How to act not gay
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Abstract
Last October, lgbtq+ magazine Out ran a spotlight on Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, who had recently written a scathing letter to politician Emmett Burns criticizing him for his anti-gay platform. According to Out, Kluwe’s letter was published on the popular sports website Deadspin and has since gone viral, sparking tremendous controversy and debate in the worlds of sports and politics, as adequately as in general news outlets. Kluwe’s advocacy of gay rights was clearly unusual, otherwise it would not have garnered the public attention that it did. A gesture of support for gay rights is not itself newsworthy, at least not in this day and age; what made this one unusual was the evidence that it came from an NFL athlete. The NFL has traditionally not been particularly hospitable to the gay rights movement, possibly because professional sports leagues have always been seen to be bastions of heterosexual masculinity. As a straight man, I’ve noticed that my fellow straight men seem to be an underrepresented demographic in the American political arena for gay rights. Even more underrepresented are pro athletes, who are culturally perceived to be in th
by Fred Penzel, PhD
This article was initially published in the Winter 2007 edition of the OCD Newsletter.
OCD, as we know, is largely about experiencing drastic and unrelenting doubt. It can cause you to doubt even the most basic things about yourself – even your sexual orientation. A 1998 research published in the Journal of Sex Research establish that among a collective of 171 college students, 84% reported the occurrence of sexual intrusive thoughts (Byers, et al. 1998). In order to hold doubts about one’s sexual identity, a sufferer depend on not ever have had a homo- or heterosexual experience, or any type of sexual experience at all. I have observed this symptom in new children, adolescents, and adults as well. Interestingly Swedo, et al., 1989, found that approximately 4% of children with OCD experience obsessions concerned with forbidden hostile or perverse sexual thoughts.
Although doubts about one’s possess sexual identity might feel pretty straightforward as a symptom, there are actually a number of variations. The most obvious develop is where a sufferer experiences the thought that they might be of a different sexual orientation than they formerly believed. If the su
Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material society, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I reside in this blog. You might say I hold multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of truth, like a ghost in the machine.
I have some human assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.
If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t consciousness talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they hold been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are veiled, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.
Contrary to local folklore, I harbor no homosexual desires. However, almost all of my male friends (and about half of my male relatives) are same-sex attracted. Due to the proof that I'm, shall we say, definitely into my feminine side, some homosexual men simply assume that I, too, am a member of their royal family; others, who possess a keen sense of gaydar, know immediately that I'm pathetically straight.
Subscribing to the belief that the only difference between a straight man and a gay guy is a six-pack of beer, the gay men who consider I'm "a member" possess come to accept what some refer to as my "illusion of strong heterosexual desires." At least, they stopped making passes. It must be tough on 'em. I'm so damn devilishly handsome.
I attribute my sexual ambiguity to the fact that no male role models existed when I was a child. Raised in an exclusively female household, I grew up terrified of men. Now, I'm scared of women, but I digress. And yes, I'm in therapy. Permanently.
During my preschool years, Mom, who had wanted a teen she planned to label Stevie Sue, thought I looked cute in lipstick and Grandma loved painting my nails bright red. Forget G.I. Joe, I was too busy stumbling around in high heels
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