Don't you suppose that with said reasoning, this is one of several good reasons why straight guys want to "cling" onto their heterosexuality with a vice grip? So what if a category on sexuality is "stretched to the motherfucking limit?" If gay people aren't meant to be a monolithic classification, like Naughty said earlier, then that same privilege should go for straight people, too, even if said straight person's experiences might make people a little uncomfortable or if this person isn't easily defined because of what he has done.
I wasn't too struck by what the original poster had intended, and maybe that's because I know where he's coming from. He's had a few sexual encounters, but in his heart of hearts, he doesn't feel that "gay" is the label to describe him -- just like "Abercrombie and Fitch preppy guy" doesn't fit me at all. Whatever the consensus shows on the dynamic social representation of non-heterosexual people, it's a bit more difficult to ask your everyday person to go for the continuum understanding of sexuality because we still don't see in media experiences. Either we're loving or scoffing at the Queer Eye guys -- who, themselves, should a little bit of range in mannerism -- or making fun of people like Jack on "Will and Grace" -- or gawking at guys ripped straight out of Tom of Finland, decked head to toe in leather chaps, vests, and the obligatory metal rings/chains.
Don't you see? Whether it's Queer Eye or Tom of Finland, gay people have a real sense of "caricature" tacked onto their gender roles in a way that straight people won't. And if someone's conceptions are learned and built off of these way-out-there conceptions, then people who try to live more toward the middle are only going to aggravate their psyches even further. Don't even get me started on that metrosexual thing; I've heard more women show confusion toward those guys than anything else, and I admit that manicures and pedicures and hair styling products are a bit too much for me, too.
And for the record... I was run through the wringer in college by my "gay friends" because the moment they learned that I was experimenting, they kept insinuating that I would turn gay now or that I was in denial or that my heterosexual relations were all a sham. Fuck that! This was a real blow for me to be talked to like this, considering that gay people, in general, want more tolerance for other people. I found it hypocritical. And not that every gay person is going to act like that toward me, but this was a real negative learning experience and that continues to color my perceptions these days -- and that's just being honest.
Woo. Rambled way too long.
Summary:
-- Don't pigeonhole sexuality. It's way too complicated.
-- Sexual experience over the lifespan contributes to your current views.
-- We're still stuck with ridiculous standards to judge our own sexuality, and that's tough to deal with.
