Men and Women as Friends – When One is Gay or Lbian | Psychology Today

Contents:

• WHY DO WOMEN PREFER GAY MEN AS FRIENDS?
• WHY STRAIGHT WOMEN AND GAY MEN MAKE THE BT OF FRIENDS
• MEN AND WOMEN AS FRIENDS – WHEN ONE IS GAY OR LBIAN
• WHY ARE STRAIGHT WOMEN AND GAY MEN SUCH GOOD IENDS? IT’S ALL ABOUT THE RELATNSHIP ADVICE: STUDY

WHY DO WOMEN PREFER GAY MEN AS FRIENDS?

LoopedLife is a social work that nnects gay men and straight women for iendship, meet-ups, advice sharg, gog out, and volunteerg at LGBT events! Our missn is to provi a safe space for both women and gay men to nnect and share what matters to them. In other words, they examed how iendship velopment vari based on whether a straight woman is makg iends wh a gay man or a straight man.

WHY STRAIGHT WOMEN AND GAY MEN MAKE THE BT OF FRIENDS

Past rearch has shown that straight women and gay men form close relatnships due to an apparent creased willgns to engage timate nversatns1. Some have suggted that this may be bee straight men and women are perceived as havg ls mon wh each other pared to straight women and gay men2.

MEN AND WOMEN AS FRIENDS – WHEN ONE IS GAY OR LBIAN

This explanatn, however, is based on the stereotypil assumptns about gay men and femy. Consequently, rearchers at the Universy of Texas explored an alternate potential explanatn: Straight women may velop iendships wh gay men more easily than they do wh straight men, bee when teractg wh gay men, the necsy of worryg about whether the potential iend will seek to ga sexual accs to them has been removed om the equatn3.

Participants aga dited how fortable they thought they would be while ntug to teract wh the man after learng of his sexual inty (eher gay or straight). As the rearchers had predicted, the rults monstrated that women anticipate beg more fortable teractg wh gay men vers straight men, largely due to the removal of ncerns related to the man’s sexual tentns. Women reported feelg more fortable when they found out that their hypothetil male nversatn partner was gay, rather than straight, and this associatn was explaed by their rced anxiety about the man’s sexual tentns.

WHY ARE STRAIGHT WOMEN AND GAY MEN SUCH GOOD IENDS? IT’S ALL ABOUT THE RELATNSHIP ADVICE: STUDY

When women found out they were teractg wh gay men, their body language beme more engagg and timate. The women reported greater fort levels when teractg wh gay men pared to straight men.

However, the effects changed based on a woman’s level of perceived attractivens, such that only women who rated themselv as beg more attractive reported creased fort while teractg wh a gay man. Addnally, women’s actual behavr also shifted after learng that they were teractg wh a gay man. "Explic knowledge of a man’s sexual preference not only creased a woman’s fort wh a gay man (vs.

This novel rearch provis sight to the velopment of iendships—both those between straight men and women, as well as gay men and straight women. In particular, appears that anxiety and ncern over a straight man’s sexual tentns serve as a barrier that slows the pace of timate iendship velopment between straight men and women, while the removal of this anxiety pav the way for women to quickly velop tstg and timate iendships wh gay men. Th, wh rpect to the origal qutn of whether men and women n ever "jt be iends, " the answer may hge on whether that man is gay or straight.