Actor Matt McGorry. (AFP via Getty/ VALERIE MACON)
A powerful video of Matt McGorry opening up about the shame he felt “for years” over “experimenting” with boys when he was young has resurfaced and gone viral.
McGorry, who played correctional officer John Bennett on Orange Is the New Black and law student Asher Millstone on How to Get Away with Murder, spoke about his experience in 2018 on Man Enough, a round-table discussion series that focuses on masculinity.
In a resurfaced clip of the show, which has been circulating on social media, McGorry said: “When I was young, like a lot of straight boys I experimented with other boys.
“That is so common and no one talks about it.”
He explained: “Like, physically experimenting. I don’t think it was sexual, and I am straight – never found myself attracted to boys – but it’s just this thing where I, and I don’t need to go into the full details, but, you know, where you just try things.”
Although he now knows his experience is a common one, McGorry struggled with shame around it “for years”.
“[I was] thinking: ‘I’m going to be famous one day, maybe, and someone’s going to find and it’s going to become this thing and it’s going to destroy me,’” he said.
Matt McGorry said he defeated his shame not letting it ‘fester in the dark’
Matt McGorry finally overcame his shame when he decided to speak openly about his experimentation.
He explained: “That’s the way shame works. If you keep it in the dark, wet and mouldy, it festers.
“And when you let it out there, not only are you giving other people the strength to live their truest lives, but you actually get people to see you authentically.”
Earlier this year, a gay sex therapist went viral on TikTok after explaining that straight men can have sex with other men, while remaining completely straight.
Dr Joe Kort, a board certified sexologist and licensed clinical social worker with a doctorate in clinical sexology, told TikTok: “It’s not a gay thing, it’s a guy thing.”
He explained: “When men have objectified sex where it’s just about the act, it’s just about getting off, people man-shame him… There is stigma in male sexual fluidity and male sexual flexibility.”