I think you've hit the nail on the head here. I'm gonna add a gay (well, bi, but who's counting) perspective and say that straight people might not realise how far someone can stretch their denial about their own sexuality, (this is probably an appropriate time to namedrop heteronormativity as a concept). (Probable oversharing warning) Personally, I spent several months at the stage of "sure, I was thinking about guys the whole time I was jacking it, but I thought about boobs right at the last second so it's totally not gay". It literally took multiple months at that level of obvious-as-shit denial before I admitted that I liked dudes.