Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

For some reason, guys, at least American guys (I'm willing to say there are other cultures whose opinion may differ) have sex on their minds. A lot. Which isn't to say they have "sex sex" on their mind, although I'm sure that some do, but that they have sexual innuendo on their minds.

Especially of nerdy guys. Especially of the immature sort.

For example, there's now a bunch of parodies of Brokeback Mountain. One of them makes fun of a fast-food tie-in for Brokeback Mountain, much like Disney films often have tie-ins. Of course, this is a bit of a joke. They talk about "Brokeback sauce" which is, alas, white and creamy.

At the end of the segment, the guy smiles and says "tastes like cum!". Now, a guy would think this is pretty funny, no? I told this to a friend and his girlfriend, and she winced when the guy said this, thinking, "eww!". Not so funny.

Why is that so? Why do guys think this is funny, and women find it offensive? Guys like to joke about sexual innuendo. In the Super Bowl, Madden made a remark, which I suppose, could have been interpreted innocently, referring to the ongoings of the game.

He said that this was the "deepest penetration of the game". Needless to say, I'm sure many a (male) fan were able to bring that phrase to bear at different parts of the program.

And remember that Super Bowl a few years ago where they had the "wardrobe malfunction"? How many males worked this phrase into their day-to-day use? How many females?

But it goes further. Guys--straight guys--often pretend to be gay. This is not a particularly new attitude. I remember these two guys pretending to act gay some twenty years ago. Admittedly, that just puts it in the mid-80s, but still.

Why do guys do that? What is this amusing or funny or something? I'm sure it's more just thinking on the edge, trying to be amusing. It shows some degree of acceptance, I suppose, and yet, think about Matthew Shepard.

Remember him? He was the guy from Wyoming who was gay-bashed? How did it happen? Turns out he was at a bar, and two guys picked him up. Apparently, it wasn't so clear whether they picked him up because they were acting gay, and wanted to go out (after all, there were two of them), but clearly, they managed to deal with his sexual orientation.

The crime has been classified as a hate crime, though the girlfriends have apparently said that they were in it for money or drugs, rather than a hate crime (dadgum this Wikipedia, ruining the point I was trying to make!).

Does that mean guys are actually more fluid with their sexuality than they pretend not to be? It's fascinating that actors, usually straight ones, are cast to play gay roles, and while playing gay doesn't make anyone gay, it does allow people to cross boundaries that the average person wouldn't, in the name of entertainment.

So I wonder if all of this is somehow related, the sexual innuendo, finding sexual humor funny, acting gay? What about it appeals to the male psyche?

Well, back to Lost.

But there's more

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