BengalTiger234

As a gay male, I've always felt that I was different than my heterosexual peers (other than in the main obvious way). Now, I'm not talking about stereotypical things like how gay men are camp, like musical theater and fashion, etc and how straight men like sports, beer and chasing tail, because such stereotypes are silly and don't really apply. But rather, I'm talking about differences in the way we think about the world and interact with others. For example, I've noticed that heterosexuals tend to care more about chivalry and hold it as an ideal. On the other hand, homosexuals I feel tend to be more egalitarian and don't really care too much about it. Now, this is a fairly simple situation that has a very transparent answer to it. Historically and culturally speaking chivalry has been rooted in male-female interactions due to the traditional inequality that existed between the sexes while homosexuals, since they don't have to court the opposite sex, feel no need to further carry out these traditions of romance because since both partners are of the same sex, they're on equal footing (this is not to say that men and women are not on equal footing today, because they are or at least should be).
Nevertheless, there are probably other more subtle ways in which gays and straights differ and I don't feel that it's necessarily all about interactions with the opposite vs. same sex, but maybe even what subjects in school are "easier", different logical approaches to a problem, ability to seal business deals, etc.

Basically, what I mean to say by all of this is, how does our sexuality affect us in our every day lives, in school, at work, when out with friends, whenever wherever when we're not actively dating, flirting, etc? This doesn't even have to be limited to gays and straights but also bisexuals, transgenders, etc.



Disclaimer: I have a feeling that someone is going to say something like "BengalTiger, why do you feel the need to further marginalize gay people? We're all the same and equal, etc, etc." I know that gays and straights are equal and that we should all be treated with respect. I just feel like starting a healthy discussion about human sexuality and how it impacts each of us differently in our lives and in the way we think. I have no desire to further the gap between gays and straights but quite the opposite. Maybe we can grow to understand eachother more through communication and understanding.

rockermcr

Interesting thread. I don't have very much, or anything, to add, but I don't think you'll have to worry about people freaking out over this thread. CC generally has a more calm and intelligent population than other forums do.

GeekNerd

[Panerotic undergendered asexual]
I think that this thing about chivalry is social. Behaviour and trends where I live are more egalitarian than (imported American) media, but for historical notice, I am on a bastardized British territory that changed colonial hands 30+ times with African, Indian and Chinese influxes that incurred cultural destruction and aggregation so that there's a lot of anomie ("culturelessness") today. On the other hand, I might just be oblivious to it (in which case, ignore this paragraph) (hmm.. it appears I don't take notice of people's sex and gender enough to speak with any authority on the matter) (yeah; it's probably just me).

Now, what follows is speculation, but I'm not sure "sexual" people really revolve around sex. Sometimes it is so extreme (marriage) that I can't help but think they're just pretending. I've never had a sex drive (over 18) so I wouldn't know, but it's something of a stretch for me to think of chivalry as nature instead of nurture. I would instead ascribe much of what they do on TV to peer (character) pressure.