In the context of a same-sex love story set against a Western backdrop, Ang Lee shows that there are no conflicting ideas of masculinity with homosexuality or same-sex attraction. More often, gay men are stereotyped in the media as being emasculated, unmanly or even feminized. In a research done by Fingerhut (2006), participants of his mention that gay men are perceived to be ‘feminine, having feminine qualities, feminine mannerism, a high pitch voice and hence, a feminine walk.’ In the film, Jack, and Ennis, however, are not stereotyped as mentioned thus allowing them to be masculine and in love with each other. The characters of Jack and Ennis being a cowboy undermine’s viewers expectations of what ‘real’ men are supposed to be such as
