Pseudo-homosexuality
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Pseudo-homosexuality (pseudohomosexuality) refers to homosexual anxieties, fantasies, or behavior, exhibited by people who self-identify as heterosexual or who have an opposite-sex sexual orientation (spontaneous attraction). Where actual sex is sought as a result, pseudo-homosexuality is putatively distinguished from homosexuality in that it may not reflect a desire based on sexual orientation or honest curiosity. For example, this behavior may be found in restrictive environments, such as prisons or military encampments. Where consent is lacking in these circumstances, sociopathic elements may be manifest.
Due to its somewhat nebulous nature, pseudo-homosexuality may be claimed as a defense by heterosexuals who feel some insecurity or doubt concerning their own masculine role in any area of behavior -- sexual, social, or vocational. Anxieties about being homosexual are frequently symbolic reflections of failure in masculine aspiration and competitive defeat in power struggles. The fantasy of incorporation of the penis then appears as an attempt at magical repair. In such cases, the true homosexual motivation, if present at all, is very much in abeyance.
The notion of pseudo-homosexuality is important as it provided an alternative explanation for homosexual anxieties and fantasies among patients undergoing psychotherapy. These fantasies were earlier understood as the expression of the repressed homosexual component of our biological innate bisexuality, a theory now become obsolete.
Another comparison of this behavior, tentatively termed in this context as "pseudo-heterosexuality", should be mentioned in the context of "passing", wherein a homosexual individual attempts to emulate and adopt all superficial traits of the opposite gender, for a variety of reasons.
