When Ennis says, “You know I ain’t queer” and Jack says, “Me neither” … I honestly think they both believe it.
There was an op-ed article in Boston Globe on December 30 by Drew Limsky that described the way I understand Jack's "me neither" response so well that I kept the link. (It's a very Jake/Jack-centric piece, to be sure, and freely admits as much). It quotes the four lines the boys exchange on the mountainside after TS1, and continues:
".......this exchange seems realistically uninflected, with each character trying to outdo the other in manliness. And that's how Ledger plays it. But what Gyllenhaal does is let the tone of his voice go higher ever so slightly -- he gives the line readings a quality of boyish hurt that deftly conveys his sense of being erased."I agree with that. IMO Jack knows he's "queer"; - he speaks the way he does, in reality denying his true self, strictly in order to placate Ennis. But he feels a tiny sting of hurt that he should have to do that, after what they've just shared.
In the short story, it's Jack saying 3 of those 4 lines, and there he comes across as "protesting way too much" - IMO he's just obviously saying whatever he thinks it will take to calm Ennis down and keep him at Jack's side.
From the questionnaire it seems I'm the one who goes furthest in thinking that Jack had probably already had sex with (at least) one other man before he met Ennis. No knowing who, or where, or how realistic it might be that he'd already met someone else who'd shown him the ropes..... but it's not *that* unlikely. (If one were to speculate, he *did* spend the previous year up on the mountain too, so perhaps...?)
Anyway, it's no more than a hunch and a belief on my part, of course. There's no way to be sure. What I base my view on, though, is how Jack rather self-assuredly seems to know what he wants, seem to know what to do...... and gives the impression of having already come to terms with himself and his sexuality.
While still in his (normally so insecure) teens, and having grown up in a society that goes very far in condemning homosexuality, would he have shown that level of seeming self-assurance and self-acceptance if he had only felt silent attraction to other men but had *never* acted on it with another man? Wouldn't he still be in some doubt, wouldn't he strongly want to define himself as "not queer" in order to conform with expectations, for as long as possible and until he'd proven different to himself? I see a difference between Jack and Ennis there - I think Jack *would* accept and admit openly to himself that he's "queer", once he's had some sort of sexual experience with a man - in contrast to Ennis. And I do think Jack *has* accepted that about himself *before* he mets Ennis. So.......
Add to that Jack's behaviour in the scene outside Aguirre's trailer - checking Ennis out, posing against the truck - he just seems to me to be not completely inexperienced. Nor when it comes to TS1, both in his bold first action and a little later - when Ennis pushes him down. It seems to be the accepted viewer's reading of that moment that Ennis is the active one, once Jack has opened his belt buckle, but IMO Jack is just as much pulling at Ennis's arm when he himself turns around as Ennis is pushing him down. (Erm...... well, it's such a crucial scene, of course it's been carefully studied. ::blush:: ).
The sum total of all this adds up to my belief that Jack had had some sort of prior sexual experience with another man. But trying to figure out when, where, with whom, what type of sexual experience, over how much time etc. would be crossing into pure fanfic territory. I'm sure many would say I'm waaaay in there already.
I do agree though that there is definitely much food here for a Jack-centric questionnaire!
Seems like I just saw a discussion of this somewhere by someone with experience. If I run across it I'll let you know.
Perhaps that was in the "It ain't right" thread over on the Open Forum? The matter was recently discussed a bit over there.