Tuesday, April 14, 2015

What Gay Men are Really Thinking in the Locker Room: Kia Tyus


I do believe that men are not as creeped out by having a gay man in the locker room, as people would like to believe. I feel like while in the locker room if your not physically in a stall, you will probably get looked at by whoever is in the aisle with you.

It takes a certain level of maturity and self-security to realize that just because a gay man looks at you doesn’t mean that they are “looking at you” in that way.

Around the locker room, many men are okay with a gay man being around especially men that are married to females. I think that men are still afraid of how the media and other teams will portray them if they publicly accept the fact that they are okay with having a gay man in the locker room.

What happens in the locker room can also transfer to the field or court. The last thing a straight man wants is to have everyone thinking they are gay. In sports trash talking sadly plays a role. Straight men will probably get sick and tired of what is getting said to them on the court or field. That may cause anger towards a gay man in the locker room.

Overall, I agree with the article, if a straight man is so uncomfortable with one or two openly gay men being in the locker room, then it shows a lack of maturity and shows insecurity on the straight mans part.



5 comments:

  1. I do not agree that most men are comfortable with a gay man around in the locker room. I think that straight men still have problems with gay men. I think that they still make jokes and still feel uncomfortable around gay men. I do think that it is immature but I still think it happens in society. When hanging with my guy friends, if the term "gay" comes up or comments about homosexuality, they make rude jokes. I think that if an openly gay man were to be in the locker room, some straight guys would make comments about it, while others will noticeably become uncomfortable around him. This does show lack of maturity but it doesn't mean it still happens in the world. I think it has evolved over time but I still think that people don't accept homosexuality.

    -Gina Costanzo

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  2. I think quite a few men would still find it uncomfortable to have a gay man in the locker room. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are uncomfortable with gay men in general but in a locker room setting there are things being said that could definitely be hurtful to a gay man. Although it may be immature, it is just part of the nature and someone might slip up and use a gay slur with a gay teammate in the locker room, which could cause problems. Having said that, I would agree with you about the fact that having a gay man in the locker room does not necessarily mean that he will look at you in that way. However, some men may not want any locker room issues to transfer over to their play so they try to avoid the subject in general.

    -Kaleb Kuzma

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  3. You made a good point there, but I still do not agree with you that most men are comfortable with gay man in the locker room. I agree with you that it is immature that men think gay men looking at them is “checking them out,” but it is uncomfortable that a person who is into the same sex in the same locker room looking at a man naked. I think it is the same situation as a girl in a locker room with dozen of straight naked men, whether the girl is into any of them or not, those men would not feel comfortable at all. However, using gay slurs is another case. It is not acceptable to use gay slurs to attack people because it is disrespectful to gay people. Gay people should have the right to like someone is the same sex as they are.

    Haoyan Gu

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  4. I disagree that it shows immaturity when a male athlete is uncomfortable with a teammate who is gay in the locker room. I do not blame the uncomfortable male himself, but I do blame society. I honestly do not think that men are that uncomfortable with having a gay man in the locker room with them, but they are uncomfortable with media portraying the team as gay or themselves, a straight man, as gay. This is why they put on this front of being uncomfortable, because they do not want to be looked down upon or ridiculed by the world, just as they see other gay athletes receiving this negative backlash. I almost think that is a defense mechanism to protect themselves. I think better acceptance of gay male athletes in the world will greatly improve locker room situations.

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  5. I think that males would feel uncomfortable having a gay guy in the locker room. Not because i would thing the guy would be looking at me in particular but chances are that there is someone in the locker room that they would be into. I also don't think people want a gay man on there team because they wouldn't want all of the distraction that would come with it. Another thing that would be uncomfortable would be if the gay guy was into someone on the team, the effects that would carry over to the field. I think it could effect the trust that a team has with each other and would result in a uncontrollable team.

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