Thats a good question Dime, as if we know the cause…we may be able to lend some prevention to the problem!
Human being are marvelous beings…but in the gym…they tend to exhibit the most bizarre, unexplainable behavior! LOL
I would love to know where they learn this as well…
Don
Pardon my ignorance, but I thought that what makes you gay was getting your shit packed (or wanting to).
Dye jobs make you gay? How can you have homosexual hair? I choose not to dye my hair but I’m sure not going to call someone else who does it gay.
Tight clothes make you gay? Maybe wearing ping spandex bike shorts, but I wouldn’t judge according to someone wearing a tight shirt. Many guys wear tight shirts who are straight as a line.
Wearing torn up clothing doesn’t make you hard-core, it makes you a hobo. You don’t have to wear your best shirt/pants for the gym, but for god’s sake, you can buy a $1 shirt in a thrift store if you’re too poor to have some $5 wal-mart shirts/sweatpants to work out in and look half decent.
Well one doesn’t dye their hair just for the gym, they have it all the time. Same as the tan. So/and that wouldn’t make them gay either. As for the designers cloths i’m not to fond of that in the gym. As for those guys with the 12 inch arms who are 4’5" and do 40 sets of bi’s 3 times a week, no one can save them. The only time ill ever wear a cut off is if the gym is unbareably hot and the shirt will most likely be a home made cut off.
Solojobber - Too much info, man.
Irondoc - “Just ask yourself what John Wayne would do.” Words to live by.
I no longer try to classify things as “gay” or “not gay” because I don’t care. But I do think that for men, dying hair in any form is silly. Someone was recently looking at the top of my head and told me, “Dude, you’re getting gray hair.” I said “thanks.” I earned that gray hair and I’m not going to do a damn thing about it.
Akheron,
How far do you take the “why is it alright for women to dye their hair but not men?” arguement? Do you ask why is it okay for women to wear makeup but it is gay for a man to do so? Do you ask why it is okay for women to wear skirts and high heels yet it is gay for men to?
What point were you trying to make? Men and women are different. There’s nothing wrong with that. Androgony sucks.
Ok, ok they set me off with hair dyeing. I honestly don’t like it period. I really have more of a problem with women doing it actually. Come’n women you look good with what God gave you don’t fuck it up! Otherwise I don’t care what you look like as long as you don’t hold that fact that I’m not “pop” against me, and it seems as though you know what you are doing in the GYM (or at least looking for the right way).
AKHERON: Are you serious? Do we need to take out the whole Gender Identity debate, again?
Putting your view under societal brainwashing is an easy intellectual copout. You could use that way of answering to any tough question. But that is far from enough. You`ll have to do better than that.
WOMEN:
It is OK for women to die their hair far more than men because we EXPECT them to. They use it to compete amongst themselves to either a) fill their ego needs or b) get the man they want. In short, it gives them an edge among peers.
Even further down this logic, ask them to stop using all these beautifyers and they could not even stop. They perpetuate the stereotype or behaviour by themselves. Until they change, and the feminist crusade has not succeeded yet, expect them to behave like they actually do in large numbers.
Women simply are, at start. What makes them girly or butch is the choices they make. Sure, some have the equivalent of the male drive, and the T-profile, but it is the exception rather than the norm. Theres a couple of reasons why what you call brainwashing perpetuates itself: a) it works, b) some price must be paid to deviate from the norm. Most people dont have what it takes deviate from the norm without getting flamed.
For example, a T-Vixen usually has brains, thinks more masculine than the average chick, and still remains an attractive package. Do men like the balanced equation? Yes. Do we see tons of them, no? The path of T is not easy, hard work is required. Either average women know it and find solace in their cosmeticness or they are clueless (how can you train that much and be a woman? eeeewwww). You get the idea.
SOCIETY AND MANLINESS:
Now, before you throw me the how could this be OK for them and not for guys? Again, gender identity. Men are EXPECTED to be strong, driven, intelligent, successful, dominant, have character, etc. The common denominator: man has to work to get his competitive edge. Man cannot simply be. He has to make himself. He cannot capitalize on traditional girly values and behaviour and be expected to be equated 100% man.
When was the last time you heard real men talk about their cosmetic issues, or talk feminine Wow, Bob, these red spikes in your hair are wonderful. Yeah, right. It is expected from the gay crowd and most of male hairstylists. But real men, nope.
These are extremes, granted. Life is a continuum of gray shades between these two poles. The Yin-Yang thing. But the further you distance yourself from your natural pole, the more queer you get in the view of normal (most of) people.
As for the equality in all, forget it. At start, no two people are alike. Whether you come in as male or female, you have certain traits that are proper to your gender and that gives you advantages and drawbacks. Sure you can cross the line and copy the other sex, but expect corresponding feedback. Sure, women can fall into the female-hockey-player-butch syndrome. Do we guys revere and chase them for being so? No. Sure, you can have your girlymen all over the place, it`s their choice.
Gayness, in short, is using the opposite sexes behaviours, mindsets and tactics to distinguish yourself from the norm. For men, it equates to judge me by EASILY attained SUPERFICIAL changes in my look instead of judge me by YOUR traditional values and HARD TO EARN brotherly, manly respect.
Just dont wave the equality` flag if you deviate from your natural, expected, gender identity. Actions have consequences. You choose to act different, expect to be treated differently. That includes feedback and threads like this one.
Exactly DANC, Hard work and consitent drive in training makes the differences. Superficial, easy chanfges in appearance are more girly. I see a lot of quick fix mentality in training as opposed to the hard work.
One constant arguement I would have with my women friends is about training. They don’t want to do this, that or the other thing because of ABC. They’ll get to big, or there is no time, or it’s to hard. Always the latest stupid diet, etc.
Once during one of these discussions, I looked at the ladies and said,“What makes you think you know anything about this stuff?” Of course I got some stupid looks, but they knew were I was coming from. It comes down to my third rule of life: Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die.
John Wayne wore makeup 
Good one neophorm. But he never ate quiche and didn’t take guff from the Mexicans. That’s an old, old quote from the old book, The Real Man’s Guide. It came out about twenty years ago and was a great guide to real man behavior.
Okay, the gay thing is starting to bother me. Gender (what equipment you were born with), sexual orientation (who you like to poke or be poked by), and sexual identity (did you play with GI Joes or Barbies when you were a child, or now 
are completely separate things. A man being gay does not mean that he acts like a woman and vice versa. A woman being a lesbian does not make her butch, and vice versa. Yes, these things are usually indicators, but they aren’t hard and fast rules.
We’ve reached a point in society’s “evolution” where guys are expected to put in as much effort towards looking good as women have had to do for many years.
Gone are the days of untrimmed pubic hair, smelling like a man and wearing unstylish clothing.
Simply looking back at the last 4 generations of teenagers we can clearly see the accumulating pressure for youth to look good. Back in my day, all a chick had to do was wear a pair of jordache jeans. Now, girls aged 12 are tanned, wearing backless-stomachless towelettes to hide their teets, and jeans worn so low I could use their ass crack as a pencil holder.
Seeing how such an enormous pressure is put on women, its only normal that there be an overflow onto todays young men.
And if you dont like it… you could always bitch about how stupid kids are today and how great everyone was back in your day.
JARED NFS: OK. So how do you define gayness in terms of WHAT IT IS now that you have clearly stated what you think it is not?
I prefer a definition of symptoms and verifiable premises (like a medical description with checklists) than the vague ‘healthy is not being sick’ or ‘white is not black’. I’m sure others will be able to debate your arguments if you define them precisely point by point. Points can be discussed. Vagueness not. Thanks!
DAN C - gay means that you like to poke/be poked by members of the same gender, technically. Many will also agree that it means you only like to have sex with people of your gender, as liking both genders would make you bisexual, or slangly, a coin-flipper.
It (gay) also slangly refers to something that is unmasculine or just not good in general. Examples would be: “Damn, he’s got a gay haircut.” and “Don’t vote for Bush; he is so gay.” This is slang, and considered vulgar by some. Some would view it similar to using the n-word for people of African descent. Remember, associating someone’s sexual orientation with something that is generally bad, or not necessarily related to the orientation could (and generally does) come across as offensive to those with that orientation.
There’s also the “happy” definition, but that’s not relevant to this thread. But I’ll throw in one example: “Richard Simmons is always so happy and gay.”
That’s why I like the young guys and gals to work on accomplishing at school and fitness. Smarts and strength shine through. Maybe at forty I don’t have to worry about fitting it, but I do see how teenagers do. This is why I work with the kids that are putting in the effort. I can tell you when a yougin is going to make it.
The guy training with me now is going to college and going to play d3 football. He’s planning on being a teacher and is a heeluva good kid. He also seems to have the self esteem that he is what he is, without worrying about style to much. There’s nothing wrong with looking good, but the squat rack will teach you a lot about life.
Self esteem and confidence isn’t cheap, but it can be purchased with some blood, sweat, and tears that can’t be taken away. These are the people that don’t worry about style, it just falls into place for them.
DAN C,
Way to be stuck in 20-years-ago land. If you haven’t seen the commericals, Maxim, a very “manly” magazine came out with their own line of hair coloring products; 3 to be exact.
The commerical shows 3 different men having used the 3 different products. Consequently, each of the men get hit on by a ridicously hot girl. The message, chicks dig guys that tinker with their hair color.
Personally, I think a girl grabbing my junk is more “manly” than walking around in clothes with holes acting like King Shit.
Personally, I don’t give a shit how you guys dress. Actually, the more of you that don’t have a clue, the more attention the rest of us will get.
Akheron, I don’t know if I’d call Maxim “manly”. Also, what you’re talking about is a marketing ploy. Show guy using product. Show guy getting action by using product. By your logic, beer will also get you laid. And using Mr. Clean will make your life much more wonderful than it is.
Man oh man, looks like I may have hit a sore spot with some people. Whoops!
Z-MAN: I’d say its not a soft spot but rather an area that needed better clarifications and definitions to prevent the perpetuation of some myths and gross generalities. Vagueness can only go so far… =0)
You can’t really judge a book by it’s cover.
Just last night in my gym…a pretty boy was doing squats and deads and doing them properly.
A guy dressed in hardcore type clothing with his head shaved benched without a spotter and I had to jump off the row machine to get a bar off of his chest. His physique wasn’t hardcore, but his apparent attitude was.
You just never know!