understanding my previous post regarding sexism & brief mentions of his gender and sexuality, jack is unmistakably a closeted bisexual to my perception of his character. for the sole and explicit reason that sexuality itself was seen as a source of humiliation within the american military, specifically in the early 2000s, 90s, even with the creation of DADT. to pronounce oneself as queer within a military that prides itself on highly conservative values and has very strict gender conformity would only result in targeted harassment, and in some cases, bodily injury & psychological harm (e.g, sexual harassment & rape / development of MST [military sexual trauma]). jack had only known and was surrounded by the hypermasculine force. remaining in the military for over a decade ( being major, the requirement to obtain the rank would be service in the military +10 years in officer corps), it was practically embedded into the subconscious that masculinity = strength, dexterity, honor, etc.
with this knowledge, masculinity is obviously embedded in the american military and entwined with the negative perception of queer people. to be seen as anything but the societal norm (heterosexual) was viewed as both an insult & repulsive. it [homosexuality, identifying as LGBTQ+] is also an insult to the supposed 'pride' of america itself and even patriotism.. a patriotism jack had known, a form of patriotism that jack was well familiar with and revered. jack, i believe and with my initial headcanons of where he was raised in being Hawthorne, Nevada, was heavily influenced by these views.
it's a isolated city. ironically enough it is also a city that has very deep-rooted military culture and honors american pride. as such, it is also predominantly conservative.. heralding republican-leaning ideologies and political alignments of that party—and keeping plenty of hubs for christian worship. most of which were evangelical & catholic centered for congregation.
for a small tidbit of an additional headcanon, jack had once been christian due to effect and the environment of his family: being brought in a standard 'nuclear family', where his mother often took to housework and husbandry (with, of course, with jack aiding to complete more duties that required larger hardship), and his father remaining in the position to be their source of primary income.
all members of the family held the standard and typical american dynamic: believers of christ, bearing traditionalist social values, preferring free market capitalism (due to lingering effects of the red scare/cold war his mother and father had experienced), etc. jack was guided to follow these views.. as such, he was also expected to prefer only women "as it was natural".. & anything that was viewed otherwise was immediately deemed 'sinful' and rebelled against christian practice.
Later on I'll provide a deeper post that will describe a bit more about jack's familial origins and the patriotic effect his family was influenced by. i personally think its funny to have jack born in what's considered 'america's most patriotic town'—and is relevant to this post.
jack did not have access to pornography. jack did not entertain himself with pornography. indecency was prohibited among the military as per the H.R.3300 104th congress: the military honor and decency act, banning the sale of pornographic material and nudity depicted as lascivious/seductive. the bill itself passed in 1997, and even before then, jack very likely indulged himself completely with the art and practice of the military itself and combat. i believe he had little interest with sex and intimacy, and on the several intervals he did happen to have that interest, it was misplaced affection and resulted in brief 'one-night stands' that could never last. even then, his partners were so few and so sparse. there was nothing meaningful.
he could not forge a proper relationship, let alone afford to because of his sheer focus for his own duties (& honor)—and sexual offenses he may have inevitably heard of that may even promote further unease to truly reach out and attempt a relationship. (e.g, the Tailhook scandal). Sexual deviancy was considered a high offense in the military, capable of stripping one completely of their status and given a dishonorable discharge if ever caught, and this also stands for queer couples of both men and women. heckling occurs and even a forever-long change in their role and what little remaining status they have left, humiliated.
jack lived and worked in an environment where queer men were even viewed as feminine, and homophobic slurs and threats were often used to demean and set rigid structure—enforcing continued aggression and conformity DESPITE DADT's introduction and efforts. the threat of rape remains even to men, and men of the military had encountered and experienced sexual assault and harassment; 50% of american military sexual assault survivors are men. there was a very real and very glaring threat that jack wanted to avoid, thus assuming a very cold role and stern personality to likely remain safely away from the chance of becoming a victim. jack's own bisexuality was kept under lock and key, because of the threat of being perceived and vulnerability and consequence he could not ever allow.
ironically, what jack had instead began to know and grew to understand so deeply was violence: on the field, during combative drills, training, and death.
it's a morbid thing to hold a stronger connection to suffering than to affection & romantic desires. he has known death and has been surrounded by it & his desire for power that grew more insistent (no longer becoming a subtle desire [obviously] during Operation Javier & the aftermath of his unit's massacre).
the fascination with knives may have been one of jack's only way to truly exert his desires, even if it is darker. there's a unique form of intimacy when it comes to the knife for jack, allowing for closer proximity and combat and having the ability to feel flesh being sliced open—and inherent symbolism of penetration, as a more Freudian take and playing on the motif that the blade = a phallus. (understand that this is not to be regarded as a complete ideology, this is simply in reference to the introduction of the very idea that a knives had been used as sexual symbols—Sigmund Freud's ideas & psychoanalysis , in my view, can be used as framework for exploration). [in reference solely for jack and his hidden sexual desires, as he even licked his own knife as well].
there's more sadistic tendencies jack harbors and kept to himself, hindering these strange (and even confusing) urges and arousal in favor for his servitude to the military. sadism is a personality trait that never eluded him, however, and would only fester, and incorporate itself into jack's sexual needs; tying to the knowledge that jack had surrounded and known the woes and suffering of what veterans and younger men and women endured.
"He used to be a good guy. What changes a man? The madness of the battlefield, or the absurdities of this world?" - Leon Kennedy, BIOHAZARD 4 Kaitai Shinsho (バイオハザード4 解体真書) [Fiery Justice]
upon faking his own death and his brief servitude to albert wesker in his third organization, there is admiration that jack had for albert because the man had offered him a place to serve. but there was no source of intimacy between them, for their relationship—likely enough for jack—was based upon (a supposed) mutual partnership & jack may have even held a deep admiration for the man because of the offering of a position for mercenary work jack was secured. if anything, jack's dynamic was purely transactional with the false hope that jack's arm could be repaired. the intimacy he had known with albert was the daydream of a friendship, even if the man kept the promise of fixing his arm cruelly above jack's head.
"—If he were reborn through the virus' power, the wound on his left arm would no longer be an issue. With this ambition in mind, he disappeared shortly after completing his mission, with the name “Wesker” engraved in his heart." — INSIDE OF BIOHAZARD THE DARKSIDE CHRONICLES (インサイド オ ブ バイオハザード ／ ダークサイド・クロニクルズ)
jack, ultimately, was only a tool for wesker to use. quite unlike what osmund provided and his better sanctuary and gift.
Los Illuminados was its own realm that jack would stumble into, a world were sexual deviancy was practiced and revered for the worship of their god [the plaga] & copulation between Ganado. sex is not seen as sacred, and there's virtually no touch on the concept of cleanliness, virginity, etc.
compared to human religions jack understood. furthermore, from how utterly different plaga anatomy is and how it affects the host, jack may have even discovered that like women/female hosts (who were able to birth both human and parasitic offspring) were given a far more higher and respected place upon the eusocial hierarchy (next to osmund).. & men/male hosts are also provided the ability to produce parasitic offspring and endure the suffering of it (the emergence of Plaga B & C from their hosts, deemed as a 'birth').
procreation is viewed as a necessary duty, enacted through visceral means and courtship that jack may have initially been horrified to observe for both host genders.
in addition, self flagellation & mutilation is a macabre vocal point of Los Illuminados, the practice of inflicting pain upon oneself and another & the inherent worship of death would inevitably stir the darker recesses of jack's crude desires (which further influenced his sadism and masochism). thank you veronica for this information!
initially, he may have been shocked from this behavior—but his embrace into the cult and accepting the dominant plaga may have soothed this aforementioned shock and reluctance. with his dynamic with osmund (and a deeper admiration and loyalty, as per Mike Kovac, who is jack's voice actor in RE4R, jack & osmund got along very well together due to their similar methodologies and preference to violence. jack consciously chose to side with osmund and preferred him, influencing his betrayal to albert) jack adjusted and grew to likely enjoy the social freedom and lack of expectations with sexual preferences.
i like to think he was far closer to osmund because of this freedom compared to albert, and the fear of judgment was completely thrown out due to the cult was completely unlike the human society jack had known.. and nonchalance in sexual deviancy and gender roles. osmund & los illuminados was, ironically, the gateway for jack's ability to explore himself sexually in my view.
he may not be completely out-of-the-closet bisexual, but there's an ironic safety he may had found in the cult's embrace to explore aspects of himself he may had never been able to without the leering threat of harassment as he had in the american military.
