Navigating and Negotiating Sexual Identity and Attraction: A Queer Analysis of Heterosexual-Identified Men Who Have Sex with Men

ORCID

Abstract

Heterosexual-identified men who have sex with men (H-MSM) defy dominant sexuality frameworks that assume coherence between sexual identity, attraction, and behavior. While extant models of sexual minority and heterosexual identity and attraction presume that H-MSM experience identity confusion and crisis, little research has examined how H-MSM experience sexual identity and attraction. This article is framed by Queer Theory and utilizes interpretative phenomenology to explore how a qualitative sample of 10 H-MSM navigate and negotiate their sexual identity and attraction. Results demonstrate that H-MSM situate their same-sex attraction as physical, situational, and exploratory while employing gendered and relational scripts. H-MSM sustain their heterosexual identity by decoupling identity from attraction and negotiating identity through heteroromantic desire. Unlike stage-based models that interpret identity-attraction-behavior discordance as confusion or denial, participants described their identities as coherent, meaningful, and grounded in their romantic and long-term commitments to women. Same-sex attraction was acknowledged but framed as separate from participants’ perceived emotional weight of heterosexual relationships. By illustrating how individuals actively weigh and assign meaning to different aspects of sexuality, the findings broadens understandings of sexual identity and attraction.

Publication Date

2026-04-28

Publication Title

Journal of Sex Research

ISSN

0022-4499

Acceptance Date

2026-01-01

Deposit Date

2026-05-15

Embargo Period

2027-04-28

Funding

This work was funded by an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council [SSHRC #435-2022-0887].

This document is currently not available here.

This item is under embargo until 28 April 2027

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