What the bollocky bollocks is happening in the UK? We mean it’s fabulous to hear from a new study from the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior that 89 percent of male British university and high school students had kissed another male friend on the lips and that 37 percent had engaged in a “sustained” snog with another man.

More interestingly, study researcher Eric Anderson attributes the behavior to the football pitch/soccer field:

The trend toward male same-sex smooches has skyrocketed in recent years, Anderson said. It began on the professional soccer field, where players often share exuberate kisses after goals. That made kissing between men acceptable for college and high-school players, Anderson said. Then the players took the same behaviors to nights out in pubs, spreading the trend to non-athletes.

Despite stereotypes of the homophobic jock, athletes were more likely to have kissed another man than non-athletes. Just over 80 percent of non-athletes had kissed a man, compared with 95 percent of athletes. 

Of the guys in the study who hadn’t shared a same-sex kiss, all found the practice acceptable. One student who had never kissed another lad joked with the researchers that when he told his friends about the study, they’d probably ensure that his classification changed. That night, Anderson received a text from the student reading, “I’m in the majority now.”

+ here

[via Queerty]