Glenn Beck has another reason to hate soccer. Heterosexual male students in Great Britain are openly kissing each other, and it’s all because of that stupid, boring, socialist sport.
British researchers at the University of Bath interviewed 145 college and high-school students throughout the U.K. All of the students were straight and white. Eighty-nine percent said they had kissed a heterosexual male friend on the lips. Thirty-seven percent said they had engaged in “sustained” kissing with another man. None of the respondents considered this behavior to be sexual.
Apparently, same-sex kissing began on the soccer field. In Europe, it’s not rare to see two players lock lips after scoring a goal. Then again, it’s not rare to see a guy take his pants off and run around with them on his head. Let’s hope that trend doesn’t catch on.
Ninety-five percent of the athletes interviewed had kissed another man, compared to 80 percent of the non-athletes. All of the subjects who hadn’t kissed a guy said they saw nothing wrong it.
The researchers believe that this behavior has helped to reduce homophobia in the U.K.:
Dr. Eric Anderson, from the university’s department of education, said: “Heterosexual men kissing each other in friendship is an offshoot of what happens when homophobia is reduced.
“At these universities, overt homophobia has reduced to near extinction, permitting those men to engage in behavior that was once taboo.
“The kiss is a sign of affection in student social spaces, a sign of victory on the pitch, or celebration at a nightclub, but it does not have a sexual connotation in any of these spaces. It seems generally younger people are becoming more and more open-minded with each generation.”
Anderson expects same-sex kissing to reach our shores soon enough. He says there’s research suggesting that 20 percent of American college soccer players have kissed another guy.
The author of this post, a former college soccer player, was not available for comment.
About Ryan O'Hanlon
looks like they do a lot more than just kiss
I am not sure I buy the straight-guys-kissing=less homophobia part of this story. It is culturally normal for Russian men to kiss each other on the lips in greeting or celebration, and it is not at all fair to say that this has led to less homophobia in Russian culture.
I’m going to have to assume that most of the students lied to the researchers for amusement. As a Brit who has only just finished uni, and regularly goes to sports events, I can’t think of a single case where two guys have kissed each other (let alone on the lips) in celebration, on the pitch or in a pub. Hugging is extremely common, but kissing would just be weird. It’s nothing to do with homophobia, that’s just too touchy feely.
Even the youtube video didn’t have many examples of this, it was mainly hugging or fouls being committed, and the only Brit in there was Beckham.
I don’t kiss my girl friends when I say hello or goodbye. I certainly don’t want to kiss my male friends.
And honestly, this is just one more reason to absolutely despise soccer. I played it for 12 years but holy hell is it boring to watch. And the thought of this spreading to the NFL is downright awful. I don’t need to see two 325-pound lineman sucking face after a particularly good block.
But you watch them feel each other up on the butt all the time.
Sounds like some of you boys feel a bit anxious about this apparent phenomenon of manlove in UK universities. Don’t worry: kissing your fellow men is not compulsory.
But it is worth taking research seriously that examines changing social habits and gender/sexuality norms amongst men and women and anyone who identifies otherwise, surely?
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