On the surface your question seems quite straight-forward, so to speak, but the way it’s phrased is a little tricky, so Spike wants to be precise with his answer. Are more “straight” men hooking up with other men now that they have the internet available as a tool? Yes, probably. Spike isn’t much for studying statistics, but it would make sense that if access is increased more men are taking advantage of it who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet other guys. An apt analogy would be that more people are also shopping at IKEA now, because they have access to the store online. In both cases, though, it needs to be stressed that the “shoppers” already had the desire to “shop.” The internet just facilitates the process; it’s not the cause of the desire.

So why is Spike making that distinction? Because he doesn’t want to provide any ammunition to Christian conservatives who might interpret his response to conclude that the internet is turning straight guys gay. While that may seem like a far-fetched concern, this kind of logic is standard operating procedure for the Christian right. Rather than focusing on things like personal choice and responsibility, they try to “fix” all the world’s “problems” by limiting access to temptation: Ban pornography and people will no longer have dirty thoughts; Get rid of contraception and kids won’t have sex; Take gay teachers out of the schools and kids won’t grow up gay. What this sort of reasoning ignores is the fact that the desires that lead to the behaviors they find so reprehensible are innate. It’s not like some straight guy is going to see a gay personal ad and suddenly think, “Gee, maybe I’d like to have a cock in my ass. Funny, I never thought of that before.”

Let’s look at it historically: Did the level of alcoholism rise after the repeal of Prohibition? How the hell should Spike know? He’s not a historian. But he’s pretty sure that the percentage of people predisposed to alcoholism didn’t change one iota. Did the incidence of teen sex increase after contraception was made more readily available? Yes...but so did teen pregnancies, so Spike isn’t sure there’s a very clear correlation on that one. The point is that removing barriers doesn’t create desires: they already exist. In fact, in Spike’s opinion, the conservatives actually have the whole desire/access equation backwards. The more repression there is, the stronger the desires grow. From his personal experience, Spike found the idea of pornography a lot more exciting when he was a wee 13-year-old with limited access to it than he does now that he can—and does—access it at any hour of the day or night.

So yes, there probably has been a rise in the number of guys getting a little dick on the side because the potential pool (particularly for men living in isolated, rural areas) has increased exponentially. At the same time, the connect rate has probably decreased sharply. When only 5 guys showed up at the rest area, 4 of them hooked up because the options were so limited. Now that there are 10,000 guys at the rest stop only a handful of them actually hook-up on a given night. But the rest areas, whether actual or virtual, exist only because there are already men who want to have sex with other men, not the other way around.

One final note to all the “straight” guys looking to get it on with other guys. By definition, if you’re playing hide the sausage with other guys YOU ARE NOT STRAIGHT. You may be masculine, you may really dig chicks, but as soon as you find yourself thinking about fondling another fella’s goodies you are no longer straight. If it helps you sleep at night, we’ll allow you to call yourself “straight-ish.” How’s that, Mary? Feel better now?

Love and kisses to all,
Spike

DISCLAIMER: Spike and Online OffBeat take no responsibility whatsoever for advice given in Spike Sez. Submit questions at your own risk to spike@onlineoffbeat.com. If no questions are submitted, Spike will make them up.