Benedict Cumberbatch Talks Playg a Reprsed Gay Character

Contents:

• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH REFLECTS ON PLAYG A REPRSED GAY CHARACTER 'THE POWER OF THE DOG'
• "I REALIZED I WAS GAY": MEN WHO CAME OUT LATER IN LIFE ARE SHARG WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR THEM TO REVEAL THAT TTH AND LIVE AUTHENTILLY
• STUDY: YUP, THE BIGGT HOMOPHOB TEND TO HAVE REPRSED GAY TENNCI

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH REFLECTS ON PLAYG A REPRSED GAY CHARACTER 'THE POWER OF THE DOG'

The ia that homophobia men is a unter-reactn to their own unwanted attractn to other men has s roots psychoanalysis – where's 's nsired a psychodynamic fense – and is possibly supported by anecdotal evince, most recently reports that the perpetrator of the horrific homophobic massacre at an Orlando gay club was himself gay.

But 's worth heedg the utns noted on Science of Us yterday where journalist Cari Romm noted that "ternalized homophobia almost never manifts self as vlence" her article head The Myth of the Vlent, Self-Hatg Gay Homophobe.

However, if reprsed gay impuls are a mon motivator for homophobic attus, this would be eful to know om the perspective of batg homophobia, and for helpg such people e to terms wh their own sexualy. For stance, supportg the theory, a study om 1996 volvg dozens of men who self-intified as heterosexual found that some of those wh homophobic attus got an erectn rponse to gay porn, but the men who weren't homophobic did not.

"I REALIZED I WAS GAY": MEN WHO CAME OUT LATER IN LIFE ARE SHARG WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR THEM TO REVEAL THAT TTH AND LIVE AUTHENTILLY

On the other hand, a later study that measured time spent lookg at imag of men kissg found no evince that some homophobic men are gay at a subnsc level – fact, some of the homophobic men seemed to have an implic aversn to such a new, small study The Journal of Sexual Medice has bed a range of techniqu, cludg eye trackg, to show that a subset of homophobic men who self-intify as heterosexual do seem to have an impulsive, tomatic attractn to other rearchers asssed the homophobia of 38 heterosexual young men – high srers agreed strongly wh statements like "Gay men should stop shovg their liftyle down other people's throats". On half the trials, an image of a gay male uple subsequently appeared on the si of the screen toward which the participants were movg the manik; on the other trials, a heterosexual uple appeared this posn. Relatively faster performance when the task volved movg the manik toward the gay male uple was taken as a sign of implic attractn, rather than aversn, toward homosexual that, the rearchers tracked the eye movements of the participants as they looked at and rated the pleasantns of imag of gay male and heterosexual upl.

The men were told to look at the imag for as long as necsary to make their judgments, and longer time spent lookg specifilly at the fac and bodi of the gay male upl was taken by the rearchers as another sign of attractn to men.

STUDY: YUP, THE BIGGT HOMOPHOB TEND TO HAVE REPRSED GAY TENNCI

Also, whereas there was no lk between the amount of impulsive attractn the non-homophobic men showed toward men (on the manik task) and the time they spent lookg at the imag of male gay upl, there was a lk among the highly homophobic participants – those who showed a greater impulsive attractn to men also tend to look longer at the imag of gay upl than heterosexual suggts the homophobic men's alleged impulsive attractn to men was also affectg their lookg behavr, although whether 's fair to terpret this creased lookg at gay men as attractn, rather than, say, cursy, is batable.

That is, among the highly homophobic men, those who showed signs of implic attractn to men the manik task also tend to give higher pleasantns ratgs to the imag of gay male upl, but not to the imag of heterosexual rearchers acknowledged their fdgs are limed by their small sample size, and that would have been eful to measure strs and anxiety to see how this was affectg the rults.

For stance, 's possible that for homophobic men the strs of lookg at gay imagery has the ironic effect of creasg the fluence of their implic attractn to men on their behavur – a strs effect that would be absent non-homophobic men, hence their implic attractn not beg relevant to their lookg limatns and plexi asi, the rearchers nclud that their fdgs provi more evince nsistent wh the ia that "some men high homophobia ed have a sexual tert toward homosexual stimuli, whereas others do not" and that they "provi a better unrstandg of the psychologil procs volved the procsg of erotic gay material among men high homophobia... I don't believe reprsed homosexualy, the sense that you're gay and don't know and don't adm , even to yourself, sure. Now 's te that he didn't have any straight guys wantg to be gay, but 's reasonable to assume that this thg ns both ways.