ScienceDaily.com
reports that in a study of male college cheerleaders who
had played football in high school, more than one third
of the subjects said they have had sexual
relations with other men. Nineteen out of 47 subjects
said they had engaged in sexual acts with other men,
ranging from kissing to mutual masturbation and oral sex.
Sociologist Eric
Anderson, who conducted the study, said the results show
society's increasing acceptance of gays. He also said that
many of the sexual acts were viewed by
participants as different forms of hazing and
team bonding.
"The evidence
supports my assertion that homophobia is on the rapid
decline among male team-sport athletes in North America at
all levels of play," he writes in his study "Being
Masculine Is Not About Whom You Sleep With:
Heterosexual Athletes Contesting Masculinity and the
One-Time Rule of Homosexuality." It will be published in the
journal Sex Roles in January, according to
ScienceDaily.com.
"My informants do
not feel that their same-sex sex jeopardizes their
socially perceived heterosexual identities, at least within
the cheerleading culture," Anderson said. "In other
words, having gay sex does not automatically make them
gay in masculine peer culture." (The
Advocate)