Violet Blue wants Jay Leno to know he's safe

[swimmernsecretsea]

Violet Blue is a regular columnist on SFGate.com, the online presence of The San Francisco Chronicle. She regularly writes on sex, relationship, and popular culture matters. I love her articles. I've posted the most serious portion of her article from today, but I do recommend reading the whole thing for a good laugh.

Hot gay sex is for homophobes
Psych study links homophobia and homoerotic arousal; Violet Blue wants Jay Leno to know he's safe

Violet Blue, special to SF Gate
Thursday, April 3, 2008

Poor Leno. Like most openly homophobic men, he went far enough to not only piss off half the planet, but to make quite a few of us scratch our heads and go, "Hmmm ..." You see, in the real Castro sometimes you'll notice men with their keys or colored hankies in either left or right (or front or back) pocket, or other non-verbal, non-intrusive specific sexual signifiers. For those into using the old codes, it helps them hook up with the right homo, should one desire to do so. Sadly, homophobes are far less subtle. Ridiculing even the slightest whiff of gayness is far more crass and offensive than a white hanky in a right back pocket.

Or, according to a 1996 study by the Journal of Abnormal Psychology that was unearthed online this week, homophobic behaviors are just the schoolyard bully's more obvious version of a hanky code. As it turns out, homophobes are proving that they are indeed turned on by homoeroticism. Which, we like, totally already knew, but still, as Ed Brayton sums up in his post at ScienceBlogs, the study "found that those who are homophobic are much more likely to be aroused by male homoerotic imagery than those who are not." The abstract of Homophobia and Homosexual Arousal (.PDF download) explains:

"The authors investigated the role of homosexual arousal in exclusively heterosexual men who admitted negative affect toward homosexual individuals ... The men were exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian videotapes, and changes in penile circumference were monitored. They also completed an Aggression Questionnaire ... Both groups exhibited increases in penile circumference to the heterosexual and female homosexual videos. Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile erection to male homosexual stimuli. The groups did not differ in aggression. Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies."

Source link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2008/04/03/violetblue.DTL



Violet Blue is author and editor of nearly two dozen sexual health books and erotica collections. She is a professional sex educator, lecturer, podcaster, blogger, vlogger, porn/erotica reviewer and machine artist. She has written for outlets ranging from Forbes.com to O, The Oprah Magazine.

Violet is also a fetish model, a member of Survival Research Labs, an author at Metblogs San Francisco; girl friday contributor at Fleshbot.com, a San Francisco native and a Forbes Web Celeb. Her tech site is Techyum; her audio and e-books are at Digita Publications.

For more information and links to Web sites discussed in Open Source Sex, go to Violet Blue's Web site, tinynibbles.com.

[closeupready]

1. As I said before, the fact that homosexuality is a continual source of amusement for Leno

indicates to all but the most braindead that he has some psychological issues going on there.

Think about it. He enjoys talking about (or making light of) homosexuality. Obviously, there must be a reason beyond simple "oh, it's just funny." Lots of jokes are funny, and his jokes on homosexuality may be funny also, but he is obsessed with homosexuality, for SOME reason.

I mean, nothing wrong with being obsessed with homosexuality. I'M obsessed with homosexuality. But then, I'm gay. So, who knows.

[mitchtv]

2. to be honest, I never watch him at all any more

but I gave up on him ater listening to Clinton jokes for 12 or 13 years. I guess he's specifically obsessed with Clinton's penis

[Toasterlad]

3. Never Thought He Was Talented.

[joeybee12]

4. Is it me or did Ryan P seem shocked that jay asked that...shocked

that it was inappropriate? I mean, it was, and I would give Ryan kudos for a similar reaction.

[canis_lupus]

5. Those of us who are LGBT have always know ...

that there's something to the idea that the more homophobic a guy is, the more likely he is to be overcompensating for something.

I've heard the study referenced in the column has been discredited on the basis of methodology. It used to be cited on the APA web site's section on gay issues, but it's no longer there.

Still, I love to cite that study when I get into some on line argument with someone who's spewing particularly vile homophobia. I usually mention the study and then ask them, "Are you getting all sweating thinking about that? ... Are you getting a stiffy? ... Should we reserve you a seat at the next gay pride parade?" I've certainly flustered my share of 'phobes with comments like that.