What same‑sex experiences occurr between males at boarding schools
Executive summary
Evidence from academic studies, historical surveys and first‑person memoirs shows that male same‑sex experiences at boarding schools range from fleeting mutual masturbation and consensual experimentation to coercive abuse and institutionalized practices that can conceal sexual contact; many observers frame some of these behaviors as "situational" responses to single‑sex environments rather than proof of enduring sexual orientation [1] [2] [3].
1. What researchers and surveys report about patterns and perceptions
Cross‑sectional survey work among adolescents in boarding schools finds strong perceptions that same‑sex sexual activity is more common in single‑sex boarding settings, with many respondents explaining this by “sexual starvation” or partner deprivation — a belief explicitly reported in a Kenyan high‑school study where large shares of students said homosexuality was most practiced in all‑boys boarding schools and cited sexual starvation as a cause [4] [5].
2. The concept of situational homosexuality: a behavioral framing
Scholars have long used the term situational or “situational homosexuality” to describe same‑sex acts that arise in sex‑segregated or partner‑deprived contexts — from ships and military units to prisons and boarding schools — emphasizing that access, opportunity and isolation can change behavior without necessarily indicating stable sexual identity [2] [1].
3. Ranging behaviors: from play and experimentation to organized group sex
Historical accounts and memoirs document a spectrum of activity among boys at boarding schools — from adolescent experimentation and mutual masturbation to more organized sexual encounters and group activity; literary and autobiographical sources, including noted memoirs of British boarding‑school life, recount orgies and recurring sexual contact among schoolboys [3] [6].
4. Coercion, abuse and the role of institutional practices
Archival reporting and institutional histories describe practices like fagging in some British schools, which sometimes involved power imbalances and has been linked in some accounts to sexual coercion or abuse; historians and commentators note fagging could both encourage and conceal sexual activity and in some cases involved sexual service or abuse [7]. Clinical and therapeutic reports from survivors emphasize that some same‑sex experiences were non‑consensual or occurred in profoundly homophobic environments, producing long‑term trauma for affected pupils [8].
5. The interplay of homophobia, secrecy and later reporting
Therapists and survivor accounts stress that homophobic cultures at many boarding schools forced silence, shaped how experiences were remembered, and complicated whether encounters were later framed as consensual exploration or as abuse; simultaneously, survey respondents’ tendency to label behaviors as caused by “sexual starvation” reflects moral and cultural narratives that can obscure nuance [8] [4].
6. What the available evidence cannot establish
Existing materials show patterns and testimonies but do not provide a single, representative prevalence estimate of same‑sex acts among male boarders across cultures or eras; the studies and memoirs document phenomena and perceptions (situational acts, experimentation, coercion) but cannot determine how frequently each type occurs in all boarding contexts or how they map onto later sexual identity [1] [3] [4].
7. Competing explanations and institutional incentives to silence or downplay
Interpretations diverge: behavioral scientists emphasize circumstantial drivers like partner deprivation [1], memoirists emphasize personal feeling and culture [3], while institutions and some defenders of single‑sex schooling may highlight character formation or deny systemic problems — an incentive structure that can favor understating abuse or treating same‑sex encounters as temporary mischief rather than harm [9] [7].