Word.

Isn't a gay guy being into straight guys about the same as any guy being into virgins? Once you have sex with them, they are no longer X. But for some reason it seems that straight guys can remain "straight guys" even if they fuck men. Why can't virgins remain virgins after they get laid?

I'm straight, and I've definitely found myself "confused" by men in drag before.

I remember a drunken night hopping gay bars with a friend in drag ("Ginger Vitus", aka Brian, who was/is a friend of yours, Dan) and finding myself quite attracted to her. If anything, the fact that there was a boy underneath the makeup made me less inhibited about about grabbing her ass and other forward behaviors that typically don't fly with the ladies.

I'm a gay guy and I'm definitely drag-phobic. I think they're nasty-ass creepy and don't want to be anywhere near them. I'm a guy that likes guys; not guys-pretending-to-be-girls-so-I-can-pretend-to-be-straight.

With that said, more power to the tranny-chasers and drag queens. Go do your stuff, have fun, and pay no mind to people like me.

Makes my head spin :)

I get the sense that transgender folks and drag queens are probably not the same thing (eg, people who feel they are in the wrong body versus people who like to dress as the opposite gender) and confusion comes over using the word "tranny" for anyone dressing as the opposite gender regardless of the underlying reason? And transgender tend to oppose the word whereas drag queens don't? I realize these aren't all nice tidy boxes, but I suspect the general groups apart from the names is what's going on underneath?

And yeah, I know there's yet another group: transvestites which I would tend to class as otherwise completely straight people who like to dress up with various articles of clothing of the opposite sex.

(And most of these "people" seem to be "men" -- do we ever hear of women dressing up in jock straps or ties for the sexual charge?)

As I said, my head starts to spin here. Anyway, very interesting story here (and agreed on your closing comment...! ouch!)

People in drag sexually turn me off, but I do enjoy a good drag show and watching a couple of queens lip-sync for their lives.

Hell, I'd even be willing to dress in drag for a performance or some such, but not for sex. Personally, I LIKE the man part of mansex.

And while there are certainly guys who enjoy the whole tranny thing, lets not pretend there aren't a whole bunch who do it purely out of homophobia.

So it's okay to be un-PC and mocking of trans people, but it's not okay for them to be un-PC and mocking of gay sex parties?

Oh come on, Dan. What happened to equal and unbiased mocking of all? They clearly hold everyone to the same ignorant standards.

@8 Or a whiff of misogyny as well. "That's what it takes to be a woman? Really? That far over the top? Can't be a woman without completely subscribing to those sort of designated-feminine traits? REALLY?"

The older I get the more relaxed about that I get, but that was the immediate impact drag made on me in my early 20's...

This article is proof that people are weird.

What are these "straight" guys attracted to? Clothes? Makeup? The profile of a breast regardless of what is actually there? (I suppose that last one also explains the attraction of breast implants)

As a straight man, I am attracted to women. The clothes and the makeup might influence the degree of my attraction, but I can certainly be attracted to a woman wearing unisex clothing and no makeup. A dude dressed as a woman is only going to attract me as long as I am tricked. As soon as I know it is a guy any attraction is extinguished. I went into "The crying game" unspoiled and realized almost immediately that was a dude.

The idea of grabbing some dude's ass just because he is wearing a skirt baffles me. I mean, it is still a dude's ass. I don't have anything against the guys who are into that, but I don't understand how they call themselves straight.

I'm a guy. I like sex with guys. I like male muscles, male bodies, male equipment. I like other guys to appreciate my own male muscles, body, and equipment. I'm a relatively masculine guy turned on by other relatively masculine guys.

I'm not turned on by drag queens. A guy in a wig and makeup and dress, acting effeminate is a huge turnoff. That doesn't make me dragphobic. I can't help what turns me on and what doesn't. I love RuPaul as an entertainer, but it isn't sexually attractive to me. Oddly, I think he's very attractive when he isn't in drag. The pictures I've seen of him dressed in a suit, not in drag, are totally hot. Same with one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence here in Seattle. I love them and everything about them, but it doesn't turn me on sexually. I know one of them, and in regular boy clothing, he's smoking hot. In costume, not.

So the clothes and the behavior are part of the equation to me. It isn't simply the equipment between the legs. Or the ass.

So... I can totally see how a straight-identified guy, who is not normally turned on by guys, could be attracted to a guy who dressed and acted like a woman. I'm just not willing to dress like a woman to have sex with a guy who likes guys who dress like women. If that makes any sense.

@3: "Isn't a gay guy being into straight guys about the same as any guy being into virgins? Once you have sex with them, they are no longer X. But for some reason it seems that straight guys can remain "straight guys" even if they fuck men. Why can't virgins remain virgins after they get laid?"

Self-identification is a powerful thing, I suppose. Unlike virginity, you don't "become" gay by having sex with your same sex, nor do you become straight by having sex with the opposite sex once.

I don't think any of us would be concerned with the identity of fundamentalist preachers who want to have sex with men but keep their wives in the dark at home if the preachers weren't condemning the horrors of the gay lifestyle while living it (and lying to their wives, obviously.)

I find men, women and "in-between" attractive, and I think various forms of gender-fuck can be totally hot...but I am having a hard time wrapping my head around "straight identified" men who are into chicks-with-dicks going to a party to get it on with men in drag.

I mean, I'd fuck a man in a dress that I found attractive [the man and the dress I suppose]. But I am not straight identified, and I would be fucking a _man_.

I thought Dan had repeatedly assured people that tranny chasers were straight because--while they are after cock--they are attracted to women. How does which department of Macy's you shop change you from a man-with-a-dick into a transexual?

And if you are a man that goes to parties to get it on with men in drag, you might not think so, but aren't you kind of part of the queer community by default?

So many questions...I'll just go think of Liev Shreiber as Vetty von Vilma in Taking Woodstock and, uh, figuring things out.

I like genderfuck (tho more in the direction of androgyny) as well, but I'm never pretending that the other person is anything other than exactly what they are. (Well you know what I mean.) OTOH, I certainly *don't* identify as straight, so there you go...

"Self-identification is a powerful thing, I suppose. Unlike virginity, you don't "become" gay by having sex with your same sex, nor do you become straight by having sex with the opposite sex once."

I don't think these guys are necessarily gay, but certainly Bi.

Wanting is the issue. These guys WANT to have sex with men who happen to dress like women. They are not being raped. (Yes, some gay guys have sex with women without being raped in order to hide/deny their homosexuality. These guys are not having sex with men dresssed as women to hide their heterosexuality, though.)

@7: Yep, there is a sizable percentage of queer female-bodied folks who dress up in jocks and ties for the thrill of it. Me and like, half my friends. Some of us are dykes who ID as women, and some are genderqueer, and some are straight women doing role play. (Some are trans, but I don't count that as belonging in the "for a thrill" contingent.) Drag, in any direction, is fun and sexy. You may not know about it because we don't get as much attention from outsiders, especially not straight guys. :)

@21:
>mfw "tranny" can stand for either "transsexual"/"transgender" OR "transvestite"

Is Mr Savage inconsistent here? He basically recommends this course of action for "gay boys" when his successfully straight-seducing citee took to the practice with advancing age. Was "boys" intended to be denigrating? Or, as I don't get out much these days, are "boys" simply now gay men who are too old to be "bois," "boyz," or "boiz" any longer? I'm sure there's some difference; maybe the distinctions could be added to the Great Index.

And by the way, we are back to validating and venerating straight-chasers beeecaaauuuse...? As Miss Brodie would say - for those who like that sort of thing... that is the sort of thing they like.

@7 - becuz us womens don't brag...

If a gay boy (or straight chick) hit on me 'cause of what's in my pants, despite the fact that I'm a woman, he'd be in for some disappointment and possibly some anger. It's insulting, y'know, to be implicitly called a guy like that. I get hit on by lesbians and straight guys plenty, I don't need attention that's intrinsically tied to someone inaccurately perceiving masculinity in me.

Now if an bisexual whoever, or a gay boy (or straight chick) who said "I know you're not a guy, but I'd like to experiment and I feel more comfortable with you 'cause I know how dicks work..." tried, that might be a different story.

@21: "Once again, Dan Savage shows his utter ignorance (and contempt) for trans women by reposting an article which completely confuses gay men performing drag with trans women."

once again, the Savage haters express a distinct lack of reading ability.

@7: Transsexual refers to people who feel they're in the wrong body. Transgender is a broad category which includes transsexuals as well as drag performers, cross-dressers, genderqueer folk, and other gender non-conformists.