Jane WardВ is a professor that is associate of and Sexuality Studies during the University of Ca Riverside, where she teaches courses in feminist, queer, and heterosexuality studies. Her book that is new Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White guys, can be acquired now through the NYU Press.В Professor Ward talked with ATTN: aboutВ why numerous straight guys take part in sexual intercourse with every other andВ their usuallyВ homophobic rationalizationsВ of why.

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ATTN: As just as you are able to place it, how come right males have intercourse with one another?

JW: Because pressing other peopleвs figures is enjoyable! And because individuals are inquisitive. And simply because they can. In the same way main-stream tradition enables right ladies to own contact that is sexual ladies and continue maintaining a straight identity— right males likewise have these possibilities, nevertheless they look not the same as womenвs opportunities. В For straight-identified females, setting up with another woman is frequently a show for male spectators, however for right guys contact that is homosexual typically expressed as a kind of vulgar and homophobic joking, hazing or initiation, or as drunken stunts. So that the real mechanics associated with the behavior are simply the exact exact same ( greek dating for males and females), nevertheless the narratives that are cultural justify it are very different.

ATTN: can you hypothesize that the sex of many right men is more fluid than we understand?

JW: not really. Lots of people posit that intimate fluidity is a capability we have been either created with or weвre not. I’m not stating that right males are intimately fluid at their core, or that right guys are really bisexual or pansexual nevertheless they just donвt understand it yet. Alternatively, Iвm light that is shedding the truth that right men touch each otherвs penises and anuses a great deal, usually in hyper-masculine environments like fraternities therefore the armed forces, and perhaps they donвt understand why pressing to be intimate. В they are usually carrying it out as a manifestation of homophobia, or even to show precisely how hetero-masculine they truly are.В

ATTN: what size a share — according to your research– of this right population that is male you anticipate has attempted same-sex relations?

JW: Itвs perhaps perhaps perhaps not about “experimenting,” as this suggests, at the very least if you ask me, a aware option. Itвs about taking part in longstanding hetero-masculine rituals that integrate homosexual contact included in the work to build men that are heterosexual. В how men that are many? Well, whenever we look at the quantity of males who possess offered into the military… we think thatвs a beneficial spot to start.В

ATTN: Are there any advantages, in your viewpoint, to men that are straight in homosexual behavior?

JW: Through the viewpoint of heteronormativity, the power is the fact that most of these homosexual task often bolster menвs heteromasculinity. В But thatвs not a thing to commemorate; itвs something to look at with an in depth feminist attention.В

ATTN: how come right men face such enormous stress to rationalize or reject their same-sex experiences? Do females face the exact same stress?

JW: Unlike females, guys are susceptible to a “one fall rule” regarding homosexual contact. Also just one single experience that is homosexual immediately interpreted to imply that a guy is bisexual or homosexual, unless the contact occurs in just one of the methods that the principal tradition has recommended for right males. Females experience alot more leeway and in reality in many cases are at the mercy of the assumption that is opposite right guys have a tendency to genuinely believe that such a thing females do intimately is mostly about them! Even though you identify as a lesbian, like i really do, right guys think you simply have actuallynвt discovered the best guy yet.

ATTN: had been there ever a time by which practices that are homosexual straight men had been less stigmatized?

JW:В Straightness it self is a rather notion that is recent no more than a hundred yrs . old. There will always be loopholes when you look at the influence to limit yourself to procreativeВ sex, if thatвs what you mean. В These loopholes are always here, but they shift and evolve in the long run.

ATTN: You’ve got stated you’ve got a nagging issue because of the “born this way” argument. Could you explain why?

JW: this might be a complicated argument that we elaborate here.В However the brief response is that numerous scholars of sex, including myself, see intimate desires and identities as profoundly shaped by our social environment.В

ATTN: just how can stigma be eliminated among right men that have intercourse?

JW: we donвt necessarily know that thatвs the target. Some individuals appear to think that i will be protecting right guys, or worthwhile them by permitting them to claim their straightness. В But as a queer feminist, we donвt view heteronormativity as almost any reward. If right guys desire to stew within the juices of heterosexual tradition, along with of the misogyny and homophobia, i believe itвs more honest to allow them remain here than to claim them as queer since they have put their hands an additional manвs butt.