Kissing Other Men

Abstract

In December 2007, two freshman girls from the Coaching Education Program I taught on at the University of Bath, England organized a “fun and games” session to celebrate the end of the semester. The festivities included a number of games and competitions, including one called “gay chicken.” The rules were described that each pair of randomly picked, (ostensibly heterosexual) men were to motion toward a kiss, with the winner being the one who retreated last. Whereas one might expect young heterosexual boys to refuse to partake in the game, all six boys that were randomly chosen by the girls to participate agreed to play. Neither boy from the first pair “won.” Instead, their lips locked in front of their peers. After this draw, the organizers determined that the next pair had to kiss for a period of five seconds. Again, no winner emerged. When the third set dramatically performed the kiss, the class cheered their originality, as one bent the other over and kissed him for half a minute. The students had no distaste for what they saw.