¿"STRAIGHT ACTING", WHAT IS IT?

What the hell is "straight-acting?" I suppose, since I spent much of my life in various insecure stages of denial, suppression, hiding, self-judgment and self hatred and acting out the stereotypes, myths and misconceptions of being "straight" I was at one time indeed "straight-acting."

Now, when I see gay men state that they are "straight-acting" on the net, I sometimes ask them: "If you were 'straight-acting' wouldn't you be posting in the 'men seeking woman' (m4w) section or on Adam 4 Eve?" Too many of us (gay men) place each other into the "straight-acting" or "effeminate" box and I often wonder why. Moreover should we labeling each other? And if we don’t, how else would we define each other?

How about we don't have to call it anything, perhaps we could just accept that we humans come in a wonderfully interesting and diverse array of personalities, traits, behaviors and ways in which we innately desire and crave to experience and express love and sex. The very word "effeminate," when applied to gay men, seems to suggest that they’re "not like a man" but "more like a female," and therefore plays right into myths, misconceptions and stereotypes of what is "masculine" and what is "feminine."

It's time to drop the stereotypes, drop the labels, drop the myths and misconceptions of manhood, and start embracing and accepting people, all people, for who and what we are starting with and including (and perhaps most importantly) ourselves! I don’t “act” straight/gay, I am just, a guy who happens to be emotionally and physically attracted to men. Yes, I know, sounds pretty gay, and indeed it is!