Gay sexual practices

"[There is an] antisocial impulse to queer revolt that may lead some gay men to have risky sex - the delirious pleasure some gay men may take in contravening both society’s norms and their own (“the rejection of normal life”)."

"Public toilet signaling by gay men, the glory hole and the graffiti, demonstrates the ubiquity and transgressive nature of public, casual sex for many homosexuals."

"Sex for gay men has often been equated with a feeling of freedom and independence. For many gay men, sex with another man is often seen as the sole expression of being gay. Historically, it has not been uncommon - and there are still men who behave this way today - for men who have sex with other men to have two lives. One is the life that looks fairly ordinary to the outside observer; that is, no one would be able to look at this person and suspect anything gay about him. The other life involves the man going out looking for gay sex. This type of person probably does not identify as gay, may not have any gay friends, and does not desire a lasting relationship with another man. He just wants sex with men."

"That gay men are capable of sex without significant emotional cathexis has given rise to the idea that gay men are “promiscuous.” This observation - one of the key planks in the campaign to keep gay men [nothing more than] homosexuals - tells us little about being gay. The issue has come to the fore because the campaign is focused on sex, and because gay men are typically more forthcoming about their sexual lives than heterosexual men, many of whom envy the sexual freedom gay men experience. Gay men have the same capacity for purely libidinous, uncathected sex that a majority of human males have; but gay men are unfettered by the traditional, socially promoted sensibilities and sexual expectations of women… Heterosexual society has a significant investment in keeping gay sex apparently promiscuous and emotionally empty."