Homosexual = sexual orientation to, or sexual behavior with, members of the same sex.
Homoerotic = suggesting or implying a sexualized response between persons of the same sex, or between the viewer/consumer and an image of, or performance by, a person of the same sex, regardless of the actual sexual orientation or sexual behavior of the person(s) involved.
Fr’instance, fashion ads in women’s magazines are often interpreted as homoerotic, because they feature sexualized images of women for the consumption of other women, and (as mentioned upthread) wrestling is likewise commonly interpreted as homoerotic because it features men watching semi-naked dudes grappling each other, even though most women who read fashion magazines and most men who watch wrestling are heterosexual and do not desire actual sexual contact with the models / wrestlers.
Same word; “homoerotic” works both ways.
Super common. See slash fiction and yaoi, both genres focusing on male-male pairings but made for (and predominantly by) women.
Homosexual vs Homoerotic.
Two men enter, one man leaves.
Or, to be more explanatory:
Two men enter one man. Leaves.
I have a male cousin who is my age. We have always been close. I have always had strong sexual feelings about him and for some reason I think he has them about me to but we have never made a move or ever said anything. When we get together for a visit we always kiss when we greet each other and our handshake is long and yes sensual. A couple of time we have had our picture taken together standing side by side. At first we gently put our hands on each others shoulder but just before the picture is taken our hands seem to slide down where his hand is squarely on my ass and my hand is also squarely on his ass. I think we both know what’s happening but we are each waiting for the other to make the first move. This has happened many times in front of family members at different events from weddings to funerals. Is this a Homosexual thing or a Homoerotic thing and does anyone think that other family members notice?
That is more a question for the In My Humble Opinion forum than this one. There really is no specific answer to your questions RichieBoy.
Me and a bud used to do a 3 some with this gal and she would love watching my bud and I get it on and that really turned her on. No scientific measurements needed!
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, RichieBoy, we’re glad you found us. This particular forum is dedicated to questions that have factual answers. You’ve raised a personal situation for which you’re seeking input; my suggestion is that you start a new thread and repost your situation in the forum called “MPSIMS” which is dedicated to discussions of personal issues. You’ll get more and better response. Here, it’s a digression in a thread about a specific topic (word meaning.) OK?
Well whenever someone mocks football/wrestling/action flicks for being “homoerotic”, they really don’t mean they want to have sex with each other. It’s more women don’t have a role in their world. It’s a lot like pre-puberty boys; the reason they don’t want to hang around girls is that girls will “soften” them or can’t have the depth of friendships that boys can have with each other.
Lots of good answers above. I’ll add my opinion:
Homosexual describes the nature of the participants.
Homoerotic describes the reaction of the observers.
Bingo. (As an adjective, that is, but homoerotic is not a noun.)