Abstract
The sexualities of men who have same-sex desires yet identify as straight have attracted significant attention in recent years. We present findings from interviews with 100 such men, whom we recruited while they were seeking sex with men online, and examine the logics that allow them to maintain an identity as straight. Our sample is somewhat unique in that it included men across a wide age range (from 18 to 70), and also because many of our participants are white adult US men who are married or in stable relationships with women. Based on their patterns of sexual interpretation, we discuss how these men make their same-sex desires and behaviours consistent with a primary self-identification as straight. We argue that, in the process of maintaining identities as straight men, they change the definition of heterosexuality, in effect turning it into a considerably elastic category that is perceived as fully compatible with having and enact-ing same-sex desires.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 90-108 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Sexualities |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 1-2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2018 |
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the American Institute of Bisexuality (AIB) and the Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN).
Keywords
- Heteroflexibility
- logics of self-identification
- mostly heterosexual
- sexual orientation
- straight-identified men
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Gender Studies
- Anthropology