tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1571350105150955858.post5401194062913458531..comments2023-03-22T13:57:58.651-04:00Comments on BHD's Musings: Is It Hard for Straight Men to Be Around Gay Men?Booted Harleydudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07668658280134091805noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1571350105150955858.post-6285163729284030242011-07-23T20:47:57.124-04:002011-07-23T20:47:57.124-04:00Thanks for the clarification. Thank you also for ...Thanks for the clarification. Thank you also for adding good old-fashioned irrational hate to the list. How could I forget that most popular reason for so many human behaviors?<br /><br />-HankAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1571350105150955858.post-19003217416250244512011-07-23T20:38:30.855-04:002011-07-23T20:38:30.855-04:00Hank, I guess I wasn't clear. What I was tryin...Hank, I guess I wasn't clear. What I was trying to say in my blog post was that I learned that there are two reasons that some straight men behave in ways that indicate discomfort with gay people. Homophobia, which we both agree is a problem for some straight guys, and (revelation to me) ... aversion due to what you may choose to call "moral opposition" or what I just refer to as "strong dislike" up to and sometimes including, outright hatred.Booted Harleydudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07668658280134091805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1571350105150955858.post-56544128889987533332011-07-23T19:40:16.426-04:002011-07-23T19:40:16.426-04:00I'm not sure if I disagree with your analysis ...I'm not sure if I disagree with your analysis of what the straight blogger is saying, or if I'm simply not clear what that analysis is. You see in what he has written another explanation other than fear for straight men's aversion to gay men. In fact, you set up "aversion" as that very alternative to fear. Maybe that's where the confusion is coming in for me. I'd like to suggest that you're making an invalid contrast between these two concepts. Fear is an emotion, and in the present context it is a root motivation for why one might avert one's eyes, hands, or one's presence entirely from another. "Aversion" often is used incorrectly as a synonym for fear; in reality it is an action -- properly understood it is a response to fear.<br /><br />But I make this point not to quibble about terms and definitions. When I read either you or the other blogger you quote referring to fear or aversion as two possible explanations for straight men's stand-offish behavior toward gay men, it strikes me as the same basic explanation: fear, or if you will pardon the overly broad application of the pseudo word, "homophobia". My impression is that honest, innate fear and ignorance (kissing cousins) are the root cause for the vast majority of straight men's aversions toward gay men.<br /><br />That being said, I also believe there are those men, and women, who, with varying degrees of knowledge and ignorance, object to homosexual behavior based on some moral criteria. In such cases it is particularly discouraging to me to see these men shy away from gay men socially, both those who are unabashedly active and those who are quietly celibate, but we live in an imperfect world, so I should not be surprised that we must make allowances for fear and ignorance to overlap at times with righteous indignation.<br /><br />If in your commentary you were indeed trying to point out that some straight men act aversively toward gay men as a result of moral opposition to homosexuality, then you can ignore my comments, and please accept my apologies for misunderstanding you. That point simply wasn't clear to me in what you wrote, nor was I getting that impression from the other blogger whom you quote.<br /><br />-HankAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com