With all the talk about Tiger Woods’ indiscretions over the last couple weeks, several people have asked me what I think would happen if one (or all) of the people he cheated on his wife with were men. It would be such a completely different story, I’m not quite sure.
It’s a legit question. Our first openly gay active athlete very well may be a married man caught red-handed or outed by a lover. With all the pressure in sports to conform to the straight norm, there must be dozens of gay athletes cheating on their wives with guys. That story will come out at some point.
My guess is, he’d be given a lot more leeway by the media; Instead of a horndog, he’d be a gay man trapped in the life of a straight man. Some would probably distance themselves more, but my guess is he’d be embraced by many more.
What do you think? What would be the reaction be if Tiger was on the Down Low instead of just having sex with more women?
on Dec 15th, 2009 at 4:37 PM
I think it would depend on the reputation of the athlete to begin with. The whole thing with Tiger Woods wasn’t just that he was married, but he also has kids and is looked at as a “family man,” which is a big reason why he is coming under such scrutiny.
The other thing you have to consider is what kinds of guys the athlete in question is cheating on his wife with. With Tiger Woods, most of these women that he’s accused of cheating on his wife with are pretty seedy individuals. Quite frankly, if a closeted gay athlete were caught cheating with male equivalents to these types of women I think the media coverage may even be a little more harsh, because they would use this as an example to reaffirm stereotypes that a lot of people already have about the gay community.
on Dec 15th, 2009 at 5:33 PM
It’s hard to believe Tiger would be “embraced by many more” if he were cheating with a man. That’s like saying homophobia doesn’t really exist anymore.
Right now cheating on his wife is the only issue being addressed. It’s pretty naive to think that the religious and right-wing nut job homophobes would not come out against him with all the heavy artillery if he was cheating with men.
on Dec 15th, 2009 at 7:41 PM
Think the media would cover it up so they could still have a straight billionare sports hereo living the life and dogging broads instead of a scandlous bi guy or closeted ‘mo with a beard?
I seriously doupt he’d be embraced by many more. Folks would pick sides and others shrug it off like they should. He’d loose his emdorsements just like he did being the skirt chasing skunk he is right now. There would be photo shop pics of him smoking pole and taking it in the a** all over the internet since gay sex is icky but straight sex isn’t as far as the straights are concerned.
on Dec 15th, 2009 at 9:30 PM
when are we going to not be bombarded with crap about this man he cheated on his wife and now its in the public arena if I was his wife I would have kicked him out and filed for divorce he is never going to be faithful is he. We should be thankful that he isnt gay we dont need all that negative crap do we.
on Dec 15th, 2009 at 9:59 PM
When they are as oversexed as this athlete, there is no telling with what kind of animal, object, or even–heavens– man, Tiger has screwed.
on Dec 15th, 2009 at 11:41 PM
Last time I checked, being linked to 10-15 women over the course of a few years isn’t oversexed. Now we don’t know how many there are but sorry…this number of women that have come forward thus far doesn’t put hm in “oversexed” category. But, we all have different standards. I will say this though…with all the women coming forward, either Elin had to know and was waiting for her chance for it all to come out so she can play the poor victim wife, OR she’s just dumb as shit!!
As for the gay thing, I find it hard to believe this guy would be embraced by more if it turned out he was sleeping with men. Even thought its golf, for someone as global as Tiger Woods, and as conservative as golf is, he’d still be better off caught in bed with a dead woman than a live man.
on Dec 16th, 2009 at 4:40 AM
There is the old saying, “….don’t be caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy”. For Tiger, this may be survivable albeit he’ll have to regenerate a new public personna that’s minus the halo… Ironically, the next few months might just be the window of opportunity for some younger up-n-coming golfer to come out, especially if he’s in a relationship and not just playing the field. It’s not the sex, it’s the infidelity to his wife and sexual antics contrary to his “saintly” public image that has created the Tiger scandal. Sergio Garcia and Camillo Villegas by-contrast have made millions in endorsements over the past years as the young Latin lover playing the field in commercials. It’s not the sex, it’s the hypocrisy…
on Dec 19th, 2009 at 5:01 AM
theres no way he’d lose his endorsements if he was gay. any company who dropped him would immediatley be labled homophobic for doing so.
on Jan 8th, 2010 at 12:54 AM
[...] December 15th, OutSports made a post asking the hypothetical question, “what if Tiger Woods cheated with a man?” The perspective [...]