For a long time, the mantra about male bisexuality has been "you're either straight, gay, or lying", with the implication that "bisexual" men are really just gay men who aren't completely comfortable with a gay identity. Early studies measuring sexual arousal in self-identified gay, straight, and bisexual men seemed to support this.
Since then, it's been argued those studies used a self-selecting group of people as their sample (later studies of bisexual men did show arousal to both hetero and homosexual scenes), and social attitudes have also changed, so most people now acknowledge that male bisexuality does exist - something that probably shouldn't have been debated at all since we know that in Ancient Greek and Roman society it was common for individuals to have lovers of both sexes at some point in their lives.
However, my own limited impression is that most bisexual men have a strong if not overwhelming preference for one sex or the other. In other words, some "bisexuals" are mostly heterosexual men who are willing and able to engage in homosexual sex because that's what's available at the moment, or because they're kinky and like to try new things. Other "bisexuals" are primarily homosexual men who are willing and able to have sex with women.
Are there really a lot of men out there who are equally or nearly equally satisfied with a partner of either sex, without an overwhelming preference? What I'm getting at is the point that on the Kinsey scale of 0 (completely straight, no homosexual desires or experiences) to 6 (completely homosexual, with no heterosexual desires and experiences), male 1's and 5's are (I'm guessing) a lot more common than 3's (equally happy with both) or even 2 or 4's (leaning straight or gay, but quite happy in both worlds).
To me, it seems rather strange to take someone like Marlon Brando (probably a 1 on the scale) and Gore Vidal (probably a 5) and put them both in the same "bisexual" bin, when they have more in common with a 0 or a 6, respectively.
I'm not trying to start a flame war or offend anyone, but I am interested in people's take on this.
Since then, it's been argued those studies used a self-selecting group of people as their sample (later studies of bisexual men did show arousal to both hetero and homosexual scenes), and social attitudes have also changed, so most people now acknowledge that male bisexuality does exist - something that probably shouldn't have been debated at all since we know that in Ancient Greek and Roman society it was common for individuals to have lovers of both sexes at some point in their lives.
However, my own limited impression is that most bisexual men have a strong if not overwhelming preference for one sex or the other. In other words, some "bisexuals" are mostly heterosexual men who are willing and able to engage in homosexual sex because that's what's available at the moment, or because they're kinky and like to try new things. Other "bisexuals" are primarily homosexual men who are willing and able to have sex with women.
Are there really a lot of men out there who are equally or nearly equally satisfied with a partner of either sex, without an overwhelming preference? What I'm getting at is the point that on the Kinsey scale of 0 (completely straight, no homosexual desires or experiences) to 6 (completely homosexual, with no heterosexual desires and experiences), male 1's and 5's are (I'm guessing) a lot more common than 3's (equally happy with both) or even 2 or 4's (leaning straight or gay, but quite happy in both worlds).
To me, it seems rather strange to take someone like Marlon Brando (probably a 1 on the scale) and Gore Vidal (probably a 5) and put them both in the same "bisexual" bin, when they have more in common with a 0 or a 6, respectively.
I'm not trying to start a flame war or offend anyone, but I am interested in people's take on this.
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