“I Kiss Them Because I Love Them”: The Emergence of Heterosexual Men Kissing in British Institutes of Education

Abstract

In this article, we combined data from 145 interviews and three ethnographic investigations of heterosexual male students in the U.K. from multiple educational settings. Our results indicate that 89 per cent have at some point kissed another male on the lips which they reported as being non-sexual: a means of expressing platonic affection among heterosexual friends. Moreover, 37per cent reported also engaging in sustained same-sex kissing, something they construed as nonsexual and non-homosexual. Although the students in our study understood that this type of kissing remains somewhat culturally symbolized as a taboo sexual behavior, they nonetheless reconstructed it, making it compatible with heteromasculinity by recoding it as homosocial. We hypothesize that both these types of kissing behaviors are increasingly permissible due to rapidly decreasing levels of cultural homophobia. Furthermore, we argue that there has been a loosening of the restricted physical and emotional boundaries of traditional heteromasculinity in these educational settings, something which may also gradually assist in the erosion of prevailing heterosexual hegemony.

Twelve not so angry men: Inclusive masculinities in Australian contact sports

“…Drummond et al (2015) examined the prevalence of kissing among straight male athletes and non-athletes in an Australian university. Concurrent with the findings of previous inclusive masculinity scholarship on same-sex kissing 6 (Anderson, Adams and Rivers, 2012), Australian men were also kissing their male friends (Drummond et al 2015), although in lesser rates than British men, and higher rates than American. Although Anderson (2014) found more non-athletes to be kissing than athletes, in the UK, this was not evident in the Australian study.…”

“…Further literature on soccer supports the claim that homophobia is in decline both on the playing field and among spectators Cleland, 2011, 2012;Cleland, 2014;Magrath, Anderson and Roberts, 2013), and thus the positive environments found in both of the above studies (Adams and Anderson, 2012;Anderson, 2011b;Anderson and Adams, 2011) are not as a result of uniquely liberal environments. Athletes are no longer required to be athletically elite, rather regardless of sporting ability homosexual athletes are being embraced by their teammates (Anderson, 2011a).…”

“…They discuss their homosexuality with teammates and often engaging in graphic conversations about gay sex and relationships (Anderson, 2011b). Conveniently, in Adams and Anderson's (2012) ethnographic study of a university soccer team in the U.S., one athlete opted to come out to teammates, offering a unique and rich research event. Subsequently, open discussions of same-sex sex were found between teammates; fostering an environment of support and inclusivity (Adams and Anderson, 2012).…”

‘Charlie Is So Cool Like’: Authenticity, Popularity and Inclusive Masculinity on YouTube

“…It has also been found that heterosexual men in Britain (Anderson, Adams and Rivers, 2012), Australia (Drummond, Filiault, Anderson and Jeffries, 2014) and 6 the United States (Anderson, 2014) frequently kiss one another as expressions of homosocial endearment.…”

“Gay capital” in gay student friendship networks

“…The influence of inclusive masculinities on heterosexual men's friendships in university settings has been intensively investigated (Anderson, Adams, & Rivers, 2012), alongside research which has documented markedly improved experiences for bisexual students (Anderson, McCormack, & Ripley, 2014;Morris et al, 2014). Taulke Johnson's (2008) research with gay male undergraduates found more positive experiences of university life than earlier research (Epstein et al, 2003;Rivers & Taulke-Johnson, 2002).…”