Double Standards?

It must be the month to release new sex study research. Well, why not? It is Masturbation Month. Here’s another new one, but I take issue with some of the outcome – yet only from an acceptance standpoint. I mean, if it’s okay for the ladies without getting labeled, why isn’t it okay for us guys?; sort of “what’s good for the goose should be good for the gander” kind of thing.

This new study, released in the Journal of Sex Research, found that more than half of straight women aged 18 to 23 have kissed another female. Study author Elizabeth Morgan, Ph.D., says girl-on-girl action is much more common and socially acceptable now without the stigma of being labeled ‘lesbian.’ “In today’s culture,” she states, “Women can stay heterosexual and engage in same-sex activities.”

Okay – I’m all for that. But why is it, when men engage in male-male activity – even if it’s as innocent as jacking off in the same room – it is instantly labeled as ‘gay?’ I know it’s not a secret that a lot of guys find it highly arousing to watch two women go at it and it never enters their minds to label them as anything but straight. Fine. Wonderful. Yet if two guys admit to charming the one-eyed snake together, whether they lend each other a bit of a hand with the stroking or not, their sexual orientation is immediately called into question.

I definitely call Bullshit on that! I agree the mindset is changing, albeit slower than the polar ice caps are melting. That’s not good enough, or fast enough. Men should at least be able to get into mutual whack off sessions without being called gay. And the saddest part of it: it’s other men who are demeaning these guys by placing labels, much more-so than women.

The atmosphere stunts personal growth – for both parties. The detractors stay ignorant and those straight men, who enjoy an occasional romp with other guys (and we all know there’s a lot of them out there who have done it on the down-low, and probably just as many who are curious and want to but are afraid of being found out, ridiculed, and labeled), are forced to denounce and deny desire and pleasure or live life in fear.

This is a double-standard we could certainly do without. The more men who admit they like a bit of brotherly boner once in a while the sooner this inequality amongst the sexes can be dispelled and dispatched.