Not acknowledging sexual need for men even in private is an important psycho-social mechanism of heterosexualization

Not acknowledging something is a great way of ignoring it, especially if it is done with the connivance of the entire society -- courtesy those who control it. You are what you believe you are, and if you never acknowledge that you have an interest in men, especially, when if it is already suppressed, then, you start believing you don't have it. This is an important part of the heterosexualization process of men.

(The other part is to hide behind 'sexual identities' and say, well, you're not really 'gay' unless these feelings become so overbearing that you have to continuously act on them or something -- which helps men to ignore these feelings)

That is why, apart from mutilating sexual need for men, not acknowledging whatever remains of straight male sexual desire for men, is a crucial part of the mechanisms that are built to put pressure on men as well as to provide a psycho-social support in men's fight with their own sexual feelings.

Indeed at the practical level, amongst masculine, normal males, the difference between Straight and Gay is not having a sexual need for men (ALL MEN HAVE A SEXUAL NEED FOR MEN), the difference is of acknowledgement. The man who indulges in sexual/ romantic liasioin with another man but never acknowledges his feelings is a straightman, while the one who acknowledges his interest in men is Gay.

And straight men will rather die than cross this STRAIGHT LINE. Well, this straight resistance can be broken only in extreme cases where the sexual bond created by the straight male is very very strong -- strong enough to make the straight man defy everything else. But this too takes an unusually long time in most cases -- around six years of being in an intense sexual romantic relationship with another guy, before the straight male can bring himself to acknowedge that he indeed has an interest in men.