# In the 1950s, was male on male sex regarded as something horny guys did when they couldn't get dates? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2022, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414 "2022-04-06T19:21:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/61 "2022-04-07T15:07:18Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I wonder if there are other kinds of turpitude. I use one kind to thin my oil based paints. As for circle jerks, in my experience you didn’t even _hint_ that you masturbated, at all. I think you got called “queer” if people thought you did, but then, that was a universal insult. We had a few “strange” kids, but no one ever talked about gettin’ friendly with a sheep, or his dog, or anything. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/62 "2022-04-07T15:15:36Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > along with being forced to have sex with a goat or other farm animal, sounds like urban legends we used to tell pledges in my fraternity days. Not so urban legendy in some frats: [https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19900125&slug=1052653](https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19900125&slug=1052653) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/63 "2022-04-07T15:43:13Z")
Moderating: > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > And that’s it for me, I’m finished being wound up by you. > [@Crane](#): > > Sorry, I believe you are self winding. Both of you: Please comment on the content, not the contributor. And @Crane , no personal attacks are allowed outside the pit. You know that. Close to a warning. ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/64 "2022-04-07T15:48:30Z")
# [In the 1950s, was male on male sex regarded as something horny guys did when they couldn’t get dates?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414) I’m just visiting here from 1944, and I can say that this was absolutely a thing. In fact, the later 1950’s were about when I became aware of a personal bullshit meter; I liked to hang out with girls, and couldn’t understand why a guy would _choose_ to fool around with another guy. Dan ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/65 "2022-04-07T16:04:51Z")
> [@Crane](#): > > Folks lived as they wished and nobody made an issue of it. Explain Liberace. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/66 "2022-04-07T16:12:24Z")
The popular view was reflected by a jury failing to convict Liberace of wrong doing in spite of the fact that he was the international icon of homosexuality. Perhaps, I missed your point. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/67 "2022-04-07T16:33:13Z")
Huh? Liberace won a big settlement against the _Daily Mail_ after an article implied he was homosexual. He specifically stated in court that it was untrue and libelous and was award £8000, the largest libel settlement ever at the time. It’s extremely unlikely the jury would have given him a cent if they thought he was gay. > **[Liberace v Daily Mirror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberace_v_Daily_Mirror)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Liberace v Daily Mirror is a 1959 English legal case in which the American entertainer Liberace sued the Daily Mirror columnist William Connor for libel after Connor, who while writing under the pen name Cassandra, published an article strongly hinting that he was a homosexual. At the time homosexual sex was illegal in the United Kingdom. Liberace was successful in the action and was awarded £8,000. The award was the largest libel settlement for... From my experience in high school, any sign of homosexuality was mercilessly mocked and made you a target. It would be unimaginable for a straight guy to willing do anything sexual with another guy. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/68 "2022-04-07T16:35:57Z")
When I was a kid, a friend had an idea for a practical joke - at a sleepover, he talked us into doing a circle jerk. We’d turn out the lights (it’s not gay if you can’t see it), and he’d start doing that thing where you pinch your cheek and rapidly shake it, making a squelching noise that, allegedly, sounded like masturbation. Once he got everyone involved, he’d flip the light on, and catch us all there with our willies out. Plan worked great, until the part where he flipped the lights on. Instead of catching us with our dicks out, he caught us all pinching our cheeks and wiggling them to make a squelching noise. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/69 "2022-04-07T16:36:02Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > I’m an old has-been who never was, so I wouldn’t know, but in the 2020’s is male/male sex something horny guys do when they can’t get dates? In prison perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/70 "2022-04-07T17:21:00Z")
> [@Crane](#): > > in spite of the fact that he was the international icon of homosexuality. Where? Were you alive in the 60s? No one\* knew. **Austin Powers:** Yeah, and I can’t believe Liberace was gay. I mean, women loved him! I didn’t see that one coming. \*"Hollywood, and I assume especially gay Hollywood knew, but they weren’t talking. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/71 "2022-04-07T17:24:28Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Where? Were you alive in the 60s? No one\* knew. I believe that a lot of people (not just in Hollywood) _suspected_ he was (as with other campy celebrities like Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly), but they still remained publicly closeted until the '80s or later. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/72 "2022-04-07T17:37:58Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I believe that a lot of people (not just in Hollywood) _suspected_ he was I find the “celluloid closet” fascinating. At the time, I was too young and too sheltered to catch anything real subtle. Why would I think Paul Lynde or CNR were gay (and yet, not Fannie Flagg? Hello, Match Game!) as opposed to just being “campy”? (or “British”, as the joke goes.) TV back then wouldn’t put _those people_ on TV, unless they were meant to be the butt of jokes, or so it seemed. On this board, there’s always someone that says “of course we all knew”, but, no, “we” didn’t. Out in mainstream America, no one talked about it. How would we find out? Even worse, I think if middle America knew, the celebs would have lost a lot of their audience. Sure they could probably handle Paul Lynde, but not Raymond Burr. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/73 "2022-04-07T17:43:13Z")
Now that you did such a great job on Liberace, explain the Stonewall Riots. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/74 "2022-04-07T17:44:56Z")
For the rest of you, > **[The Forgotten History of Gay Entrapment](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/before-stonewall-biggest-threat-was-entrapment/590536/)** > > Routine arrests were the linchpin of a social system intended to humiliate LGBTQ people. One of many horrifying quotes: > After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, New York’s newly established State Liquor Authority issued regulations that prohibited bars from employing or serving gay people or even allowing them to gather on their premises. During the Second World War, the federal government followed suit by prohibiting homosexuals as a class from serving in the military, and after the war, it extended that ban to civilian federal agencies. > > The core principle that governed such rules was to exclude people who were openly gay from many workplaces and the urban public sphere of bars and restaurants, and to prevent them from even being represented or discussed in plays, films, and cabaret performances. The point was not just to condemn, humiliate, and discourage people who were queer, but also to render homosexuality invisible and therefore, the authorities hoped, unthinkable. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/75 "2022-04-07T17:54:53Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > homosexuals as a class from serving in the military And in Canada it wasn’t until 1990 or thereabouts that being gay in our military ceased to be illegal. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/76 "2022-04-07T19:38:30Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > along with being forced to have sex with a goat or other farm animal, sounds like urban legends we used to tell pledges in my fraternity days. > > Not so urban legendy in some frats: > > [Fraternity At UW Is Barred From Some Greek Events Over Hazing Involving Sheep | The Seattle Times](https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19900125&slug=1052653) From the story, I am wondering if they actually planned to do anything with the sheep or if was just there for show to scare the pledges because of the various legends. Honestly, that’s something we thought about with our pledges - letting a sheep roam through the house to mess with their minds. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/77 "2022-04-07T19:43:58Z")
I have no idea, but that article still cracks me up (it was a big deal in the NW when it came out for all the rival and not-so-rival schools). “overheated and agitated” sheep. Pledges wearing only their underwear and coated in peanut butter. Comedy gold. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/78 "2022-04-07T19:45:44Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I find the “celluloid closet” fascinating. In case anybody is unaware, there is a great documentary by that name. It follows history of homosexuality in American cinema. Oddly, I saw it on the digital over the air channel Decades. I feel it needs an update. But, as I said it’s a great film. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/79 "2022-04-07T19:50:37Z")
That was reportedly the annual hazing ritual on our high school wrestling team; the seniors would announce they were going to have a “team bonding” circle jerk in the dark, then at some point the lights would go on to reveal everyone but the freshmen fully clothed and laughing. Although if even I, about the last person in the world who would ever have considered joining the wrestling team, knew about this, I question if anyone ever really fell for it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414/80 "2022-04-07T19:58:59Z")
> [@Crane](#): > > Are you saying that J. Edgar Hoover spent his life in jail? It has never been proven Hoover was gay or even a cross dresser. He appeared to be one of those dudes who suppressed his sex life for his work. After Hoover died, his enemies likes to accuse him of things (and not a few were true) but remember, back in those days being called a “queer” was a huge insult. I think/hope we are mostly beyond that now. > **[Opinion | Five myths about J. Edgar Hoover](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-j-edgar-hoover/2011/11/07/gIQASLlo5M_story.html)** > > Let’s separate fact from fiction in J. Edgar Hoover’s legacy. Note that anti-gay stuff was common. In one of the police novels by Wambaugh, (Choirboys?)one of the characters casually burns the penis of a gay man with a cigar, and the reader is supposed to chuckle or think that was a Good Thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-1950s-was-male-on-male-sex-regarded-as-something-horny-guys-did-when-they-couldnt-get-dates/962414.md?page=5)