# Aggressive Males and Repressed Homosexuality **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477 "2007-01-11T00:24:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/1 "2007-01-11T00:24:47Z")
I have often heard that extreme aggressiveness in human males is often a sign of repressed homosexuality. One theory is that the frustration of keeping their sexuality a secret has contributed to aggressiveness. Another more reasonable sounding theory is that they are subconsciously trying to express themselves as excessively “macho,” so that no one would dare think they were gay. I have noticed that the topic of sex is discussed more frequently by aggressive men, and they are often the ones who will target homosexuals and either ridicule them, use derogatory language to describe gays, or use “gay” as an insult. I wonder how much of it is testosterone, and how much of it is desperation. Maybe they are trying to convince themselves of something. Perhaps this would explain the frequency of abusive husbands, as compared to abusive wives. Violence is considered an expression of maleness, and it would be easier to be violent towards someone to whom one is not attracted, but is part of the charade. On the other hand, maybe the belief that overly aggressive males are repressed homosexuals was concocted as an elaborate way to say, “Nu-uh, _you’re_ gay.” After all, the openly gay men I know are particularly non-aggressive, with their cruelest deeds being nothing more than brutal honesty. But even my heterosexual friends are like that. I like to be around non-aggressive people. So, is there any real research that suggests that the overly-aggressive, macho, gay-bashers may be secretly “in the closet?” ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/2 "2007-01-11T00:45:31Z")
No. Well there has to be some somewhere given that there are so many men in the world but still generally no. I was once in a very reputable Ph.D. program in the neuroscience of sexual differentiation based in a psychology department so I know a fair amount about some of the stuff you threw out there. I would say no. To quote that crackpot Sigmund Feud: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/3 "2007-01-11T01:43:29Z")
you can browse through this past thread [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=329793&highlight=repressed+homosexuality](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=329793&highlight=repressed+homosexuality) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/4 "2007-01-11T01:53:56Z")
One experiment a few years ago seems to support the claim. Men were asked questions about their feelings toward homosexuals and then shown gay porn. Their arousal was measured by a penile plethysmograph (which pretty much measured what you think it measured). 80% of those who showed antihomosexual attitudes were turned on by the porn. The report was in The Journal of Abnormal Psychology in 1996. [Here’s a link](http://www.oogachaga.com/downloads/homophobia_and_homosexual_arousal.pdf) to the PDF. Here is the abstract: > [@](#): > > The authors investigated the role of homosexual arousal in exclusively heterosexual men who admitted negative affect toward homosexual individuals. Participants consisted of a group of homophobic men (n = 35) and a group of nonhomophobic men (n = 29); they were assigned to groups on the basis of their scores on the Index of Homophobia (W. W. Hudson & W. A. Ricketts, 1980). The men were exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian videotapes, and changes in penile circumference were monitored. They also completed an Aggression Questionnaire (A. H. Buss & M. Perry, 1992 ). Both groups exhibited increases in penile circumference to the heterosexual and female homosexual videos. Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile erection to male homosexual stimuli. The groups did not differ in aggression. Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies. I don’t know if the experiment has been repeated or scientifically refuted. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/5 "2007-01-11T02:28:48Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] No. Well there has to be some somewhere given that there are so many men in the world but still generally no. I was once in a very reputable Ph.D. program in the neuroscience of sexual differentiation based in a psychology department so I know a fair amount about some of the stuff you threw out there. I would say no. [/QUOTE] So do you have any factual reason for saying this (besides claiming to “know a fair amount about some of the stuff you threw out there”) or do you just like the word “no”? ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/6 "2007-01-11T05:42:03Z")
One question I have regarding that study (which I have heard of before) is what does the increase in penis girth really measure? I can easily believe that it tells us about a person’s sexual arousal, but does correlate at all with other types of emotional arousal, such as anger? Now, in reflecting on my own penis I don’t see this happening perceptibly (i.e. erection related to non-sexual emotional arousal), but I am under the impression that the device could measure rather small changes in girth such that I might not notice them. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/7 "2007-01-11T05:56:01Z")
[QUOTE=sjc] Now, in reflecting on my own penis [/QUOTE] How often does one get to utter this line in the course of scientific study? 😃 Sorry, I’m easily amused. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/8 "2007-01-11T14:39:16Z")
Too many questions within the question. Are aggressive men by definition homophobes? Are all homophobes aggressive? And then what’s gay? And then key in on the homophobia – do they hate gay people just for gay sex? Or do they hate only people that openly flaunt their gayness? That’s pertinent, because a lot of redneck types hate everyone that’s different from themselves – blacks, Jews, Mexicans, whatever. Is someone that hates an obvious queer-boy a homophobe or is that just another reflection of his hatred for everyone? It’s akin to asking if he’s a closeted Jew, isn’t it? Now I’m not trying to imply there aren’t homophobes, but the picture of “aggressive men” that I’m inferring are that tattooed biker dudes or the day worker construction dudes that blame equal opportunity on their poor station in live (and yes, I’m being overly generalized hear and appealing to a stereotypical image of such guys, but it does clarify what I mean). ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/9 "2007-01-19T01:43:46Z")
I was trying to be more general and ask if aggressiveness among men is indicative of repressed homosexuality. Homophobia is an example of a possible manifestation of one’s deeply hidden desires, but I’m talking about basic aggressiveness, only amplified. Some men seem almost desperately aggressive. Most guys enjoy sports, beef, cars, and naked ladies, but I sometimes wonder about the ones who take these to extreme levels, especially when they bully other men. I’ve seen animals become aggressive towards one another when in heat, and maybe this is something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/10 "2007-01-19T02:18:59Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] So do you have any factual reason for saying this (besides claiming to “know a fair amount about some of the stuff you threw out there”) or do you just like the word “no”? [/QUOTE] As **Balthisar** explained in a little more detail, the answer is no because the question is poorly defined and can indicate a broad number of things, not all of which could be reasonably suggested to be true. Furthermore, asking about repression of this sort is asking to prove a negative which we should all know can’t be done. No, I can’t prove that aggressive men everywhere don’t have secretly repressed gay desires but that is not how this works so that is why I said no. Do some people hate blacks because they are secretly repressed blacks inside? I am truly homosexual friendly in my social life but I can see how people would have traits that would lead them to hate gays in the same ways that some hates Jews or any other group that you don’t have to resort to repression to explain. The evidence looks very thin and the Freudian type conjecture very thick on this one. A single suggestive study doesn’t mean anything in science because neither science nor the statistics behind the study work that way. Again, this question is like a conspiracy theory. The explanations get more complicated and winding as the discussion builds and the responsibility for rebuttal gets thrown to the rational people to prove a bunch of negatives and it doesn’t work that way. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/11 "2007-01-19T03:15:58Z")
I think that any person who has to keep a deep, dark secret about themsleves from everyone else is going to be susceptible to stress. And stress can lead to agressive behavior, among other things. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/12 "2007-01-19T05:02:05Z")
no…absolutely not…wait, do blowjobs count as “gay”? Did anyone ever see that Ali G Show episode where Bruno asked a bunch of college wrestlers to pose for the camera? They preceded to take off their shirts, gayly roll around with each other and flex. It was only after he told them it was for “Austrian Gay Network” they appeared disgusted with the thought of touching each other. Some scenes from the manly movie Jarhead were also pretty gay. I’m not a scientist and nothing against homosexuals, but I do know that a bunch of sweaty guys flexing for each other wearing jock straps is pretty gay. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/13 "2007-01-19T06:24:15Z")
Again? Could there possibly be posed a more “loaded” question? “I have often heard that extreme aggressiveness in human males is often a sign of repressed homosexuality.” I’m a respectably sized, happily married dad with a kid. Occasionally, I’ll come across a jackass with a beef. Do I think it’s because he wants to fuck me in the ass? Err… no. Jackasses are jackasses. “Repressed homosexuality” is possibly the most wanton bit of wishful thinking out there. Goddamnit, caring about someone regardless of their sex is inherently understandable and embraceable. Why the need for some accusatory justification? ---
**Author:** ![Slight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Slight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slight)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/14 "2007-01-19T09:23:27Z")
[QUOTE=Charger] I have often heard that extreme aggressiveness in human males is often a sign of repressed homosexuality. [/QUOTE] Crackpot Freud’s excommunicated spiritual son Jung would have you believe it’s actually represssed femininity that’s causing the anger. [Denying the anima](http://www.rjpoole.com/?q=node/144) can lead to projecting it onto others. ---
**Author:** ![ac05jn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@ac05jn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ac05jn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aggressive-males-and-repressed-homosexuality/387477/15 "2015-09-22T07:41:15Z")
> [@Charger](#): > > Perhaps this would explain the frequency of abusive husbands, as compared to abusive wives. Violence is considered an expression of maleness, and it would be easier to be violent towards someone to whom one is not attracted, but is part of the charade. " There are hundreds of surveys which shows women are as violent if not more violent than men in domestic violence cases. Men get arrested in 85% of all arrests but its estimated that Women are the perpetrators in most Domestic Violence cases. Most reciprocal violence is started by women and 70% of non reciprocal violence is perpetrated by women. Women however only get arrested in 15% of all DV arrests. This example of 572 different studies covering 371,600 people demonstrate that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners. [http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm](http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm) More men than women were victims of intimate partner physical violence and over 40% of severe physical violence was directed at men. [Nipple Clamps | BDSM, Bondage & Sex | Battered Men](http://www.batteredmen.com/NISVS.htm) Despite this though,99.3% of DV shelter spaces are for women and even men who report violence against them by women are arrested far more often than the woman who is attacking them." [![](http://image.basekit.com/bkpam293229_1366209889001.jpeg) ](http://image.basekit.com/bkpam293229_1366209889001.jpeg) Erin Pizzey started one of the first domestic violence shelters. she found that most domestic violence is reciprocal, and that women are equally as capable of violence as men. she was attempting to provide services for men, and for this she was ejected from her own service, received death threats to her and her entire family, bomb threats, pickets and boycotts, finally her dog was killed and she fled the UK. Domestic violence is 50% reciprocal, 36% perpetrated by WOMEN, 15% perpetrated by men. (CDC 2001) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOu\_BszChIE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOu_BszChIE)