Sociologist
Eric Anderson is reporting that
in Britain straight males are starting to engage in same-sex kisses with their peers.
Based on in-depth interviews of 145 British university and high-school students, Anderson and his colleagues discovered that 89 percent had kissed a male heterosexual friend on the lips at some point. A total of 37 percent had engaged in "sustained" kissing with another man, Anderson said. The men all identified as straight, and they didn't see the kisses as sexual.
"These men have lost their homophobia," Anderson said. "They're no longer afraid to be thought gay by their behaviors, and they enjoy intimacy with their friends, just the same as women."
[...]
The United Kingdom is less homophobic as a whole than the United States, Anderson said, but Americans should expect acceptance of men kissing on our shores soon enough. Research on American college soccer players suggests that 20 percent of those men have kissed another man, which is a harbinger of the trend, Anderson said.
It's not yet known how the trend of men kissing extends to non-University segments of the British population. Anderson plans to extend the research to minority men and low-income men who aren't in college.
Growing acceptance of same-sex kissing doesn't mean that homophobia is gone, just that masculine ideals are changing, Anderson said. His theory, put forth in his book, "Inclusive Masculinity: The Changing Nature of Masculinities" (Routledge, 2009), is that in times of homophobia, men police their behavior to avoid being seen as gay. When homophobia fades, men can relax and explore behaviors that don't jive with the traditional masculine ideal. "Decrease in homophobia has positive effects for heterosexual men as well," Anderson said.
Thoughts? Does anyone think that such "enlightened" views about how heterosexual masculinity can be constructed will ever cross the pond and reach the United States?
This image does remind me of Isaiah Thomas and Magic Johnson's court-side kiss back in the 1988 Finals. This is different because these two soccer players are kissing each other on the lips as opposed to the kiss on the cheek.
ReplyDeleteI find this apparent change in heterosexual masculinity across the border to be fascinating. Yet, I am not sure that when homophobia fades, men will start exploring every behavior that conflict with "traditional" masculine identities. Personally, I have never considered intimacy with another man but not out of fear being perceived as "gay" but simply because I do not want to.
With that said however, kissing (between anyone regardless of gender) does not have to be seen in a sexual context. Brothers can kiss, sisters can smooch, parents and their kids, friends etc. It amazes me that across the Atlantic, people have already seen kissing in a different light whereas America has not.
Good Point David. You are correct. America would have a collective gasp, it would appear, if this was common place. It is interesting though that many athletes in various team sports here in the states, smack each others ass with alacrity. So what it would seem is Yanks tend to fancy ones ass as European's are partial to lips... Heads or Tails, as it were. Interesting.
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