Double Standard?

[jpchewy01]

So I was browsing through YouTube when I came across this gem:

[video=youtube;DAQ8J7vDy4E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAQ8J7vDy4E[/video]

After I finished the video, it occurred to me that there is a double standard that exists about homosexuality. Males (the part of the population that has the most say about decisions in the world) tend to find lesbians fascinating and even attractive while they may call their friend who's a fan of Broadway a "******" or refer to an unpleasant situation as "gay." I don't want this to turn into a debate about gay marriage because that's not the question I'm asking. The question I'm asking is why do you think this double standard exists or do you think it exists at all? Also a bonus one for the ladies, do females sexualise gays in the same way that males sexualise lesbians?

 

[Ser Gregor]

From my experience some females have the same fantasies of gay men, indeed a lot of the girls I associated with in High School. Once I got to University however I found that trend reversed.

I can't remember where I read it, but there was some research done in to the 'inherent' beauty of women and lesbian sex. I can vouch from a historical view that female homosexuality is, when displayed at all in art, more overt than many artistic representations of male homosexuality. That, to me, is evidence that this is some level of instinct in being attracted to lesbian acts.

 

[Kaeb]

This only occurred to you now?

 

[Saul]

I haven't talked in the OOC and Political Affairs parts of the forum in a while for a reason, but I'll stick my neck out here. I'm fairly sure that homophobia is a manifestation of male-on-male sexism, because homosexual men aren't fitting into what a "man" is supposed to be. But I will say that there needs to be a movement among men akin to feminism that tries to bring more awareness to this issue and a number of other issues that plague the male gender but which aren't pointed out because men occupy the zenith of power in society (like expectation that a man needs to have children and therefore a legacy to be successful, it's not universal but I've encountered it). As a side note, women generally do not "sexualize" gays like men do to lesbians, I've asked this question to dozens of women before with the same answer. Most don't find them repulsive, either, and when they do it's my personal opinion that they feel this way because they were indoctrinated into a male-dominated society which told them such things were wrong. I'd like to attribute this whole fantasy about lesbians to paraphilias and a general notion that men are more likely than women to be attracted to something which isn't attracted back to them, but I've no sources.

This is probably a whole can of worms, but if I broke it down I'd have a thousand word post. It's 4:30 a.m., I made a short post that I'll probably be critiqued over. Adios.

 

[jpchewy01]

This only occurred to you now?

Haha no. I just was inspired to make a thread about it now and see what you guys thought.

 

[Stacker01]

Uhhh...what Saul said.

The following is my opinion which is based off what I have seen and heard.

This is a society very driven by males who despise homosexuality in one respect, but praise it in another. We men make amazing hypocrites. However, I have found that many women I know or have spoken to do not see homosexuality in the same way men do. Usually, when they do they also happen to be of a denominate of Christianity, though this is not always the case.

I've found that there is mostly a double standard because men are generally driven in a way that is very different than most women, and our society enforces that. In the eyes of many men, a feminine man is an abomination of sorts (though this is also simply the stereotype and not what every homosexual male is like). There is this idea that a man must be fit, strong, muscular, capable of defending whatever he claims. However, in those same eyes, anything with a pulse and feminine organs is generally fair play.

However, from the eyes of many women, a masculine man has become the society stereotype for an abusive, PTSD ridden, raging alcoholic who can't see anything above tits. Thusly, a more feminine man can become more appealing as the feminine lifestyle has become the societal idea of a perfect man in a land where war and fighting is generally a thought of the distant past, a part of history. This allows for quite a few women to see homosexual men in both the same light as many men would see homosexual women as well as simply seeing them as normal, even without the attraction. In the same breath, many women who claim to be strictly hetero will find enjoyment at the idea of lesbians for one reason or another that I am personally not going to mention.

With society pushing the idea that all masculine men are ferocious barbarians and feminine men are perfect, the masculine side of society is in a state of mental/emotional rebellion and deems anything that they might think "should be masculine" but isn't a disease or curse or any number of other insults while finding what they think "should be feminine" as feminine is perfection. This also goes for seeing that which they believe "should be feminine" but isn't as an equal, if not worse abomination than male homosexuality.

Religion is also a widely used excuse, with things like the Bible saying a man who sleep with a man as they would a woman (and the often left out part of a woman sleeping with a woman as they would a man) is supposed to be stoned to death. Some take this too far, missing out on "let he who hath no sin cast the first stone", but that becomes a discussion that was not meant to be here.

Yes, there is a very heavy double standard, though mostly from the eyes of males heterosexuals and devout persons. Then again, this is just my observation and not necessarily established fact.