Is “Heteroflexible” the New Gay?

What does it mean that there are three new entertainment projects where straight men are sexually involved with other men?

The three projects: Torchwood, Humpday and the Adam/Rafe storyline on The Young and the Restless.

Torchwood's Jack (John Barrowman) and Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd)

Britain’s Torchwood first broke gay ground with its leading bisexual character (in a genre show, no less). Now with the show’s third season (a five-part miniseries) running on BBC America for five days starting last night, that leading character, Captain Jack Harkness, is still involved with his male co-worker Ianto.

But this time around, we learn that Ianto is not gay or bisexual; he’s actually straight, but just happens to respond emotionally and sexually to Jack. Confusing? It shouldn’t be. Such emotions and relationships have always been part of the human spectrum. It’s just that, until very recently, we haven’t had the words to describe them.

The situation is very different in the indie film Humpday that opened in limited release two weeks ago, about two very straight men who, to prove something to both their more adventurous friends and themselves, decide to make a gay adult film art project. It’s “beyond gay,” they say.

But things turn out more complicated than they expected – especially since both men naturally assume that they’re going to be the, uh, active partner.

A scene from Humpday

And the storyline is more different still on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. Last month, to distract Rafe, a gay man on the verge of discovering evidence of a crime, the long-running character of Adam had sex with him, despite being heterosexual.

Afterward, Adam quickly took a shower, and then went over to see his girlfriend to kiss her, as if to prove to himself that he’s still heterosexual. But it’s clear that he was able to perform sexually with Rafe and that his subterfuge was not discovered.

The Young and the Restless' Adam (Michael Muhney)
and Rafe (Yani Gellman)

They say you need three examples to make something a “trend,” and now we’ve got them. This idea of straight men fooling around with other men is officially a full-fledged media trend!

But it might also actually mean something – namely that America is finally growing up somewhat when it comes to the topic of guy-guy sexual behavior, and might even be taking a major step forward on the general understanding of the fluid nature of human sexuality.

This isn’t the first time popular entertainment has dealt with such sexuality: indie films like Chasing Amy (1997) and The Party Monster (1998) even took it on back in the 90s.

But those movies, and most of the others like them, dealt with fluid sexuality among women. This is key: very few entertainment projects have previously dealt with that same kind of open-ended sexuality among men.