Community | November 10, 2010 | 75 comments

Is There A Difference Between Bisexual And 'Mostly Straight' Guys?

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toyotabedzrock
Growing up gay, I always thought that if you were attracted to both men and women, that made you bisexual. But is there a difference between being bi and being "mostly straight"?

The Good Men Project sits down with Dillon, a college varsity hockey goalie, who says he loves the ladies. But. http://goodmenproject.com/2010/11/03/mostly-straight/

> By his own admission, Dillon says he resides in the “Sexual Netherlands” (his words),
> a place that exists between heterosexuality and bisexuality. In previous generations,
> such individuals might have been described as “straight but not narrow,” “bending a
> little,” and “heteroflexible.” Dillon is part of a growing trend of young men who are
> secure in their heterosexuality and yet remain aware of their potential to experience
> far more—sexual attractions, sexual interactions, crushes, and, ocassionally
> romantic relationships with other guys. Dillon lives these contradictions—seemingly
> hetero guys who now reject that label, sexual description, and identity.

[...] To the uninitiated, “mostly straight” is a paradox. These young men fracture the
> heterosexual agenda—or do we call it a lifestyle? If a guy is not exclusively into girls,
> he can’t be totally straight. Aren’t you supposed to pick a side? If a guy is not
> straight, not bisexual, and not gay—and yet still falls in love and gets an erection—
> what the hell is he?

[...] Sizable numbers of young men maintain their “mostly straight” status—not just as
> adolescents or college students, but as adults. Of the 160 guys we interviewed for a
> study in 2008 and 2009, nearly one in eight reported same-sex attractions,
> fantasies, and crushes. The majority had these feelings since high school; a few
> others developed them more recently. And in a national sample of young men whose
> average age was 22, the “mostly straight” proportion increased when they completed
> the same survey six years later. These men aren’t bisexuals in disguise. They’re not
> closeted gay men seeking the privileges afforded to heterosexuals in society.
> They’re not simply tired of sex with women. With the words “mostly straight,” they’re
> describing a unique sexual identity, their complete romantic self.

There are a wide variety of "mostly straight" guys, from guys who only sometimes fantasize about going to bed with a dude to those who would probably be gay were it not for the homophobic culture they were raised in. For me, I always drew a (zig-zagging, incomplete, and prone to be broken) line in the sand between guys who would screw around with other guys but still prefer women, to guys who could actually have a relationship with another guy. And yet isn't attraction to both men and women the very reason we have the B-word in the first place? Is it time for LGBTQIA-MS?
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75 comments // Is There A Difference Between Bisexual And 'Mostly Straight' Guys?

  • littlwarrior
  • juicie
    • +2
      juicie  
    • I had friends who would get really fucked up...I think it was on DXM (I never did that stuff)...and they would make out just cause it felt good at the time....other wise they are straight and only bone chicks

    • 1 year ago
  • GENERALNATTY
  • Reeseismyname
    • +1
      Reeseismyname  
    • You should really read this book called Evolution's Rainbow. It really changes your perception of what it means to be gay/bi/whatever the hell you want to call it. At least for me it made me realize that (like in the Pride Flag) there are no hard lined distinctions between the various colors of sexual orientation... it is a hazy line even between male and female. So the fact that there are men who are interested in men does not necessarily make them just gay, or even just straight, everyone is just somewhere within the range of human sexuality.
      In this book too there are great examples in the animal kingdom of which some monkeys (bonobos) have gay sex and straight sex and whatever other kind of sex all the time, but it does not mean that they are gay or straight -- they do it all the time to either sex.
      So I don't see why we are so hung up on defining people as gay and straight... if you like boning one sex, do it... if you like the other, do it... if you don't like either, don't do it... if you like both, do them.

    • 1 year ago
  • MizPiz
  • Nabe8
    • +2
      Nabe8  
    • I'm glad you brought this issue up, toyotabedzrock, because I've always had trouble with the labels "gay" and "straight." They've always been used in a mutually exclusive way:

      If you are straight, then you are not gay.
      Likewise, if you are gay, then you are not straight.

      But they are NOT exclusive of each other. Consider this:
      The definition of being gay is having same sex attractions.
      The definition of being straight is having opposite sex attractions.

      And so here is the bisexual conundrum: if asked if I am gay, I say yes. If asked if I am straight, I say yes. But to some people, I'm just gay, because straight people would never do such things. To them, there is only 100% straight with everything else being gay.

      It always enraged me for someone else to deny my straightdom because they were in essence denying my existence. They would force a statement on me that was untrue with such force and neglect: "you're not straight if you like guys."

      ~~~
      On a similar note, I face a parallel struggle with labels in the gay (male) world. Although I consider myself gay and have had a boyfriend for a year now, I do not like anal sex. And for those of you who do not know, in the gay male world, you are either a top, a bottom, or versatile. This means that you have one of three identity choices: You fuck men in the ass, you get screwed in the ass, or you do both. (Sorry for the graphic language, but that is the clearest way to state it.) So if I'm in a bar, and a cute guy asks if I'm a top or a bottom, I have no easy way to answer that question. If only there were another category for cocksuckers and/or equal-opportunity anyone-can-blow-me boys, I'd have a concise and more glamorous way to answer that question...

      This might be dangerous, but I'm going to open the floor up to suggestions. What easy label could I possibly use that wouldn't warrant a lengthy explanation, but could also catch on quickly? Is there already a word in use amongst gay men? (BTW, You should probably be gay to answer this last question.)

    • 1 year ago
  • toyotabedzrock
    • +2
      toyotabedzrock  
    • Nabe8:

      There are gay men who do not like anal sex, its not a requirement for gay men to like that.

      The gay or str8 question is more of an initial interview type question. And most people want to know that if the relationship does end it will not be with you running off with someone of a different sex, it causes more emotional harm when it happens.

      It's a question about which sex you prefer basically. Most gay men could have sex with a women if they had to. I used to have a girlfriend for almost 4 years, but I identify as gay.

    • 1 year ago
  • ahappymintleaf
  • PzLuvHappeniz
    • 0
      PzLuvHappeniz  
    • I'm "straight" would that hold me back from hooking up with a guy if the occasion called for it, probably not. I agree with Stever_B, fuck the labels. Lets all just love eachother

    • 1 year ago
  • Stever_B
    • +5
      Stever_B  
    • Labels, labels, labels... everybody's got to have the labels. I SO wish for the day when people (especially men) are more honest with their sexualities and not so hung up on what society or the guy next to you might think about what you're doing.

      Of course, as I learned in the other thread, that kind of a sentiment could only come from a gay guy or a soccer player, and I'm no soccer player.

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • JohnA
  • andreii
    • +1
      andreii  
    • JohnA:

      What if you fell deeply in love with a woman who after 5 years of a great sexual relationship you decided to get married, but before she could go through with it, she told you she was born a man? Would you stay with that woman?

      This question always gets people...

    • 1 year ago
  • Stever_B
  • bailey78
  • JohnA
    • 0
      JohnA  
    • andreii:

      No I wouldn't, and here's why. For five years she's been deceiving me. What else is there she hasn't told me Trust has been broken. I would never be able to trust her again, and if I can't trust her, I can't marry her.

    • 1 year ago
  • randallr01
    • +5
      randallr01  
    • “I think I’ve always been bisexual. I mean, it’s something that I’ve always been interested in. I think people are born bisexual, and it’s just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of ‘Oh, I can’t.’ They say it’s taboo. It’s ingrained in our heads that it’s bad, when it’s not bad at all. It’s a very beautiful thing.” -- Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • If you enjoy sticking your winky in some guys stinky then you are Gay. No two ways about it. Straight guys don't have sex with other straight guys. Thats what Gay guys do. I don't care what to grown men do to each other so long as it's what they both want.

    • 1 year ago
  • andreii
    • +2
      andreii  
    • bailey78:

      Are you one of those guys that's really afraid of doing anything that seems gay? Like accidentally touching a guy's hand or anything similar? or... afraid of losing your manly sexuality so much that anything socially plagued as remotely gay frightens you, like butthole play lol, even if your wife's doing it...?

      Would you take it up the ass to be able to have sex with a fine ass woman, by said woman? Like in that episode of weeds? hahah

    • 1 year ago
  • div
  • div
    • 0
      div  
    • bailey78:

      Just remembered the analogy (no pun intended) I meant to use.. prison rape is done on men by men, right, but it's not necessary that the rapist be gay in order to buttrape another man.

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • div:

      I'm not sure but I think being gay means you like to be with the same sex person in all matters pertaining to life. I'm not sure but I do belive that what it is if I'm wrong please explane to me what it is.

    • 1 year ago
  • div
    • 0
      div  
    • bailey78:

      No, you're right, it's not just about sex. I had just meant in terms of your comment "If you enjoy sticking your winky in some guys stinky then you are Gay. No two ways about it."

      In my very roundabout way, I had meant that it's not exactly true that a man having sex with another man makes him gay, because the act of sex itself isn't a determining factor. Gay men having sex with women but not men doesn't make the less gay, so a straight guy who has sex with a man isn't necessarily gay. But you already knew that, I'm just nitpicking at your words... sorry!

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • div
  • bailey78
  • div
    • 0
      div  
    • bailey78:

      Naw, if I want to see any, I just look down...

      But honestly, I find boobs kind of boring. Nothing new to see, you know? But that's just me.

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • JohnA
  • Ares
  • randallr01
    • +3
      randallr01  
    • JohnA:

      Who are YOU to make an assessment of who THEY are?? You simply aren't qualified to label or judge anyone as being gay who claims to be otherwise.

      If you don't know what it's like to be gay or bi or just plain open, then you have no room to comment on such things. You simply can't know.

    • 1 year ago
  • JohnA
    • -2
      JohnA  
    • randallr01:

      If you want to make out with other guys, that's gay. Don't claim any qualifications, not judging anyone if that's what they want to do. I don't care if that's what they want to do, couldn't care less, do what you want, whatever, who am I to say. But, it's gay. That's the way it is. There is no gray area. Sorry.

    • 1 year ago
  • randallr01
    • +5
      randallr01  
    • JohnA:

      I'm not sure about that. When I kiss girls, does that make me straight? Does my kissing a girl, even if I'm not into it, create a heterosexual action? I'm still gay if I kiss girls, and guys can still be straight if they kiss guys.

      The very action is not gay or straight. The action just IS.

      You are a bit behind in your thinking, sir.

    • 1 year ago
  • Stever_B
  • andreii
    • 0
      andreii  
    • JohnA:

      Are you one of those guys that's really afraid of doing anything that seems gay? Like accidentally touching a guy's hand or anything similar? or... afraid of losing your manly sexuality so much that anything socially plagued as remotely gay frightens you, like butthole play lol, even if your wife's doing it...?

      Would you take it up the ass to be able to have sex with a fine ass woman, by said woman? Like in that episode of weeds? hahah

    • 1 year ago
  • andreii
    • +1
      andreii  
    • randallr01:

      I sort of agree, although earlier you quoted billy joe, which basically says we're all bisexual. Even though it might be true, don't you always prefer one sex over the other? But I guess I might be missing the point, in that people if given the chance, would do anything that sexually pleases them, no matter what sex? So I guess what I'm asking is... since you probably hang around more open people, can you really like both sexes equally?

    • 1 year ago
  • JohnA
    • 0
      JohnA  
    • andreii:

      I wouldn't say I'm afraid. I just have no desire to. It's not my thing, you know, it doesn't do anything for me, I'm not turned on by it, quite the opposite. Besides with my 'roids, butthole play could be a very messy experience.

    • 1 year ago
  • UtopianSky
    • +11
      UtopianSky  
    • A lot of people falsely believe bisexuality is a sexual orientation, like heterosexuality and homosexuality, as if there are three boxes to put people in.

      Really, bisexuality is all of the shades of gray between the two extremes.

      If someone is even slightly attracted to both sexes, they are bisexual, even if they have a strong preference of one over the other.

      However, from a cultural standpoint, they might choose to label themselves "gay" or "straight" because they live within those particular cultural expectations.

      Like a gray scale from black to white, very light gray is called "off-white", and very dark gray is called "charcoal black".

      And there are subtle nuances that do not fit exactly on the line- like men who prefer pre-op (or non-op) transgendered people, or men who prefer female bodybuilders, etc.

      Sex is far more complex than most people realize!

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • UtopianSky
  • bailey78
  • UtopianSky
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • UtopianSky:

      Well I'll be! Maybe i should have tried that. I was jumped for no reason at all just for being me. I do believe that it really sucked to be me in school between being used as a human punching bag or being told I was a retarded imbecile by the teachers. OOh how i miss those days kind of how england misses the black plague.

    • 1 year ago
  • Pollo_Loco_
  • JohnA
  • bailey78
  • artemis6
  • Nabe8
  • Saladin
    • +5
      Saladin  
    • Image
    • Towards an experiential qualifier of sexual activity rather than an existential sexual identity.

      Is the world made up of only pedestrians and car drivers? If you do both, are you bi?

      You are not what you fuck just as you are not how you get to work.

      There's no point to sexual classification because, clearly, human beings, given the opportunity, would pretty much have sex with anything they fancy.

      Just something to think about.

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • Saladin:

      I fancy women but if I was stuck on an island with out women I would find a nice young palm tree bore a hole in it and marry it. Long before haveing sex with a guy.

    • 1 year ago
  • randallr01
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • randallr01:

      well after being married for twentyone years i know better than that. I have had the same Guy friends for twentyfive years and I never think about haveing sex with them. So i don't believe I think with my dick as you suggest. But i know I'm not Gay.

    • 1 year ago
  • randallr01
  • Nabe8
  • bailey78
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • Nabe8:

      It's Dr. Kinsey's graph.

      It's based on actual human experience rather than verbal input.

      As in, what people DO, not what they say.

      So, it's kind of the opposite of arbitrary.

    • 1 year ago
  • bertkamp
  • Nabe8
    • -1
      Nabe8  
    • bertkamp:

      Wrong. You apparently don't know enough bisexuals to determine this common fallacy. You are equating bisexuality with sexual promiscuity. A Slut is a slut.

    • 1 year ago
  • Saladin
  • bailey78
  • Nabe8
  • Nabe8
  • Nabe8
  • bertkamp
  • Nabe8
  • tverdell
    • tverdell  
    • This comment was removed by its owner.
  • Pollo_Loco_
    • +8
      Pollo_Loco_  
    • tverdell:

      Who says girls aren't doing the same thing? Women are almost exactly the same way in their sexual "adventures" as men, its just more taboo on that end. I think we're starting to see a blur in the lines that define sexuality in men and women. In a world still ruled by men, though, the men might get more attention for it and determine who is allowed to experiment with other men. They hate to see gay men, but leasbians are hot, right? It really just boils down to men being less willing to accept their own sexuality.

    • 1 year ago
  • Nabe8
    • 0
      Nabe8  
    • tverdell:

      You're wrong. People are changing and younger women are in tune with the trends of the younger generation. It's cool to find a man that's emotionally in-touch and passionate in bed.

    • 1 year ago
  • div
    • 0
      div  
    • tverdell:

      Not really... that's like saying that you as a man would never want to be with a woman because there are so many other men she might be attracted to. If a woman loves you, she loves you, and it doesn't matter who else it's possible for her to love. Same goes for a guy. If a guy loves me, he loves me and that's really it.

    • 1 year ago
  • toyotabedzrock
  • bailey78
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