I don’t like jumping to conclusions, but there’s one conclusion I’ve come to, based on my interaction with men in the 20-25 demographic. And what I’ve come to realise is that most men are either homosexuals or homophobes. Which is not to say that all straight men are homophobes or all pro-gay men are gay. But all my straight male friends have the same thing to say- “It’s hot when its two chicks. Two dudes getting it on is just gross.”

Women on the other hand tend to be more accepting. They might not understand entirely, but I’ve rarely seen such strong reactions from women. Most women I’ve spoken to haven’t been grossed out. Granted most said that they wouldn’t ever like to get it on with another woman; but then that’s personal choice.

I have a theory about this. In my opinion men tend to freak out so much because they think of being gay as an affront to their masculinity. To the average heterosexual man, being in a homosexual relationship is like being emasculated. I’ll cite an example- my brother and I are huge fans of Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G) and we were talking about the movie Bruno. Now this is a movie about a gay fashion designer, and in true Baron Cohen style there’s a lot of lewd, gross humour including some complicated bondage mechanisms. My brother told me that he watched a little bit of the movie and then couldn’t take him anymore. I was wondering what the big deal was, and he said, “You’d know if you were a guy. It’s seriously disturbing.” And he wasn’t the only one. I’ve had male acquaintances refuse to take stands on the 377-Baba Ramdev issue, male friends refusing point blank to watch Brokeback Mountain. None of my straight girl friends do that. Every one of them watched I can’t think straight.

I can’t for the life of me understand why there’s such a disparity in the attitude of straight men and straight women. I’m neither looking to make generalisations, nor pass judgement. I’ve experience this and I’m wondering if anyone else has.