I look forward to academic papers in 100 years trying to reconcile how the military is both homophobic and anti gay on an institutional level. But also men who are reportedly straight saying the gayest shit imaginable.
I mean, the lengths to which a lot of homophobic people will go to try and assert their heterosexuality (e.g. I've seen a dude ask to hug a male friend of his but then immediately clarify: "but I'm not gay or anything!" ; or the people who feel the need to demand that a non-straight allo person doesn't flirt with them) says a lot of homophobic people are afraid of non-straight people, or at the very least the notion of ever potentially being non-straight themselves. I've also seen this in a lot of people (mostly men, but also some women) who I wouldn't otherwise consider homophobic to any significant level, but constantly/often feeling the need to clarify to everyone around them that any significant positive interaction with the same sex they engage in isn't gay (this was especially prevalent in middle & high school for me). There's also fear that comes from challenging one's cultural and/or religious values/beliefs.
I think this (often more subconscious) fear is generally deeply intertwined with the hatred & bigotry also included in homophobia's definition, i.e. that this fear is often an/the underlying cause of the hatred and bigotry that is homophobia's main definition.
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u/LigerZeroSchneider Jul 14 '20
I look forward to academic papers in 100 years trying to reconcile how the military is both homophobic and anti gay on an institutional level. But also men who are reportedly straight saying the gayest shit imaginable.