Mass Anti-Gay Hate Crime at Flagstaff Pride

[Rye]

Exactly. in their heads Gay=Douche.

And douches are bad why? Because they're associated with vaginas, the vital sex part most people are born through and which all heterosexual males want to fuck? Bastards are bad because they're born out of wedlock?

Obviously, intent is key in the language used as to whether someone is a homophobe or not.

[Adrian Laguna]

I have another hypothesis in need of empirical tests...

One potential reason is that bisexuality is an alternative reproductive strategy that is very very effective in low frequencies as nipping into the reproductive success of heterosexual males.

The gays just get caught in the crossfire. It is hard to spot a bisexual, targeting anyone who has sex with men is easier.... costs less.

Would this also explain the hostility that homosexuals have toward bisexuals?

[Alyrium Denryle]

I have another hypothesis in need of empirical tests...

One potential reason is that bisexuality is an alternative reproductive strategy that is very very effective in low frequencies as nipping into the reproductive success of heterosexual males.

The gays just get caught in the crossfire. It is hard to spot a bisexual, targeting anyone who has sex with men is easier.... costs less.

Would this also explain the hostility that homosexuals have toward bisexuals?

Possibly. We ARE bound by the same rules. Or it could just be that a relatively high percentage of gay men get burned one way or another in their relationships with bisexual males (getting left for a female or females in general sucks and might make one hostile)

Though I have never seen or engaged in this hostility

[Rye]

You would think that would make heterosexual men hostile to bisexual or lesbian women, but that's quite the opposite.

[Alyrium Denryle]

You would think that would make heterosexual men hostile to bisexual or lesbian women, but that's quite the opposite.

Nope, not necessarily. If anything bisexual women are better, because if they have sex with a woman they cannot trick the guy into raising someone elses kids because of it. Their infidelity is less harmful, and may increase his fitness (Threeseome! DOuble the pleasure, double the insemination)

[Darth Wong]

I have another hypothesis in need of empirical tests...

One potential reason is that bisexuality is an alternative reproductive strategy that is very very effective in low frequencies as nipping into the reproductive success of heterosexual males.

Male Bisexuals begin sexual activity earlier and have more partners, and are better at hiding indiscretions. This makes them highly competitive when young. Unfortunately for them, due to having more partners they are at a higher disease risk. This combined with other factors, leads to a form of frequency dependent selection where there is an optimum frequency of bisexuals within the population. Homophobia could have evolved (either biologically or culturally) as a way to depress that optimum frequency on the part of heterosexual males.

The gays just get caught in the crossfire. It is hard to spot a bisexual, targeting anyone who has sex with men is easier.... costs less

You've overthinking this. The only hypothesis you need is social conformism. People who deviate too much from social norms are often hated and mistreated by the majority. That's why a young Goth woman was beaten to death recently. That's why effeminate heterosexual men get almost as much abuse as homosexual men. The fact is that gays are different in a very personal way, and human beings, as pack animals, tend to attack that which is different.

[Kanastrous]

Possibly. We ARE bound by the same rules. Or it could just be that a relatively high percentage of gay men get burned one way or another in their relationships with bisexual males (getting left for a female or females in general sucks and might make one hostile)

Though I have never seen or engaged in this hostility

I've met gay men whose hostility seems to be politically motivated - to them, the image of a bisexual man suggests that there is "choice" involved in sexual orientation (in that bisexuals, of course, exist with that choice), and it's very important for them to disallow any possibility that choice could be involved in gender preference because they have to contend with the people who insist that their exclusive homosexuality is a choice.

I think they confuse the ability to choose partners of either gender, with having chosen the ability itself.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Possibly. We ARE bound by the same rules. Or it could just be that a relatively high percentage of gay men get burned one way or another in their relationships with bisexual males (getting left for a female or females in general sucks and might make one hostile)

Though I have never seen or engaged in this hostility

I've met gay men whose hostility seems to be politically motivated - to them, the image of a bisexual man suggests that there is "choice" involved in sexual orientation (in that bisexuals, of course, exist with that choice), and it's very important for them to disallow any possibility that choice could be involved in gender preference because they have to contend with the people who insist that their exclusive homosexuality is a choice.

I think they confuse the ability to choose partners of either gender, with having chosen the ability itself.

Well, there ARE stupid people in every group...

[Justforfun000]

While it is interesting and probably productive to speculate on the biological and psychiatric reasons associated with homosexuality, I tend to agree with Mike that the simplest reason for homophobia is mainly due to it being very different in a behavior that is intensely personal to people.

Sexuality is one of our strongest drives, and it must be quite disconcerting to a hetero male to deal with other men who he just feels a companionable interest towards when they are expressing desires that challenges his sexual reaction. If the straight guy knows that another guy is potentially looking at him in a sexual manner, he would naturally be thrown off when he doesn't possess any corresponding desire. The entire scenario is uncomfortable and embarrassing to him because he simply doesn't know how to react.

Thankfully in today's (enlightened places anyway) society, people can use their brains to think about it logically and deal with it in an empathic and tolerant manner, but when it is something societally reviled as 'immoral', the combination of the discomfort it would evoke with the social attitudes of the time easily explains the range of emotions that stretch from mildly uncomfortable to downright loathing and disapproval.

Unfortunately religion is a natural accessory to such attitudes because it judges and condemns many behaviors arbitrarily. It's much easier for people to just parrot an inflexible belief system then deal with the uncomfortable method of sorting out their individual emotions when responding to gay people.

Hell, from the opposite side of the spectrum, I can think of many occasions when I was the 'victim' of female attentions and unlike the gay side of things, I couldn't even deal with it in a "this is WRONG" kind of way. I had to pretend that this was natural and desirable in general, but still manage to find a way out of this very unwanted attention. So I can flip flop it in my mind and somewhat relate, but it's obviously even STRONGER an emotion in reverse because I knew that hetero feelings were the norm and I was the one with the 'problem', but when straights come up against homo situations they are already feeling secure in their own hetero feelings and I can easily see how this aberration to them could spark strong negative reactions.

From what we see in children who are raised without any prejudice towards homosexuality, they demonstrate no innate disgust or condemnation so this more then anything suggests that homophobia in it's basic essence is really a learned behavior and not a natural reaction to sexual differences in the species.

Again as Mike has suggested, I think the basic impulse reaction towards people just being 'different' is the major root of the problem. Unfortunately social mores, religion and just plain bigotry elevates it to an entirely new level.