Kevin Sutton wrote:

>Wes crone wrote:
>
>>I would agree with you if ALL gay men listened to music differently than
>>straight men do.  Who knows how everyone listens to music? Certainly
>>grouping together people of a given sexual orientation or skin color and
>>claiming they do things differently than others is going to offend someone.
>
>Before you get too indignant Wes, please re-read what I wrote above.  I
>did not say that ALL gay men listened to music differently.  I said that *I
>THINK THAT....meaning that I was speaking only from my experience and not
>trying to claim any expertise, and the very next word in my sentence was
>*MANY*, not every, not all not even the majority.  I also couched my words
>with a bunch of qualifiers to ensure that I was not attempting to speak for
>the whole of gay-dom, but just from my experience.

Actually, I wasn't under the impression that you wrote that ALL gay men
listen differently.  I don't believe anything in my post speaks otherwise.
What I was saying in my post is that I would completely agree with your
opinion regarding the difference between the listening habits of gay and
straight men if it were more than just some or many.  Who knows, maybe
someone could collect data to show that an unusually high percentage of
African Americans or Native Alaskans enjoy John Cage.  I was just stating
that my opinion is different and I apologize for including the sentence
about offending people.  I wasn't trying to make a statement about you
offending people but just that people are very sensitive and with what I
had to say later in my post I just didn't want to offend anyone myself.

>>Why would gay men relate more emotionally to romantic music than straight
>>men? Perhaps there is an effort to conceal one's romantic emotions among
>>those straight men who would fear being labeled feminine for enjoying
>>romantic music.
>
>There is certainly evidence to back up that assumption where some straight
>men are concerned.  (large snip)
>See, I told you I shouldn't have brought it up, now everyone is going to
>fly off the handle and try to make a big social commentary.  Sheesh.

I'm sorry for making general social commentary on this fine classical music
list.  I was just speaking from my experience on a subject revolving around
classical music at its very heart; the emotional ties we have to it.  My
comments about the situation may be exaggerated taken from a national or
international standpoint but certainly not from a more local standpoint.
I am not an expert on the topic of social differences; I know about as much
as a twinkie.  I too am just expressing my views based on my great and
not-so-great experiences.

Wes Crone (proud to mingle with the great minds on this list; learned more
than in any music course under my belt)