I lift weights , built some muscle mass , and dont feel the need to check other males bodies in thongs , or rate them judging their bodyparts...
I also know 99% of people who lift weights are hugely insecure about something and that most of them never overcome this insecurity by getting "bigger".
All in all "bodybuilding" is full of insecure/gay people mostly, only a very few just lift weights for the health benefits and just leave it at this without taking the whole thing too far, or too seriously.
You cannot deny that most people who lift weights have an underlying psychological problem somewhere beneath the apparences. But just getting bigger very rarely solves this problem, that has to be adressed with something else than weights, as known as "using your brain".
your post has some validity concerning the psychological aspect but although this is probably true, give credit that at least they tried to do something about it by lifting and trying to look better and get healthier.....they did n;t curl up in a fetal position and go to a psychiatrist and cry all day..
lifting may have helped these people to channel their energy and feelings of low self -esteem in a more positive direction....that's not a bad thing.....
as for looking at muscle men..again it's simply hero-worship.....it's acknowledging that the guy did something positive with his body that we "normal"guys strive for and wish we could achieve....doesn't mean we want to sleep with the guy....although some who are truly gay may have that fantasy/motive...
millions of kids around the country who play sports aspire and fantasize about honing their talents so that they may play in the Major Leagues of baseball, basketball, football etc.....
for better or worse, the IFBB is our "major league"...getting there or having bodies like those guys means you have reached the top in your field....don't we all want to reach the top in whatever goal we set for ourselves?....looking at other guys to compare yourself to them or to marvel at what they have accomplished with their bodies is normal..it's the reason why guys sneak a peak at others in the shower...to compare themselves to others, and to see if they measure up, not to be gay..it's a normal thing to do...
unfortunately all the self-haters here on getbig aided by BayBGM have massive insecurities about the above..which says something in itself....we are tearing ourselves down and our sport apart by constantly saying it's a gay sport...if we say this yet we continue to participate in it and talk about it and look at the pictures we are self-outing ourselves as closet homosexuals just as Bay says we all are