Enacted with fixated, impish and adventuresome eyes, the gay gaze is a game. Necessarily, the game is played out between strangers . A lot of gay male growth and journeying can happen with strangers, whether through gazing, fantasizing, or actual contact. I love the way my gaze can entertain me in a crowd, can transgress unwritten rules about how men are supposed to look at one another, can get me laid, can open up new interpersonal worlds. Then there's the meeting, which such mutual gazing can generate.
Meeting often leads to touching.
Which might sooner or later evolve into sex. And then, the potential for relationship might present itself. Not just capital-R Romance, but any kind of ongoing, meaningful connection. When we might open up to one another, or not. This is when life gets really interesting.