Why do I get uncomfortable when I see two Gay men making out?

[trumad]

I love the show 6 Feet Under on HBO and especially enjoy the relationship between Keith and David on that show. But I gotta tell you, when they start kissing I kind of go yuk. Now I know I can turn it off or turn away if it bothers me that much..... But I am posting this question to try an understand why I get uncomfortable when I see two men kiss.

Is it because I'm a hetero man?

Am I homophobic? I don't think so...some of my best Friends in life were Gay men.... When I lived in San Fran I hung around the Castro district as much as North Beach. I participated in many Gay Freedom parades in S.F. So no, I'm not homophobic....

[Taxloss]

1. Oh, grow up.

Look the other way if you find that somehow "disturbing".

[Beaver Tail]

3. Ask yourself this

Does it bother you to watch 2 hetrosexual couples makeout? If the answer is yes then you are not homophobic. Otherwise....


Personally I dont care for watching ANYONE make out...but thats just me

[Taxloss]

15. Two het couples? A foursome? If I didn't like it, I'd look away.

Yes, no matter what the age, gender, or number of people involved, you don't have to look!

[JerseygirlCT]

20. I don't think the poster was complaining

Trumad was exploring feelings that are good to look into. You don't fight bigotry of any sort by ignoring it. You have to face up to what makes you uncomfortable in order to get past it.

[Taxloss]

24. That's a fair point, but I don't think Trumad is concerned about

being bigoted, because as she pointed out, she isn't.

[Bunny]

25. Trumad is a guy.

[trumad]

32. LOL

at least the last time I looked I was.

[King Coal]

Have you been to Trinidad since?

:hi:

[Taxloss]

33. My mistake.

I wasn't sure, and thought I had carefully kept my posts gender-neutral, but clearly I slipped. Why I went for the female I don't know, I daresay a psychoanalyst could have a field day on that one.

[JerseygirlCT]

27. I'm not *at all* saying he is!

I'm saying that the only way to eradicate those feelings -- the ones we all have due to our cultural conditioning -- is to face them, question them and deal with them.

I think we all have them in some shape or another. I admire the people brave enough to face them honestly.

That's all I'm saying.

[w13rd0]

26. Bingo...same for me.

Although sometimes I don't mind, and sometimes I even find it cute. All depends on me, on them, on the location, etc.

But if you get bothered watching two men kiss, and not any other pairing kissing, well hell, I don't know. That's just kind of odd. In what way, physiologically, is it any different than any two bipedal organics swapping saliva?

[murray hill farm]

49. i agree..

it sort of depends what the situation is..when people make out..ha! when my exhusbands sister came out of the closet..we all at least wished she had gone back in to make out with her girlfriend..and then came out again. we would all be sitting in my ex's parents living room..and his sisters parents...and sis and friend would be sitting on the sofa...and suddenly they are in a passionate liplock...it seems funny now...but..it was just sooooo uncomfortable for everyone else in the room..especially, i would think her elderly parents. i dont think is was because she was with another woman..but i do think it was just innappropriate..and so rude to her parents who were doing what they could to adjust as it was...and doing it well...so there was some discomfort with sis,s new sexuality...but there was no need to flaunt it with such insensitivity...i do also feel...that it is just an innippropriate setting for anyone..hetero or homosexual...to suddenly start sucking face in front of others...with no regard to how just innappropriate that is or how uncomfortable it makes the others.

[smirkymonkey]

56. I'm with you, I don't like to watch anybody "make-out"

something about it grosses me out - it has nothing to do with whether they are straight or gay.

[Clark2008]

71. I LIKE to make out, but I don't want to see others doing it

A quick kiss or a hug doesn't bother me - hetero or homo - but to watch a couple grope each other in public is not only embarrassing for bystanders, but shows the couple has no self-respect and decency.

[JanMichael]

5. Exploring one's feelings is "growing up."

Maybe you should try it?

[LaurenG]

7. touche nt

[Taxloss]

8. No, respecting the feelings of others is "growing up"

Maybe you should try it?

[JanMichael]

14. I have tried it, and liked it!

Thanks!

[LaurenG]

23. Are you respecting his feelings?

It's really not about what you think. Society has indoctrinated all of us. One has to look at their feelings and adjust to what you really believe.

There is nothing wrong with discussing it. IMHO

[Taxloss]

30. I'm not really sure if that is what the OP was expressing.

Social discomfort is a common problem and occurs in a vast number of ways, and if it is not occurring because you think what the other person is doing is wrong, then you are given the perfectly simple option of simply ignoring it. That is your right.

If your discomfort/disgust/whatever does not dissipate, then perhaps your suppressing hatred of the action itself. This is clearly not the case with Trumad, so it must simply be that the poster's discomfort was coupled with sublimated fascination at what is still a very rare thing to see in public. So you get the car-crash feeling of not wanting to look and wanting to look at the same time, which takes effort to overcome and to turn into the polite response - to look away.

[LaurenG]

38. OK n/t

[jmcon007]

53. exactly....quips like "Grow up." mute honest discussion.

I used to say that I didn't have a prejudice bone in my body (I'm white), but one day years ago in my small hometown while I was tending my small store I saw a man I didn't recognize approaching and I felt anxiety. Know why? He was big, probably 6' 5", and African-American. I immediately felt a sense of shame.
He was a trucker who had broke down and very politely asked me if he could use the phone. We had a great conversation before he left and I admitted my initial feelings to him and apologized. He waved it off and I realized it happens to him all the time.
Pretty damn sad. The best I can do is train (condition) my children to know that we're all different in many ways, but we're the same in the ways that really count.

[trumad]

13. Thanks Jan

Is DU not a vehicle to try and understand things in life... I guess growing up means that you got it all figured out...

[JanMichael]

17. Ha! This is Stephanie

But, Michael has the "growing up" stuff pretty well under control....

Good to see you back on DU; we both missed your posts-

Steph

[trumad]

21. Hope you guys are doing well....

Hey Steph....

[Taxloss]

22. Trumad, that's not what I meant.

I'm sorry if I came across as being petulant. I personally sometimes get very uncomfortable watching other people eat - that's a reaction that is both entirely reasonable and entirely unreasonable at the same time. But I won't fret about it, or worry it makes me anorexic; I just look away. I think that's the adult and polite response in a free society. That's what I meant.

[trumad]

29. No prob

...

[shadowknows69]

31. I get equally uncomfortable seeing a hetero couple going at it

I mean a kiss is one thing but no couple needs to devour each other in public. Lesbians kissing on the other hand? Anywhere anytime, bring it on. B-)

[Taxloss]

35. You see, that's a completely different question.

It wasn't about whether it's OK to do that in public, but about Trumad's reaction.

[LaurenG]

I'm uncomfortable when two anybody's make out in public

Could be the way we were brought up.

[KittyWampus]

9. I'm not fond of it either. Of course that didn't stop ME from doing it

when I was a teenager.

As for actual sex, I prefer less in-your-face portrayals of sexual activity and more subtle suggestive means.

[JanMichael]

2. Because we grew up with social norms

The important part is that you recognize how stupid those norms are, and don't allow your "false feelings" created by those traditions to rule your emotions.

Stephanie

[Lisa0825]

41. bingo!

Exactly! And the more I witness displays of affection between men, the less it affects me. But I do admit that it took some getting used to because it was just something I'd never seen, and then rarely seen. Now, I find mild displays perfectly natural, and I even like them, because it makes me feel good that they feel comfortable enough in public to not be afraid to kiss or hold hands. But if it goes farther than that (homo or hetero), and turns into a make-out session, I get uncomfortable either way.

On TV/movies, I admit I still feel a little weird about it moreso than hetere scenes. But that's what being open minded is about... adjusting to different experiences and learning to understand them and get comfortable with them.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. I don't really care to watch

anyone making out, especially in public.

[bicentennial_baby]

6. I'm a girl, and I like it!

Weird, eh?

[youthere]

59. Yep..

me too.

[Bluebear]

You're just conditioned to that reaction

Nothing wrong with admitting it and finding out more about yourself.

[Bridget Burke]

10. I don't care for any couple going at it hot & heavy in public.

Simply a matter of taste. I never actually yell "Get a Room!"

As far as 2 guys on TV--have you ever heard of "slash" fiction?

[NuttyFluffers]

52. oh sweet mother of god, now you said it.

slash fiction, or yaoi fan fics (for anime, j-pop, whatever. basically j-slash). holy crap... the things that are written, whoo, get me a fan and a mint julip dahlin' it's gettin' hot in here!

remember how you hear straight men say how much they like two women going at it? how lesbianism is a total turn on?

ever hear from people how women "just aren't like that..." /prissy disapproving look

like hell they aren't! straight women like their pretty boys makin' out with each other just fine -- they just don't make porno videos of it. they write REAMS of ballentine novels with hot 'n steamy gay sex that'd make marquis de sade blush and take notes. whoo lordy. what's better than one dreamy pretty boy? two dreamy pretty boys, sucking face as if their tongues were bitten by snakes. whoo! it's OVAH!

[Lilith Velkor]

61. hooray for slash!

I thought I was the only one for years, but finally discovered some LOTR smut while searching for nudes of the actors.

And I must say, Star Wars is so slashworthy I had to write some of it myself. Hee!

[Spinzonner]

11. Projection ?

[trumad]

18. Not really....

I thought about that... but that aint it...

[mongo]

74. Are you really sure about that?

Watching passionate activity between two people of ANY sex is bound to create a sexual impulse in your head.

I think your negative reaction is a coping mechanism to repress these feelings because of your social conditioning.

It might be an interesting experiement for you to go watch a bunch of gay porn. Try to empathize with the characters. See if the next time you see two guys kiss on the street or on TV, if it is not as repulsive to you.

[JerseygirlCT]

12. Cultural conditioning

especially, I think, for men. The society we live in still conditions men to fear homosexuality. I think this "ick factor" is behind a great deal of the homophobia around today.

Good news is that younger generations seem to be moving away from that. No big deal seems more the response these days.

I'll have to say though, that I agree with the poster above: *any* people really going at it in public make me embarrassed. I guess that's my conditioning!

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

37. I'll agree, we're conditioned to recoil at anything that is against

"the norm", based on how we were raised.

My mother, who is a lovely woman and open minded, is having some difficulty with the notion of gay marriage, not because she believes gays should be discriminated against, but because of very sheltered her upbringing, 70 years ago in Indiana. She admits that she didn't even know there existed anyone but heterosexuals in the world until young adulthood.

I was also naive, but coming of age in the early 70's, I had much more awareness than my mother. However, it's not like being gay was openly mainstream. For instance, when I was in high school, no kids came out.

However, for my teen age daughter, as you said above, it's no big deal. She attends high school with a few kids who have "come out" and can't believe that gay marriage is even an issue.

I love it when the three of us get together and explore intergenerational views and perspectives. We have lively discussions about the hot button issues of the day, and the best part is having my mother describe for me, and my daughter, the culture and politics she has observed and how they relate to the present.

MKJ

[JerseygirlCT]

40. You're so right

and the more of that that goes on, the better!

[trogdor]

43. That's it.

I think. It sorta bothers me, but not as much as it used to.

[teenagebambam]

16. I'm with the majority

I hate watching people make out too, gay or straight. I think it stems from childhood, when I was forced to watch General Hospital with my grandmother, and she'd tsk and tsk every time there was a love scene (but keep right on watching anyway.)

[wakeme2008]

19. Strange thing

if you go to Big-Boy's site http://www.big-boys.com/ ... they all the time post videos of females making out....

[King Coal]

28. Ha, that's the rub. See, I don't mind if two girls make out, but

two guys making out is just gross. Oh well. That's the way it is. I guess I'll just have to live with it.

[mondo joe]

34. I think you're asking the wrong people.

If it bothers you that much, the only person who can know why is you.

What do you think it's about?

[rman]

36. Dunno, but who cares?

I to get uncomfortable seeing such a thing. Though i also get uncomfortable watching hetero's make out.
I'd say it's not phobic unless you want to prohibit it. Being uncomfortable with it is an entirely different thing.

[ecstatic]

39. maybe you secretly want to do it too?

Does it move? hehehe

[seabeyond]

42. conditioning

and what the brains eye is use to seeing.

we dont have a lot of gays, or open gays around in our life here in the panhandle of texas. when i see it, or more in the past i too have been uncomfortable. so i know the feeling you talk. i also asked myself if it makes me homophobic, yet i am the most open supporter of gays. so i left it to, i totally oppose discrimination, so i just wont look. but i have been seeing over time, i dont have the uncomfortable feeling any more than watching man and woman making out. not thrilled with any kind of voyerism. not my thing.

no, i dont believe it is homophobic, i believe it is conditioning, of what the minds eye is use to seeing, and the more your see the less uncomfortable you will be.

[sweetheart]

44. Could it be bad acting?

When i feel other people "appearing" to be comfortable doing something
that they might feel "uncomfortable" doing, i often sense the underlying
discomfort, no matter the appearance.

It often happens with film/cinema, that actors/actresses who can't
really get in the part, are uncomfortable and can't come off truly
natural and at ease.

When people snog out of their mutual lust, i could give a toss, as
much as its as interesting as watching sheep shag. I think the
interesting gap in this thread is that everyone presumes you've observed
something "real" when really you're commenting on a peice of
performed art. That performance could have been filmed in 10 takes
for all we know, and maybe it was just one of those snogs where the
director said "make this look "yeech"" Of all those gay marriage
photos where lovers were pecking each other, i felt nothing but
delight. I believe your comment is sourced in the performance and
not any issues at all.

[bushisanidiot]

45. It's natural. Just like when I say "oh yuck" when I see a man & woman

kissing. Problem is.. i get the het sex crap thrown in my face every day so I have had to learn to live with it. You, on the otherhand, have to pay extra and tune in late at night to see what makes you say "oh yuck".

[soleft]

46. How do you feel when you see inter-racial couples kiss?

Think about how you feel about seeing inter-racial couples kiss versus how people might have felt about thirty years ago.

I think a lot of it has to do with seeing images that we're just not used to.

And then a lot if just has to do with how sexually repressed we as Americans intrinsically are.

[ArkDem]

54. What does an inter-racial person look like?

[soleft]

55. I shouldn't post in the morning

[ArkDem]

73. ...

:evilgrin:

[youspeakmylanguage]

47. Work in a nightclub long enough and you'll get used to seeing anything...

...that said, I don't understand the hostile reactions of a lot of posters here in response to this post. trumad expressed no anger or hatred, just the fact that he had a strange natural reaction to seeing what he saw on the screen.

I think the posters that want to see homophobia where it doesn't exist are the ones that need to "grow up".

[Village Idiot]

48. It's institutionalized behaviour.

Since the overwhelming majority of corporatist media regard homosexuality as deviant and undesirable, you have been conditioned ALL YOUR LIFE to regard it as such.

If you had been raised in Denmark, or the Netherlands, perhaps you would not find this type of conduct and sexuality quite as objectionable...

In short, it is nothing you have done wrong, it is something wrong that has been DONE TO YOU.

Take a day and force yourself watch an entire season of "Queer As Folk" or "The 'L' Word" and you may find yourself "cured" (a la Clockwork Orange)...

[GeekMonkey]

50. Public Displays of Sexuality make most people uncomfortable

No matter the gender of the persons involved.

[1932]

51. Maybe you actually like it, and the feeling of liking it repulses you.

I'm not trying to be nasty, but, consider the neighborhood you chose to hang out in and the fact that you're drawn to the gay community. (Why were you drawn to the parades?) Maybe you're pretending that it's politics that makes you cool with homosexuality, when in fact it isn't open mindedness about alternate life styles that makes you cool with it. It's a latent sexual desire that you're trying to lable as liberal politics in order to not have to confront it.

Maybe you have some issues that you need to resolve.

[trumad]

58. Actually I hung out in the Castro

because the food was great and the bar I hung out in made the best bloody mary's on earth. Plus the people who lived in that community were down right nice people.

Many posters up above seem to have hit the nail on the head. It's social conditioning that makes me feel the way I do. It's up to me to fix what's been plugged into my brain.

Hey, I'm trying.

[mongo]

77. It doesn't mean he has latent homosexual tenencies.

It's a latent sexual desire that you're trying to lable as liberal politics in order to not have to confront it.

Maybe you have some issues that you need to resolve.

Watching Anyone in a passionate display is bound to evoke a sexual impuse. The ick-factor is just a cover-up.

It does not mean that the OP has latent homosexual tendencies, it's just that sexual activity creates a sexual impulse in our brains.

It is interesting that so many people are turned off by public displays of affection. It's all the conditioning we receive that sex is dirty and bad, and when we start having our own sexual desires triggered by seeing it, we have to become repulsed in order to cover the shame we have been taught to feel for our own sexual impulses.

[JustifiedOutrage]

57. Great that you're talking about it

I think it's really healthy just to bring it up. I believe that many people remain uncomfortable about it, even some in the gay community(!), they just don't talk about it. That said, it's just not something we're used to seeing outside of a gay "ghetto" like the Castro. I never thought I'd see a picture of 2 men kissing on CNN's Website (story about same-sex marriage), but there it was. Ten years ago, we'd never even imagine that!

[trumad]

60. Welcome to DU JustifiedOutrage

[JustifiedOutrage]

87. Thanks...

Thanks for the welcome, trumad. I'm glad I found this forum! It's a great place to vent. Sometimes I feel I live in a parallel universe!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

62. You're not used to it

For a while during my transition from academia to free-lance translation, I rented part of a house from a lesbian couple.

After I'd been living there for a few months, a former academic colleague came to visit and joined me in the kitchen for tea. She looked over her shoulder and whispered, "Are your housemates lesbians?"

I nodded and asked her how she knew.

She rolled her eyes and jerked her head in the direction of the living room, where my landladies were watching TV. One was lying down with her head in the other's lap.

Over the months, I had become so accustomed to them that their displays of affection were just part of the scenery. They never actually made out in front of me, though, and I wouldn't have expected a heterosexual couple to do so either.

(When I was in graduate school, there were two heterosexual couples who were notorious in the grad school dining hall for their very public French kissing and groping. One of them stopped this practice after an acquaintance growled at them, "Take it upstairs (to their dorm rooms), you two."

[kweerwolf]

63. There's a huge difference between homophobia ...

... and heterosexism.

Homophobia is the unreasonable, visceral loathing and/or fear toward gays. Picture Fred Phelps or rednecks driving around in pickup trucks "lookin' fer queers to bash."

Heterosexism, however, is something quite different. The vast majority of the world is straight. They grow up in a world that reflects their world view and come to accept it as the predominant, if not one-and-only way of seeing things. After growing up in a world where mommies kiss daddies and boys kiss girls it comes as a shock to see two men or two women playing tonsil hockey in public.

Because boy-on-boy or girl-on-girl action isn't something that they've had much experience with, they can have a strong "yuck!" reaction.

It doesn't mean they are homophobic ... only that they haven't had the chance to develop empathy for same-sex behavior yet.

[Touchdown]

64. I agree with the others on the social conditioning .

As boys, there are certain things that we've been conditioned to act out, or display in public, and quite of a number of things that boys just DON'T do. For the most part, girls are a little freer with their social actions, it's the roles of family/and business life that women get the short end of this conditioning. The ol "Boys don't cry" thing.

Affection, physical or otherwise is not considered "manly". It doesn't have to be said or taught, it's implied and reinforced throughout our lives in this country. AS such, when you witness men doing things that all your years have drilled into you that men shouln't do, you react with revulsion. It is a factor of homophobia, but homophobia none the less. There are degrees of homophobia, it's not a black an white thing. Unlike pregnancy, you can be a little homophobic.

50 years ago, the only places you couldn't smoke was in elevators and operating rooms. Noboy noticed the smell or gunk because tobacco smell and residue was everywhere. Now that it's been banned most everywhere, then the smell is MUCH more noticeable, and our social conditioning has implied to us that it's an offensive odor, so it becomes offensive, because we're supposed to consider it such. BBQ smoke is just as carceneagenic as tobacco, but we consider that a pleasurable odor, because it's cooking our juicy steaks, and hunger makes our mouths water, not the mesquite. The social conitioning of tobacco use has now gotten to the point that some people (getting back to you and male only PDAs), and not that small a number, feel revulsion when they even see someone else smoke. As if it's an assault on them, an their eyes will get cancer from seeing it. How they watch classic detective/noir films, I don't know. Prissy people, but well conditione by our American tribal need for conformity.

It's really nothing to be concerned about. Once you recognize that you are a product of America, an have been taught through our culture, then you can honestly look at your reaction of Davi & Keith as the hang up some 70% of Americans share with you. The gay stuff on 6FU BTW, is tame compared to Queer as Folk, but that show is more offensive because it's got stupid plots, an the acting is even worse.

Excuse my typing, my "D" on my keyboar is not working right.

[BamaLefty]

65. I Don't Like Anyone Making Out In Public

Be it gay/lesbians or straight people. I just don't care for it.

[Catherine Vincent]

70. Sometimes I don't care for it either.

Although it's okay if it's real quick or casual. But some couples go overboard and I want to yell "get a room!". :-)

:hi:

[retread]

66. I'm not sure what you mean by "making out?" Kissing? Petting? How long?

*

[ibegurpard]

67. So what?

The fact that you're questioning your prejudice is a good sign. Everyone has prejudices...it just becomes a problem when we accept them at face value and allow them to influence the way we treat others.
You can't change the way you feel about things but you CAN choose how to react to them.

[TWiley]

68. I would be uncomfortable watching Rev Fred Phelps have sex.

Not to mention Jerry Fartwell.

[kweerwolf]

83. But that wouldn't mean you're homophobic ...

... just that you are not into beastiality, or whatever it's called when Freddie or Jerry are humping farm animals.

[Orangepeel]

69. Because you were taught that it was gross, and some of that remains

in your head.

When I was a young teenager, I saw a movie -- based on an Agatha Christie play I think -- where Christopher Reeve kissed a man (Michael Caine?). The kiss was a surprise plot twist and it was the first time I'd ever seen men behave romantically or sexually with each other. I was caught completely off guard and, I have to admit, became sick to my stomach.

As I grew up and met gay people, I got over it and I don't have those reactions anymore. It's just taking you longer. Intellectually, you can know that there is nothing wrong with it, but sometimes our more visceral reactions lag. (As an analogy, think about all the "weird" food that other cultures eat and how hard it can be to get over thinking something perfectly normal to someone else is "gross").

You just need to watch more men get it on!

[trumad]

72. You just need to watch more men get it on!

ROTF...

I guess I need to make a trip to the video store. ;-)

[Misunderestimator]

75. Here's my explanation, tru:

Because deep down it titillates you, because sex works that way. That reaction makes you uncomfortable, because you think (even subconsciously) that being aroused watching two men make out makes you gay to some degree.

It doesn't make you gay, and it doesn't make you a homophobe.

I enjoy watching two men make out... I am turned on by it. I also enjoy watching a man and a woman make out (depending on who they are of course)... I am turned on by it. Neither makes me doubt that I'm a lesbian. ;) (Edited to add that I am talking about watching this on TV as in your example. I don't particularly enjoy watching making out in public of any sort.)

My advice, get past the discomfort and watch it for what it is. A very natural expression of love/affection/lust between two people. :hi:

[mongo]

78. Really, really, REALLY great post

It's really weird how much we are conditioned to be repulsed/feel shame at anything sexual.

[UdoKier]

76. You're mistaking arousal for revulsion.

:P

Just playing with you.

Maybe it's just not what you're used to seeing. We've all been raised seeing male-female couples smooching on screens all the time. It's an accepted and familiar visual cue that we're all comfortable with. But two men is different, jarring, not what's expected.


It doesn't bother me at all, but I'm bisexual, so I think it's all good.

As for your discomfort, only you can really explain what its origin is. Is it a fear that if you kissed a guy, you might like it? Possibly. Some alt-rock band members like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane's addiction have been known to do same sex deep kisses on stage, they're not gay, but they seem comfortable with it.


I guess everybody's different...

[LizW]

79. Perfectly normal.

My 13 year old son confided the same thing the other day. We were watching an episode of "Without a Trace" that involved a gay couple, and he said, "Mom, I know I'm not homophobic, but I really don't feel comfortable seeing two guys together like that."

Sweet, huh? Liberal guilt at age 13. My work here is done!

:woohoo:

No, seriously. It just means you're heterosexual. Our sexual orientation is what it is. No big deal. I don't think you're about to start demanding that all gay men immediately return to the closet.

[smartvoter]

80. I don't think all the psychobabble always applies. Maybe you're just

not attracted to men, and therefore can't "relate" to one of the participants. Don't beat yourself up about it.

[Blue_In_AK]

81. Don't feel bad, Trumad...

My husband does exactly the same thing during 6FO. I really kid him about it, but it seems to be a fairly universal reaction by heterosexual men. Now, girl-on-girl sex ... that's a whole other issue. :D

ed. Maybe I shouldn't say "fairly universal," but at least relatively common.

[King Coal]

82. I'm sorry, but if I see Rove kissing Gannon, I'm puking.

:puke:

[Modem Butterfly]

84. Internalized Homophobia

Homophobia, just like racism, sexism, and every other prejudice can be picked up from the larger society and internalized. It is a serious problem that must be dealt with and overcome.

[FizzFuzz]

85. how do you react to straight PDA's? That would be the litmus test.

Personally, I can't stand PDA's regardless of the genders involved, and I'm not much into seeing it on film either. I just look away in either case, but I don't try and force anyone to stop just because I need a barf bag.

but to me, if you gotta massage someone's tonsils with your tongue, do it in private.

[roguevalley]

86. Because you aren't me? Watch Oz and get into a hot relationship:

Beecher and Keller. That is a *hot* relationship.