And you always thought it was the six beers, right?

A friend who is a missionary in Kenya recently told me that studies show that gay porn sites in Africa are visited most often (taking into account population density, etc.) from Kenyan computers than any other. My friend found this interesting because Kenya, like most of Africa, is vehemently homophobic. And there seems to be no evidence that Kenya has a higher percentage of gay men than other nations in the area.

I thought of that when I ran across this queer bit of news: 

Science Explains Why So Many Straight Dudes Fantasize About Having Gay Sex Together

 

We already know that straight guys are a lot more bisexual than people think. We also know that they secretly get off on watching gay porn. But we never knew exactly why. Until now.

A new study out of the University of Portsmouth in England has uncovered why some straight dudes have gay sex fantasies, and it all boils down to a little thing called progesterone.

Progesterone is a hormone that appears in both males and females and contributes to the formation of social bonds. Researchers found that when hetero guys are reminded of the importance of forging male friendships, they report an increased willingness to engage in sexual behavior with other guys.

The levels of progesterone were measured in the saliva of 59 males. Then, each men was randomly assigned to one of three groups and asked to complete word puzzles: one using friendship words, one using sexual words, and a third using neutral words.

Afterwards, men who were asked to complete the friendship word puzzle showed 26 percent greater homoerotic motivation than men given the sexual or neutral puzzles. Moreover, men with the highest progesterone levels who were given the friendship puzzle showed 41 percent greater homoerotic motivation compared to men with the highest progesterone levels in the other two groups.

Researchers concluded that gay thoughts go hand in hand with the need to create alliances with members of the same sex, which can be traced all the way back to the teamwork mentalities of the earliest hunter-gatherers.

“From an evolutionary perspective we tend to think of sexual behavior as a means to an end for reproduction,” Dr. Diana Fleischman, the report’s author, said. “However, because sexual behavior is intimate and pleasurable, it is also used in many species, including non-human primates, to help form and maintain social bonds. We can all see this in romantic couples who bond by engaging in sexual behavior even when reproduction is not possible.”

Fleischman continued: “Having some degree of attraction to the opposite sex is a type of adaptive behavior, and in any adaptive behavior you will see extremes of the spectrum, hence some people will only be attracted to members of the same sex.”

Ultimately, Fleischman said, “the research suggests that having exclusively heterosexual thoughts is a disadvantage — it’s better to be a little bit attracted to the opposite sex.”

Damien's note: I realize this doesn't solve the conundrum of the Kenyan gay porn site visits. But it does show that things are a bit more complicated than one might think ...