What do gay look like? Science keeps tryg to figure that out - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• GAY MEN AND BODY PERFECTN
• THIS IS WHAT GAY MEN AMERI REALLY LOOK LIKE
• PHYSIL, BEHAVRAL, AND PSYCHOLOGIL TRAS OF GAY MEN INTIFYG AS BEARS
• A HANDY GUI TO ALL GAY MEN
• GAY MEN'S PREFERENC FOR "TOP" VS. "BOTTOM" CAN BE JUDGED BY THEIR FACE
• WHAT DO GAY LOOK LIKE? SCIENCE IS WORKG ON
• GAY STEREOTYP: ARE THEY TE?
• WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE A GAY MAN?
• PENIS SIZE AND PREFERRED SEXUAL ROL AMONG GAY MEN
• WHAT DO GAY LOOK LIKE? SCIENCE KEEPS TRYG TO FIGURE THAT OUT

GAY MEN AND BODY PERFECTN

Whout beg aware of , most people n accurately intify gay men by face aloneAlthough I've always wanted this particular superhuman power, I've never been very good at tectg other men's sexual orientatn.

In an ial experiment, rearchers Nicholas Rule and Nali Ambady om Tufts Universy pesed onle datg s and refully selected 45 straight male fac and 45 gay male fac. The 90 fac were then shown to 90 participants random orr, who were asked simply to judge the target's "probable sexual orientatn" (gay or straight) by prsg a button.

"Th, " the thors wrote, "by g photos of gay and straight dividuals that they themselv did not post, we were able to remove the fluence of self-prentatn and much of the potential selectn bias that may be prent photos om personal advertisements.

THIS IS WHAT GAY MEN AMERI REALLY LOOK LIKE

And even wh the more strgent ntrols, the participants were able to intify the gay fac at levels greater than chance—aga even on those trials where the fac were flickered on the screen for a mere 50 lisends.

For example, when shown only the eye regn ("whout brows and cropped to the outer nthi so that not even "crow's-feet" were visible"), perceivers were amazgly still able to accurately intify a man as beg gay. I was cur enough about Rule's fdgs to look up "gay face" the Urban Dictnary, a popular Web se that offers rmal, er-ntributed fns of everyday (often crass) saygs. "A man, ually homosexual, wh a distctly effete facial stcture wh some very specific featur; a strong jawle [sic] that lacks promence, space between the ey that rell people wh down syndrome [sic], and a slopg, long forehead.

Now, that one's rather silly and sensatnalized—even polilly spect—and there's certaly no scientific evince support of the claims about the "mongoloid" featur of homosexual men's fac. For example, the send experiment, participants uld still ferret out the gay face when shown the eye regn sans eyebrows and cropped to the outer nthi.

PHYSIL, BEHAVRAL, AND PSYCHOLOGIL TRAS OF GAY MEN INTIFYG AS BEARS

It was only a few years ago that rearchers disvered that, unlike straight men, gay men tend to have hair whorl patterns that n a unterclockwise directn. The gay media reprents bety and sirabily the form of youth and gym-toned bodi, makg the gay scene a harsh place for people who do not nform to such ials.

A HANDY GUI TO ALL GAY MEN

Whilst the gay media perpetuat body perfectn and helps mata the distrs, the unrlyg disturbance that mak so many gay men predisposed to the stggl is homophobia.

Gay men may not be able to intify the unrlyg pa by themselv but gay-affirmative therapy, they n have a space to unpack the var layers of their disturbanc. The stereotype of gay men is that they all live urban environments and prance around signer clothg sayg "fierce" and givg straight women make-overs. He's piled the photos and personal stori an upg book lled Gay Ameri, which out this celebrate Gay Pri Month this June, Pasfield gave a sneak peek at some of the photos (which have been modified slightly to f your screen) and the stori that go along wh them.

[Image via Gay Ameri by Stt Pasfield, published by Wele Books]"When I was eight years old, while watchg the televisn show MacGyver, I felt an overwhelmg attractn to a man for the first time ever. [Image via Gay Ameri by Stt Pasfield, published by Wele Books]"Ultimately, I renciled the piec of myself more wh my parents' teachgs and wh the Qur'an than the actual muny of Mlims on mp or the trappgs of relig ruals.

GAY MEN'S PREFERENC FOR "TOP" VS. "BOTTOM" CAN BE JUDGED BY THEIR FACE

[Image via Gay Ameri by Stt Pasfield, published by Wele Books]"If someone feels the need to ask me directly about my sexual preference, I have a few rpons.

WHAT DO GAY LOOK LIKE? SCIENCE IS WORKG ON

[Image via Gay Ameri by Stt Pasfield, published by Wele Books]"The discsn of marriage has been tossed around on numero ocsns, but sce 's not yet a legal optn Geia, stead of adorng shy bands of mment, we share personalized ary dog tags around our necks to symbolilly reprent our unn.

[Image via Gay Ameri by Stt Pasfield, published by Wele Books]"Ten years ago I thought I was livg the Amerin dream Spokane, Washgton, wh a succsful bs and a betiful home.

GAY STEREOTYP: ARE THEY TE?

[Image via Gay Ameri by Stt Pasfield, published by Wele Books]"I've traveled to many plac the world and n tell you that a gay bar Barcelona is no different than one Sydney or Atlanta.

WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE A GAY MAN?

[Image via Gay Ameri by Stt Pasfield, published by Wele Books]"I me out my early twenti but went right back to the closet and married my bt iend. [Image via Gay Ameri by Stt Pasfield, published by Wele Books]"Beg an openly gay black man, I have had mostly posive experienc sce g out when I was eighteen.

[Image via Gay Ameri by Stt Pasfield, published by Wele Books]"We were raised Christian, and 's difficult for to believe that six vers the Bible n tear relatnships apart all over the untry.

While qualative data document such self-intifiers as mascule-actg gay men who weigh more and have more body hair, there has to date been no quantative analysis of this group’s characteristics. In rponse, we nducted two large-sle studi of gay men intifyg as Bears (n = 469) to survey their self-reported physil, behavral, and psychologil tras.

PENIS SIZE AND PREFERRED SEXUAL ROL AMONG GAY MEN

Keywords: Bears, Gay Culture, Gay and Bisexual Men, Self-teem, Masculy, ObyINTRODUCTIONThe gay muny is ultimately a heterogeneo one wh many subgroups and subcultur—one of the monali among them beg the sire to have same-sex enunters. Bee there is a arth of general rearch regardg this muny, and no studi to date that e quantative methods, we cid to explore this muny quantatively—g an Inter-nvenience sample, followed by a purposive suggted, the Bear culture exhibs and valu a greater sense of domant (but not necsarily domeerg) “thentic masculy” parison to other subcultur wh the gay muny (e.

In rponse and ntrast wh Leathermen, Bears mata their mascule inty whout adoptg negative hypermascule tennci to acmodate all partners, spe their size or body is some theoretil support for why the Bear inty spltered om the gay male mastream culture. G., twks, partyboys, A-listers) that are anthetil to, and even antagonistic towards Bears, men who are hairier and heavier exist and adopt an inty to afont the stereotypil “alpha” gay male. Popular culture, the media, and Wtern hetero- and homosexual expectatns have normalized the ial male body as one that is lean, mcular, and v-shaped (wh broad shoulrs, a narrow waist, and a flat but well-fed stomach) (Olivardia, Pope, Borowiecki, & Cohane, 2000).

G., poor self-image/self-teem) velop both heterosexual and homosexual men exhibg ls sirable physil tras (Beren, Hayn, Wilfley, & Grilo, 1996; Morrison, Morrison, & Sager, 2004; Pepl et al., 2009; Weer, 2009; Yelland & Tiggemann, 2003).

WHAT DO GAY LOOK LIKE? SCIENCE KEEPS TRYG TO FIGURE THAT OUT

However, where mastream gay men report wantg partners wh those prevly stated, admired or revered characteristics (Moskowz, Rieger, & Seal, 2009), Bears may not (Manley et al., 2007).

Whereas mastream gay men often do not engage sired or preferred sexual behavrs bee of fears of rejectn or judgment (Kamski, Chapman, Hayn, & Own, 2004), those the more acceptg Bear muny reject the fears due to their beg ultimately “feme” nature (Hennen, 2005).

G., uratn, fistg, voyrism, exhibnism) (Grov, Parsons, & Bimbi, 2010) to the active existence of the Bear muny and regnn of this subculture by the larger gay/bisexual male culture, more rearch is need to explore the gree to which the prevly mentned physil, behavral, and psychologil differenc actually exist. In explorg the smaller subcultur of the larger gay/bisexual male culture, soclogy, psychology, and even public health n better expla and addrs the needs of men wh same-sex attractns. Specifilly, our first study was more exploratory and foced on the physil tras, partner selectn, and rejectn creria of gay men (wh which we llected enough Bears for analys).