What Do It Mean to Be a Gay Man? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE A GAY MAN?
• GAY AND STRAIGHT MEN PREFER MASCULE-PRENTG GAY MEN FOR A HIGH-STAT ROLE: EVINCE FROM AN ELOGILLY VALID EXPERIMENT
• CHARACTERISTICS OF GAY, BISEXUAL AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN WH MULTIPLE DIAGNOS OF INFECT SYPHILIS BRISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 2005–2014 : SEXUALLY TRANSMTED DISEAS
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE A GAY MAN?

Future analys of the muny’s health are warranted.Keywords: Bears, Gay Culture, Gay and Bisexual Men, Self-teem, Masculy, ObyINTRODUCTIONThe gay muny is ultimately a heterogeneo one wh many subgroups and subcultur—one of the monali among them beg the sire to have same-sex enunters. Bee there is a arth of general rearch regardg this muny, and no studi to date that e quantative methods, we cid to explore this muny quantatively—g an Inter-nvenience sample, followed by a purposive sample.As suggted, the Bear culture exhibs and valu a greater sense of domant (but not necsarily domeerg) “thentic masculy” parison to other subcultur wh the gay muny (e.g., twks or drag queens) (Hennen, 2005).

Though ostensible siari and overlappg tras exist between Bears and other gay male subcultur (e.g., the Leathermen), rearch dit that their exprsns of masculy, tolerance of behavrs, and valu may be unique (Wright, 1997).

In rponse and ntrast wh Leathermen, Bears mata their mascule inty whout adoptg negative hypermascule tennci to acmodate all partners, spe their size or body hairs.There is some theoretil support for why the Bear inty spltered om the gay male mastream culture.

GAY AND STRAIGHT MEN PREFER MASCULE-PRENTG GAY MEN FOR A HIGH-STAT ROLE: EVINCE FROM AN ELOGILLY VALID EXPERIMENT

That is, to ntradict “superordate” gay male subcultur (e.g., twks, partyboys, A-listers) that are anthetil to, and even antagonistic towards Bears, men who are hairier and heavier exist and adopt an inty to afont the stereotypil “alpha” gay male. Th, beg “gged,” “natural,” and “mascule” are revented by this muny through creased weight, hairs, and difference to fashn (Hennen, 2005).Popular culture, the media, and Wtern hetero- and homosexual expectatns have normalized the ial male body as one that is lean, mcular, and v-shaped (wh broad shoulrs, a narrow waist, and a flat but well-fed stomach) (Olivardia, Pope, Borowiecki, & Cohane, 2000).

CHARACTERISTICS OF GAY, BISEXUAL AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN WH MULTIPLE DIAGNOS OF INFECT SYPHILIS BRISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 2005–2014 : SEXUALLY TRANSMTED DISEAS

It even has been noted that, as a rult of the extreme importance placed on body image, physlogil (e.g., anorexia/bulimia) and psychologil pathologi (e.g., poor self-image/self-teem) velop both heterosexual and homosexual men exhibg ls sirable physil tras (Beren, Hayn, Wilfley, & Grilo, 1996; Morrison, Morrison, & Sager, 2004; Pepl et al., 2009; Weer, 2009; Yelland & Tiggemann, 2003). Whereas mastream gay men often do not engage sired or preferred sexual behavrs bee of fears of rejectn or judgment (Kamski, Chapman, Hayn, & Own, 2004), those the more acceptg Bear muny reject the fears due to their beg ultimately “feme” nature (Hennen, 2005). Acrdgly, men intifyg as Bears may be trsilly more terted enactg diverse sexual behavrs, some of which are equated wh masculy, and ph the lims of what may be nsired socially acceptable or normative sexual behavrs (e.g., uratn, fistg, voyrism, exhibnism) (Grov, Parsons, & Bimbi, 2010).Due to the active existence of the Bear muny and regnn of this subculture by the larger gay/bisexual male culture, more rearch is need to explore the gree to which the prevly mentned physil, behavral, and psychologil differenc actually exist.

Therefore, the most nservative timate of the Bear prevalence among gay and bisexual men would be the 14% llected at PriFt.ProcreSample 1: Craigslist Study Procr Men wh varyg sexuali who had placed sexual advertisements the “men seekg men” personals sectn of were asked to plete a brief onle survey om January to March 2008.

Group Non-Bearn = 41177.4% Bearn =12022.6%Non-Bearn (% of group)Bearn (% of group)Race/ethnicy Asian/Pacific Islanr9 (2.2)0 (0.0) Black17 (4.1)3 (2.5) Hispanic/Lato24 (5.8)7 (5.8) Whe351 (85.5)107 (89.2) Other/Mixed10 (2.4)3 (2.5)Edutn Some high school/fished high school45 (10.9)18 (15.0) Some unrgraduate140 (34.1)37 (30.8) Fished unrgraduate118 (28.7)30 (25.0) Some graduate/fished graduate108 (26.3)35 (29.2)Sexual Orientatn Homosexual243 (59.1)88 (73.3) Bisexual123 (29.9)25 (20.8) Heterosexual/No label45 (10.9)7 (5.8). Leatherman Competn606 (51.1)253 (72.5) PriFtst581 (48.9)96 (27.5)Race/ethnicy Asian/Pacific Islanr23 (1.9)3 (0.9) Black123 (10.4)19 (5.4) Hispanic/Lato77 (6.5)28 (8.0) Whe890 (75.1)274 (78.5) Other/Mixed/No label72 (6.1)27 (7.7)Edutn Some high school/fished high school189 (15.9)33 (9.4) Some Unrgraduate286 (24.1)91 (26.1) Fished Unrgraduate372 (31.4)92 (26.4) Some graduate/fished graduate340 (28.6)133 (38.1)Sexual Orientatn Homosexual1034 (87.4)332 (95.7) Bisexual75 (6.3)11 (3.2) Heterosexual75 (6.3)4 (1.1).

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Consirg the likely prevalence of a Bear inty may be held (wh varyg tenaci) by about 14–22% of gay men, the rults provi addnal evince for the manift and latent heterogeney of gay and bisexual men.The rults regardg body tras and partner selectn nfirm, for the first time a systematic manner, fdgs documented prev terview and ethnographic studi. Regardls of the potential explanatn, Bears appear to be more sexually diverse and explorative than mastream gay and bisexual men.The rults documented lower self-teem, which ntradicted both our hypothis and others’ terview rearch (e.g., Manley et al., 2007). In this rpect, Bears may overtimate and overstate re towards partners to self-prent as beg distct om men adherg to the mastream gay culture (which are often stereotyped as treatg partners as disposable) (Isay, 2009).A portra emerg om the Bear rults that supports a theory for why the gay muny ultimately is so heterogeneo (and th produc the high gree of spoff subcultur): Cultur facilate succsful same-sex enunters.

As Bears are not vastly different towards their sexual partners than mastream gay men, the culture veloped to ensure that even the heavit, hairit, and/or shortt dividual uld partner.LimatnsOur studi were not whout their limatns. Whether the ems are applible to gay men, bisexuals, or men qutng their sexualy remas unknown.Wh rpect to methods, the parabily of sampl may be somewhat uncerta, as one was llected through ter surveyg and the other, through paper survey. A study that answers the rearch qutns would provi further evince to support the heterogeney hypothis: Not only is the mastream gay muny culturally heterogeneo, but so are the sexual health behavrs and problems wh .One last suggtn for future rearch would be to tt some of the theori generated by the current data.

Future rearchers should wonr what other ways nformg or not nformg to gay norms, stereotyp, and the larger heterosexual culture impacts dividuals and their self-inti.AcknowledgmentsSpecial thanks to Cheryl “Caz” Szler, M.A., Kev Brown, M. As every gay man knows who has been sulted or asslted for his actual or perceived sexual orientatn, there are steep penalti for vlatg the Boy Co as there are for anyone who is “different” om the prumed (typilly whe, heterosexual, middle-class) standard. Robert Pollack says the most important thg a fay n do to support their gay son is to keep lovg him, “to nvey to him, as soon as he shar his feelgs, that he is still loved through and through, that his sexual orientatn will not any way dimish how much he is admired and rpected.