“All homophobes are closeted homosexuals,” wrote Love Matters’ resident guy next door Kuber Sharma in his recent blog.

Is there any science on his side? Do guys who hate gays actually fancy men themselves? A US study set out to investigate. It turns out that Kuber is exaggerating. Not all homophobes are turned on by men – only 80 percent of them.

Kuber’s take on anti-gay guys is “a blanket statement and not necessarily true”, one Love Matters reader commented. “Not every homophobe is a closet gay,” another protested. “Very often, intolerance about homosexuality emanates from a fear of the unknown.”

Disgusted
So what part does homosexual arousal play in hostility towards gays? That's what a team of psychologists from the University of Georgia wanted to study.

The researchers recruited a test group of 64 guys, all of whom said they were straight. The group then filled in questionnaires to check their attitudes to gay people according to an ‘index of homophobia’.

The guys had to answer questions like “I would feel comfortable working closely with a gay man,” or “If I saw two men holding hands in public, I would feel disgusted.” Based on the test, 35 turned out to be homophobic – a little over half the group.

Porn
The guys were then asked to settle down in a quiet room on their own to watch three short porn movies. But before the fun started, they had to fit an electronic gauge around their penis to check exactly how it responded.

The researchers showed the guys some straight, gay and lesbian porn. All three short movies included explicit action, ranging from kissing and undressing to oral and anal sex.

The lesbian movie was included because the researchers reckoned it’s a genre that most straight men find particularly sexy. The all-girl sex would be better for sorting the straights from the gays, they figured.

Swollen
As the gay porn flick rolled, the penises remained limp in the pants of 66 percent of the non-homophobic guys. Yet among the homophobes, only 20 percent showed no signs of being turned on.

What’s more, well over half the homophobes clearly started to get erections when they watched the gay sex, compared to less than a quarter of the non-homophobes.

Edgy
So does that mean homophobes are closeted homosexuals?

Well, there might just be another possible explanation, the researchers say. Anxiety can actually increase guys’ arousal and make their penises stiffen more strongly. So the turn-on could have been that “fear of the unknown” our reader was talking about. It could be that the homophobes found the gay porn so edgy it was enough to make their penises twitch.

Unaware
Nevertheless, as far as the Georgia psychologists were concerned, the results of the study were clear.

Kuber is exaggerating about all homophobes of course. But it does seem that anti-gay feelings are often something to do with getting turned on by men. Even though the homophobe may deny his feelings or not even be aware of them.
 
 

Photos: frederic halley2008 & smileham under CC licence

Do you think that if people are are hostile to gays, it's probably because they have homosexual feelings themselves?