Gay man and straight woman friendship
This post was co-authored by Elisha Sudlow-Poole, an International Exchange Scholar at St. Francis Xavier University.
Can men and women ever just be friends? A recent study published in Psychological Science has attempted to answer this question by exploring the differences in how friendships develop between women and men as a function of the man's sexualidentity. In other words, they examined how friendship development varies based on whether a straight lady is making friends with a gay man or a linear man.
Past research has shown that straight women and gay men form close relationships due to an apparent increased willingness to engage in intimate conversations1. Some have suggested that this may be because straight men and women are perceived as having less in common with each other compared to straight women and gay men2. This explanation, however, is based on the stereotypical assumptions about gay men and femininity. Consequently, researchers at the University of Texas explored an alternate potential explanation: Direct women may develop friendships with ga
Why straight women and gay men are often so close
Will and Grace knew it. Ditto for Stanford and Carrie. Now a unused psychology study has provided evidence that gay men and straight women are the perfect friends with benefits – as long as the benefits contain to do with trustworthy relationship advice.
“I was interested in the evolutionary perspective as to why gay men and straight women shape close friendships,” says Eric Russell, a visiting psychology researcher at the University of Texas in Austin and guide author of the study, published in the latest issue of Evolutionary Psychology.
Russell wondered if it had something to do with the exchange of mating advice since male lover men and vertical women aren’t passionate partners or mating competition and were “uniquely positioned to exchange trustworthy information.”
To test his hypothesis, Russell enlisted the help of 88 straight women and 58 gay men, all undergrads from the Texas ChristianUniversity, and conducted two experiments.
In one, unbent women were presented with a scenario involving a party, a friend who bags out at the last mi
The Science Behind Why So Many Women Want to Befriend Gay Men
This article originally appeared in the Conversation.
For years, friendships between straight women and lgbtq+ men have been a subject of pop identity fascination. Books, television shows and feature length films have all highlighted this distinct relationship, noted for its closeness and depth.
But with society’s attitudes toward gays and lesbians changing, it’s become all the more important to build a holistic sympathetic of the relationships between gay and straight people.
As a researcher in social psychology, I’ve often wondered: Why do straight female-gay male relationships work so well? Why are straight women so drawn to having homosexual men as friends? And when do these relationships typically form.
During the course of my research, I’ve discovered that the most interesting, compelling—and, arguably, most theoretically coherent—explanation is through the lens of evolution.
Specifically, I believe evolutionary psychology and human mating can help describe why relationships between vertical women and gay men tend t
In less accepting times, unbent women who enjoyed the company of gay men were called “fag hags.” These days, being a “fruit fly” is love wearing a badge of honor. Now, research reveals why the bond between them is so special.
There's just something unique about the friendship between vertical gals and gay guys. Admittedly, by comparison to friendships between straight people, this relationship has received less attention from researchers. What little there is, however, underlines its positive qualities. Studies show that gay men shower unbent women with a sort of attention that vertical men simply don't give them. For instance, direct women feel that queer men accept and respect them for their inner beauty, not their outer appearance. Subsequently, women with more gay friends sense sexier and more self-confident about their bodies by comparison to women who don't have gay friends. Similarly, gay men produce straight women feel more appreciated for their traits than do straight men. Perhaps unsurprisingly, women utter their friendships with lgbtq+ people are more sincere and secure