if you go to the quiet and semi-secret places where men actually discuss their attractions and their fantasies, if you look at what men actually do in their lives, this statement doesn't hold water. for what rather seems to be the majority of men, this is not how it works, despite the propaganda lines too many of them too-often spout when they fear loss of status. The ideas put forth in this statement, that fantasies resolve confusion, are inadequate to explain reality.
I mean, I get what you're saying here. My comment about fantasy was a bit off base, because what people have an erotic fantasy about and what people are attracted to in real life are different.
However his "not even sure how to tell if you are attracted to a guy" thing in the first panel does not sound like something a guy who has ever questioned his sexuality would say.
I mean, I'm straight, more or less. I'm 41, married, never had any sort of sexual activity with a guy. But when I was younger I'd very occasionally see guys I was attracted to (like maybe once a year). Usually it was very "fem" guys who I saw from a long distance away, and started checking out thinking they were women, and then realized my mistake. Since it was a different, much more homophobic time, it made me feel all weird and confused at the time. But by the time I reached Clinton's age I realized that for every 1 guy that happened with, there were like 100+ women I checked out on the street. Furthermore, it was hard enough for me as a socially awkward geeky guy to get the interest of women (I didn't seriously date anyone till I was 23). The chances of ever being in a situation to do something with a guy I actually was attracted to were thus close to nil, so I was comfortable with saying I'm straight, for all intents and purposes.
I think everyone around my age who is a straight guy had something like this in their back history. Lots of my male friends growing had some sort of homoerotic young adolescent experience (like a mutual j/o session) but they seemed to be blase about it when thinking back at 18 or 22. A couple like made out with dudes on a dare or something similar. There were tons of homoerotic jokes and the like. Looking back, the ones who didn't talk about or participate in this stuff were the ones who actually ended up gay...probably because they were afraid of being outed.
Anyway, maybe it's different now with younger dudes, since society is not as homophobic, and passing same-sex attraction or activity in adolescence doesn't lead to years of navel gazing until you "figure out" your sexual identity. But Jeph is around my age, and it's never entirely clear when QC is supposed to be set.
As an aside, I have been holding out hope that Clinton, Elliot, and Brun would form a stable triad. if it's just Clinton/Elliot and then something happens between Brun and the robot lady Millie, it will be up to three lesbian relationships, one gay male relationship, one arguably queer relationship (Martin and Claire - trans people are queer even in a heterosexual relationship correct?), and then Dale/Marigold who we seldom see any longer. We need some poly representation.