‘I don’t mind watching him cum’: Heterosexual men, threesomes, and the erosion of the one-time rule of homosexuality

Abstract

In this qualitative research, conducted on 30 gay-friendly, heterosexual, undergraduate men, we examine actual and hypothetical experiences of sexual threesomes, both with two women and one man (FFM), and two men and one woman (MMF). We show a cultural willingness for heterosexual men to engage in not only FFM threesomes, but also MMF threesomes. A year and a half into their university experience, seven of our participants had had at least one FFM threesome, and five of our participants had had at least one MMF threesome. We argue that this threesome experience is a component of cultural progression toward a more liberal, recreational culture of sexuality that encourages play and experimentation instead of a procreative model of sexuality. Thus, this research contributes to the growing body of literature showing that the cultural boundaries of heterosexuality are rapidly expanding for males, permitting more same-sex sexual contact without triggering the one-time-rule of homosexuality.

On the construction of an artificial paradox: A critical commentary on Diefendorf and Bridges’ ‘On the enduring relationship between masculinity and homophobia’

“…The inductive nature of the theory means this has included taking account of social class (e.g. McCormack, 2014; Roberts, 2013, 2018), generation (Anderson and McCormack, 2016; Rumens, 2018) and sexual fluidity (Robards, 2018; Scoats et al., 2018; Wignall et al., 2019) among other issues. In our reformulation, we drew not just on our own research, but that of numerous other scholars who have used the theory to varying extents – refining and augmenting it and extending academic debate.…”

Google, Tell Me. Is He Gay?: Masculinity, Heterosexuality, and Gendered Anxieties in Google Search Queries about Sexuality

“…Another study of over 24,000 undergraduate students found that, among those whose last "hook up" was with someone of the same sex, men were much more likely to identify as "gay," "bisexual," or "unsure" than were women (Kuperberg and Walker 2018). Drawn from the "one-drop rule" of race (a racial classification that asserts that anyone with "one drop" of black blood is classified as Black), some refer to this idea as the "one drop" rule of homosexuality (Schwartz 1995), the "gender of sexuality" (Schwartz and Rutter 1998), the "one act rule" of homosexuality (Schilt and Westbrook 2009;Ward 2006), men's "precarious sexuality" (Mize and Manago 2018) or the "one-time rule" (e.g., Anderson 2008;Scoats et al 2018). The argument is that men have less freedom to explore samesex desire than women without being labeled or perceived, by others or by themselves, as nonheterosexual.…”

Generational masculinities

“…Whereas I once (2008) theorized that a 'one-time rule of homosexuality' existed for men in the 1980s and 1990s, so that any sexual activity with another male socially coded him as homosexual, a 2017 special edition of the journal Sexualities documents the ways in which heterosexuality is also expanding to include a more expansive set of same-sex sexual behaviours (McCormack, 2017). Heterosexual men are, for example, engaging in male-male-threesomes (Scoats, Joseph, & Anderson, 2017), enjoying their own anal eroticism (Branfman, Stiritz, & Anderson, 2017) and having sexual intercourse with other men without having it question their own sexual identity as straight (Carrillo & Hoffman, 2017;Savin-Williams, 2017). Thus, it is evident that inclusive masculinities are not just about how males act towards each other, or what artistic, athletic, aesthetic, entertainment, occupational, or other aspects of social life they are culturally permitted or thwarted from engaging with; it is also about what sexual and semi-sexual behaviours they are culturally permitted to engage in.…”