Stonewall Riots and Pride Marches

[PSDave]

One major difference between men and women is that women can look at another women in a bikini or topless and not really care. When a str8 man sees a man in a a speedo, thong etc, he is, for some reason, repulsed. I am sure we can go on endlessly why, but the fact remains, women accept other women in skimpy clothes (probably because it gives the something to talk about behind their backs) but men are not comfortable with other men that are in skimpy attire. Unfortunately, with gays so open in wearing skimpy speedos in public, it has put a stigma on speedos that anyone wearing them must be gay. When movies and TV generally use a speedo as a part of a gay characters wardrobe and with gay pride and its legions of speedo wearing marchers, it is easy to see how the generalization can be made. With str8 men not really comfortable around guys in speedos they, of course, won't find them appealing as part of their regular swim attire.

[kumu]

I think many guys have gay impulses they are not comfortable with. Go to a baseball game or football game and watch the guys after they have had a few beers, its real gay, hands and arms all over each other. With the impulse right there seeing attractive guys in speedos or otherwise can make a lot of guys uncomfortable. A taboo is as strong as it needs to be. If the natural drive for male male contact weren't as strong as it is there wouldn't be any need for such strong taboos against it. Maybe the strongest taboo of all. So when a straight guy sees a guy he is attracted to in a skimpy revealing little suit or otherwise, it can be very disturbing, uncomfortable, for him. A guy realizing he is turned on by another guy can shatter his image of himself.

[CalifFitnessSwimmer]

Originally Posted by PSDave

As far as wearing speedos in gay pride parades, I see it as an entirely different message. Unlike other minorities that through the years have learned that the best way to be accepted is fit in. When a gay man dances down the street in a speedo, tutu, in drag, skimpy see thru shorts - or whatever - the message I see is, "We are different and we don't fit in or want to, but we want you to give us all the privileges that you have - though our actions do anything they can to alienate us from the regular working and voting population.

Every year the Stanford mens swim team runs around the campus in speedos, jump in the fountains, pose in speedos in front of monuments, takes a quick dash through the campus bookstore.

Is what those guys do any less offensive, or maybe they have a right to express their "freedom" more than men in a gay parade? What are the Boston Red Speedo run every christmas.

link to stanford mens speedo run

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5daJZiZsg3c

[California Dolphin]

Originally Posted by kumu

I think many guys have gay impulses they are not comfortable with. Go to a baseball game or football game and watch the guys after they have had a few beers, its real gay, hands and arms all over each other. With the impulse right there seeing attractive guys in speedos or otherwise can make a lot of guys uncomfortable. A taboo is as strong as it needs to be. If the natural drive for male male contact weren't as strong as it is there wouldn't be any need for such strong taboos against it. Maybe the strongest taboo of all. So when a straight guy sees a guy he is attracted to in a skimpy revealing little suit or otherwise, it can be very disturbing, uncomfortable, for him. A guy realizing he is turned on by another guy can shatter his image of himself.

Now that you mentioned it, I know the owners of one of the bathhouses here in the S.F. area and he seems to think that a lot of the guys who patronize the club are actually straight men who are looking for gay sex "On the downlow".

The evidence for his theory is that when guys check in at the front window and open their wallets, the clerk often sees photos of what appear to be their girl friends -and in many cases- photos of their wife and children!!!

Guys who are uncertain of their sexuality are petrified by the thought of anyone having public knowledge of their urges so they chose to remain in the closet and sneak out to bathhouses instead of being "open and out".

[kumu]

Reminds me of a total classic. There was a guy who claimed Jesus had 'cured' him of his homosexuality. But about once a month he'd go to a gay bath house just to remind himself of how horrible homosexuality was.

Then there was the San Diego preacher who preached against being gay. A friend said he saw the guy regularly at a bath house. When the preacher passed away of AIDS his obit stated he caught the disease during a transfusion. Even in death, a life based on lies. Such a strong taboo!