So, what’s a “bro-job”? That’s when a straight guy gives another straight guy a blow job, not in a meaningful sexual way but in a friendly, “here-you-go-dude” way. (Huh?) Dr. Jane Ward writes about this phenomenon in her book, Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men, published by NYU Press last month. (Why it gotta be white, I don’t know…?) Ward asks the question:

“A straight white girl can kiss a girl, like it, and still call herself straight—her boyfriend may even encourage her. But can straight white guys experience the same easy sexual fluidity, or would kissing a guy just mean that they are really gay?”

To coin a phrase: It’s complicated.

Ward examines the fascinating world of “straight guy-on-guy action,” which she believes isn’t nearly as gay as people might think. She argues that the real reason “straight” men behave in these ways is to..

“reaffirm rather than challenge their gender and racial identity and to leverage whiteness and masculinity to authenticate their heterosexuality in the context of sex with men.”

In other words: They do it to prove they’re NOT gay. (Huh?)

“By understanding their same-sex sexual practice as meaningless, accidental, or even necessary, straight white men can perform homosexual contact in heterosexual ways. These sex acts are not slippages into a queer way of being or expressions of a desired but unarticulated gay identity. Instead… they reveal the fluidity and complexity that characterizes all human sexual desire.”

Other studies have shown that gay bashing is often done by men who are repressing homosexual desires. But, if we’re trying to get rid of labels, this is an interesting discussion. What do you think? Does Ward’s theory make sense, or does a guy giving another guy a “bro-job” make him gay, or at least bi? Sound off on our Facebook page. (via Queerty)