A VERY GAY STRAIGHT? Hybrid Masculinities, Sexual Aesthetics, and the Changing Relationship between Masculinity and Homophobia

This article addresses a paradoxical stance taken by young straight men in three groups who identify aspects of themselves as gay to construct heterosexual masculine identities. By subjectively recognizing aspects of their identities as gay, these men discursively distance themselves from stereotypes of masculinity and privilege and/or frame themselves as politically progressive. Yet, both of these practices obscure the ways they benefit from and participate in gender and sexual inequality. I develop a theory of sexual aesthetics to account for their behavior and its consequences, contributing to a growing body of theory regarding the hybridization of contemporary masculinities and complicating theories of sexual practice.