I just read this and posted the following reply:
I question Dr. Anderson's conclusions based both on the small sample size, and his cohort or male cheerleaders, which remains a ‘gay’ activity in terms of American popular culture. I think he is at least as guilty of Dr. Sex in terms of ‘cherry picking’ his subjects to support the conclusion he is attempting to ‘prove’.
I’d be interested in knowing how he is defining ‘all American’. Is he using the term in a generic ‘average’ sense, or is he making reference to specific athletic honors conferred upon his subjects in secondary school?
A more valid sampling would be of al men who played, or had played, team sports: both American and rest of the world football (aka ’soccer’), rugby, basketball, hockey, wrestling, swimming, track and field, baseball, lacrosse, etc. It would be intersting to see the breakdown by sport. Of course this would be a much more involved study, and would necessarily involve thousands of subjects.
Mark Simpson has suggested — correctly, I think — that the actual incidence of homosexual acts among men has actually diminished since the advent of the Pill, the sexual revolution, and the mainsteaming of ‘heterosodomy’. Over the past 40 years it has become increasingly acceptable for a nice girl to ‘put out’ and still maintain her 'reputation'. Consequently, adolescent males don’t have the same compelling need to seek out the occasional ‘helping hand’ from their buddies. Added to that are the sundry extra-sexual associations of ‘gayness’, which if anything have only served to push masculine-identified homosexuals deeper into their closets. Indeed, at times it seems that all gay liberation accomplished was to legitmize sodomy among the usual suspects: interior designers, hair stylists, retail sales help, etc., which is to say not much at all. I suspect that as a society we are still a long way away from accepting homosexuality in male athletes.
I still hold out hope for Peyton Manning
