Swish is a derogatory term for effeminate behaviour and interests (camp), emphasized and sanctioned in pre-Stonewall gay male communities. This behaviour is also described as being nelly. Wentworth and Flexner define swish as a noun meaning "a male homosexual, esp. one with obviously feminine traits". Being swish includes sashaying and the use of limp wrists, falsetto voices, feminine pronouns, and superlatives (Sonenschein 1969; Tripp 197?, both cited in Levine 1998)—basically, everything up to the other side of camp, or drag.
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