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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 2025

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One distinction: homosexual men and men who have sex with men (MSM) are different terms. As far as I know, the blood donation screening questions have always been activity based, maybe very early understanding and terminology was fuzzy (GIRDS). So claims of discrimination against homosexual men are conflating terms and missing the epidemiological reason of the bans. On current blood donations, the organization I donate with asks about 'new sexual partners in the last # month', STI questions, if you have ever tested positive for HIV or taken HIV prevention medication. Questions which maybe more finely target the MSM population they want to exclude.

One time when I was donating blood an old-time volunteer about how at one point blood donation was a free HIV test, so some men would donate and then call later and ask the red cross not to use their blood.

One distinction: homosexual men and men who have sex with men (MSM) are different terms.

Fellas, is it gay to bang another dude?

Gay is an identity (something you are).
Banging other dudes is an action (something you do).

Men do, women are, so men naturally assume that when you ask them this, you're asking them to apply the woman's label. Unless you're a man predisposed to Gayness (which forms part of the problem with Gays, from the average man's perspective), that is inaccurate, insulting, and outright dangerous.

Of course, that also means they won't be part of any discussion when women and Gay men are trying to create an identity to describe this phenomenon, so it's not like the mistake theorists in those groups are even going to get a chance to know that. And the conflict theorists do it intentionally because male-coded sexuality bad.

I’m rather confused by this post.

Are you trying to say that there are no “gay men” because “gay” is an “identity” and “identities” are “for women”?

Do you believe that there’s a legitimate distinction to be made between “gay men” and “men who have sex with men”?

He accounts for the existence of "gay men" as a population distinct from men having sex with other men.

I suppose the evidence (e.g. prison sex) indicates that there is a distinction to be made. Although in the majority of contemporary cases, it’s being used as a cope.

In 19th and early 20th century Britain you were a homosexual if you liked to be penetrated by men, but if you were the one doing the penetrating you were not considered homosexual. This is similar to the culture of the Roman empire, which saw nothing wrong with man penetrating another man but considered being penetrated to be shameful. All that to say, the conception of the "gay man" as being someone who wants to have any kind of sexual activity with other men is historically quite recent.

I don’t think it’s quite true that gay topping was even remotely socially acceptable in Victorian England.

Unacceptable like cannibalism, or "unacceptable" like adultery?

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