shots for the play "Banjee" discussed herein, as well as the costumes worn between sex scenes in the porn movies mentioned). Considering that these shirts are a ubiquitous trapping of hip hop culture and are arguably more popular among young gay men than they are in general, the banjee predilection for them makes sense.]

An African-American man writes:

Banjee. That was the identity I was given back in the summer of 1991, when I, half out/half in approached the colored museum of the Christopher Street piers. I was new to the life, so I had no reference for what people were talking about, but I soon gathered that "banjee" meant that I wasn't a "queen." Whatever the terms of identification, all I knew was that there was one thing that brought both the banjees and the queens (and whatever lies between) to the pier: we were men who loved men. An anxious 19 year old, I wore my banjee realness designation like a badge of honor. [...] a queen schooled me on how my masculinity was something that carried great weight, not only in the gay world, but the straight world as well."

The 1990 documentary film "Paris is Burning" featured "banjee realness" as one of the categories in which contestants competed for trophies. According to the "Village Voice" "banjee boy categories have been a part of vogue balls since at least the early '80s." [ [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0002,trebay,11690,5.html] "Village Voice" 2000]

The word "banjee" never entered mainstream pop culture, but it had currency as gay slang throughout the 1990s. In 1998, a report in the medical journal "AIDS patient care and STDs" regarding safer sex practices among young Black and Latino men was entitled "Banjee Boys Are Down" ("down", in this vernacular, meaning "supportive of it"). [ [http://www.medscape.com/medline/publicationbrowser/11087/12_1/dt_01011998/limit_8] Medscape:"AIDS patient care and STDs"]

The 1999 play "Banjee", presented at New York's Lesbian and Gay Arts Festival (and in another NYC venue in 2004), is "the story of Angel (Indio Melendez), a straight homeboy, and Tony (Will Sierra), an admittedly bi banjee, who've known each other since childhood." [ [http://www.theatrereviews.com/pastreviews/banjee.html] Theatre Reviews Limited ] [ [http://www.oobr.com/top/volTen/twentyone/0221banjee.htm] Midtown International Theatre Festival 2004] [ [http://www.villagevoice.com/theater/9925,hannaham,6624,11.html] "Village Voice" 2004] [ [http://www.nyblade.com/2004/1-30/arts/theater/theater.cfm] "New York Blade" 2004]

Nuyorican openly gay poet Emanuel Xavier included a poem titled "Banjee Realness" in his 1997 self-published poetry collection, "Pier Queen" and uses the term throughout his 1999 novel, "Christ Like".

The term banjee is also been used by several producers of gay pornography in presenting the type of young man described herein. For example, in 1995 a company called Pleasure Productions produced a DVD called "Banjee Black Boys" (and five similarly named sequels) and circa 1999-2003 a company called Banjee Boy, Inc. produced films with taglines such as "Wanna see some of the sexiest, thugged out gangstas that NY has to offer?" There are other examples from adult films, as well as several pornographic websites (such as "Banjee Boy Group Slam") that still use the term. [ [http://shop.freyacomm.com/rgo/index.cfm?method=Product&ID=215297] "Banjee Black Boys" (adults only)] [ [http://www.hotmovies.com/director/1907/Bangee-Boy/?custom_theater=940] Banjee Boy, Inc. (adults only) ] [ [http://www.kinkyandwild.com/1209/inter/2/index.html] Banjee Boy Group Slam (adults only)]

While seeming to have peaked in popularity during the 1990s, the term banjee is still in use. For example, a 2003 web page for a restaurant in East Harlem describes its clientele as an "eclectic mix of patrons that range from pretty neighborhood Banjee boys to some of the wise guys that once populated the space formerly." [ [http://www.orbiteastharlem.com/about.html] Orbit East Harlem] In 2008 the band Hercules & Love Affair has performed wearing matching shirts with the word printed on them. [ [http://stereogum.com/archives/concert/hercules-love-affair-played-the-first-show-studi_009867.html Hercules & Love Affair Played Their First Show @ Studio B, Brooklyn 5/17/08 - Concert - Stereogum ] ]

Related terms

Homo thug is a more recent and more popular term which is nearly-synonymous with "banjee". However, "homo" thug does imply that the man in question is primarily homosexual. In contrast, a banjee might be homosexual but might also be bisexual or only have opportunistic homosexual sex with men when women are unavailable. The latter situation is a theme in many of the pornographic films mentioned above. [ [http://www.ronntaylor.com/bulbs/000030.html] Homie-Sexuals, Homo-Thugs & Banjee Queens Galore] [ [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=homo+thug] Urban Dictionary, started in 1999, has a discussion about "homo thug" but as of January 2007 did not have an entry for "banjee" or "banjee boy". Shortly after this Wikipedia article appeared, the term "banjee" appeared on Urban Dictionary. While sources used for this article certainly show that the term "banjee" is , the term is also esoteric, localized, and is perhaps losing rather than gaining currency.]

Gayngsta, a portmanteau derived from "gay" and "gangsta", is another recent coinage. It has mostly been used in relation to the underground LGBT hip hop scene as shown in the documentary "Pick Up the Mic" and featured in the "Homorevolution Tour 2007" with these artists. While easily discernible in writing, pronunciation is barely discernible from "gangsta". [ [http://www.peaceoutfestival.com/id28.html] "Pick Up the Mic": The Movie] [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/01/24/gayngsta-rapper-deadlee-launches-a-homorevolution/] "Rolling Stone"] [To pronounce "gayngsta" differently from "gangsta", one has to either draw out the first syllable, accent it, create a stop after it, or take care to pronounce it as "gay" and the rest of the word as "ngster". As all of these options run contrary to the flow of conversational English, it seems unlikely this term will see much use outside of writing.]

Banjee girl is heard so rarely that it is difficult to define. In discussing a fashion show in Paris, one reviewer wrote in 2005:

The low-rise skirt in denim is the first of its kind seen on the Paris runways. What is now clear to me is that no self-respecting Banjee Latina, or ghetto-fabulous “Shamecka-girl” or high rolling white chick will be ever able to resist its urban appeal. [ [http://www.fashionwindows.com/fashion_review/paris/2005S/xuly_bet.asp] Xuly Bët at Paris Prêt-á-Porter Spring 2005. While the reviewer does seem to understand that "banjee" has some relation to urban fashion and may be deliberately mixing cultural associations for humorous effect, they seem to have confused "Shamecka" (a female first name in Arabic) with "schmatte" (from Yiddish שמאַטע, from Polish "szmata") meaning "rag". The reviewer in question may be similarly confused about the meaning of "banjee". ]

Several examples of the use of the term "Banjee girl" exist in the blogosphere but it has rarely, if ever, made it into print or mass media. [ [http://www.slowcode.com/] An example from the blogosphere.]

ee also

*Down-low (MSM)

Notes and references