January 10, 2008 | Sex & Society

Getting an "A" in being gay

If you just don't think you've got this gay thing down pat, then the University of Michigan has a course for you. "How to Be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation" examines how homosexuals take cues from culture and society to determine how to behave.

"Just because you happen to be a gay man doesn't mean that you don't have to learn how to become one," says the course description. "Gay men do some of that learning on their own, but often we learn how to be gay from others, either because we look to them for instruction or because they simply tell us what they think we need to know, whether we ask for their advice or not."

The course is designed to explore the role that initiation -- no, not hazing -- plays in the creation of a gay male identity. Examining cultural artifacts, movies, drag, politics and style, the course tries to determine if there is something so specifically queer that gay men need to know it in order to be, well, gay.

"At the core of gay experience there is not only identification but disidentification. Almost as soon as I learn how to be gay, or perhaps even before, I also learn how not to be gay... Rather than attempting to promote one version of gay identity at the expense of others, this course will investigate the stakes in gay identifications and disidentifications, seeking ultimately to create the basis for a wider acceptance of the plurality of ways in which people determine how to be gay."

We'd rather watch gay porn.