Are Gay Men Happier Than Straight Men? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• GAY OR STRAIGHT, A MALE IS A MALE IS A MALE
• ARE GAY MEN HAPPIER THAN STRAIGHT MEN?
• GAYS VS. STRAIGHTS: ANY DIFFERENC SEXUAL SATISFACTN?
• GAY MEN USED TO EARN LS THAN STRAIGHT MEN; NOW THEY EARN MORE
• THE STEREOTYP ABOUT GAYS AND STRAIGHTS ARE TE
• GAY AND STRAIGHT MEN PREFER MASCULE-PRENTG GAY MEN FOR A HIGH-STAT ROLE: EVINCE FROM AN ELOGILLY VALID EXPERIMENT
• HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?
• BRAS OF GAY PEOPLE REMBLE THOSE OF STRAIGHT PEOPLE OF OPPOSE SEX
• GEIC DIFFERENC BETWEEN STRAIGHT AND GAY FOUND BY NEW ‘SPECULATIVE’ STUDY

GAY OR STRAIGHT, A MALE IS A MALE IS A MALE

But as I’ll be monstratg, the major (and ltle regnized) siari between them ultimately suggt that a gay’s “sexual psyche” is much more plementary to a heterosexual male’s than ntrastg to . But returng to gay preferenc, is not cur—not to say, untertuive—that, overall, gays’ aroal would be more strongly activated by heterosexual mal than by fellow gays (where their attractn would much more likely be reciproted)? But here, too, the dynamic would seem to dite that gays’ bras are “preload” to genr cu that (if anythg) are hyper-mascule, sce they’re generally attracted to mal more mascule than they are.

So, unsurprisgly, the genr cu operatg gays e them to be drawn toward other men and (also siar to most women) make them more fortable a sexually submissive, rather than domant, role. In short, by addrsg the likelihood that gay men posss the same bra software targetg youth cu as do straight mal (and, once aga, distguishg both of them om women—who typilly sire their partners to be olr and more experienced). Gays also search the Inter much more for athletic, full-bodied actors than for skny on, addnally parallelg a preference on the part of straight mal that’s unter to what much popular culture might have believe.

Ogas and Gaddam disvered lerally hundreds of gay s celebratg the phall, notg that many amatr s display assemblag of penis shot at close range, omtg altogether any acpanyg face or body.

ARE GAY MEN HAPPIER THAN STRAIGHT MEN?

“Feet, butts, and chts are highly popular both gay and straight porn, as are domatn, submissn, group sex, amatrs, and numero typ of squickier terts [and "squicky" is porn jargon for preferenc that, nventnally, would be viewed as repulsive]. Instead, gay guys like the same thgs as straight guys: youth, aggrsive and sctive matury, graphic tails of the body, large penis, ejaculatn shots, and anonymo, emotnls, nonmonogamo sex” (p.

Reportg on the fdgs of a mammoth ternatnal survey (wh over 250, 000 participants), Ogas and Gaddam note that both gays and straight mal were found to “prefer appearance and visual attractivens over all other quali when selectg a partner. ” And they add that when, another study, gays and straights were placed a bra snner and shown pornographic vios, “their bra activy was strikgly siar”—as ntrasted, that is, wh the snner rults when women were subject to plementary aroal cu.

Gay men watch more porn, have larger porn stash, search for more porn onle, subscribe to porn s more often, mata more subscriptns at the same time, and renew their subscriptns more often” (p. Alas, none of this good news for gays and spankg fetishists is really backed up by the data the origal study, which, while trigug, is hardly evince that is beg out and gay that mak men happier (let alone women). While gay men the study seemed to experience ls strs and prsn than straight men, there are a variety of alternative explanatns that might expla this fact (like whether they worked out or not; whether they had children or not; e level and stabily).

GAYS VS. STRAIGHTS: ANY DIFFERENC SEXUAL SATISFACTN?

It seems like more than jt bad reportg to tell gay men and women that happs is up to them, not the world at large, and happs will rive om disclosure when that very disclosure n be dangero. Dire cl long-term upl, but on average, men reta more sire than women, so we would expect men gay upl to feel the most sire, and women lbian upl the least, wh the men mixed-sex upl exprsg more libido than the women. The only difference was that women, both lbian and straight, felt somewhat more satisfied wh non-genal rs than men, both gay and straight, prumably bee pared wh women, men tend to be more genal-foced.

GAY MEN USED TO EARN LS THAN STRAIGHT MEN; NOW THEY EARN MORE

For 20 years, nearly all the studi on gay men the workplace have found an intil rult: parg the earngs of two men wh siar tn profil, years of experience, skills, and job rponsibili, gay men nsistently earns ls than straight men (between 5% and 10% ls). In a recent paper, rearchers om Vanrbilt analyzed data om a major feral survey the Uned Stat that had not prevly been ed this lerature – prumably bee only recently began to ask about sexual orientatn – and found that the gay male earngs penalty had disappeared.

A recent Pew Rearch Foundatn study reported that 92% of all LGBTQ adults felt that society is more acceptg of them than a ago, and 87% of adults report personally knowg someone who is gay or lbian (up om 61% 1993).

Whereas most studi on perceptns of feme-prentg gay men have manipulated genr nonnformy via wrten scriptns, rearch suggts that behavural cu such as voice and body-language n migate or exacerbate prejudice toward a stereotyped dividual. For heterosexual men, the preference for mascule-prentg actors was predicted by greater anti-gay sentiment, whereas ternalised anti-gay prejudice did not predict a preference for mascule-prentatn among gay men.

THE STEREOTYP ABOUT GAYS AND STRAIGHTS ARE TE

This associatn between masculy and stat endowment has plex implitns for gay men, given the prevailg stereotype that they are more feme pared to heterosexual men (Ke & Dx, 1987; Lippa, 2000; Mchell & Ellis, 2011; Sanchez et al., 2009) Men and the Feme StereotypeSuch a stereotype reflects, to some extent, average differenc genr-typily between gay and heterosexual men. Policg of masculy among gay men is not only self-directed; there is also evince of prejudice toward more feme gay men om wh the gay muny (Bailey et al., 1997; Hunt et al., 2016) Penalti for Feme Gay MenContemporary theori of effective learship have challenged the perceived virtu of masculy.

Theoretil explanatns for the fdgs nsistently foc on the possibily that gay men elic such discrimatn bee of the stereotype that they are feme and are therefore perceived as ls equipped to occupy higher-stat posns social hierarchi, such as the workplace (Ke & Dx, 1987; Lord et al., 1984).

GAY AND STRAIGHT MEN PREFER MASCULE-PRENTG GAY MEN FOR A HIGH-STAT ROLE: EVINCE FROM AN ELOGILLY VALID EXPERIMENT

Further support for this notn is found studi where gay men appear to avert stat-penalti when they adopt a more mascule prentatn (Glick et al., 2007; Morton, 2017; Pellegri et al., 2020). Siarly, Clsell and Fiske (2005) found that subgroup labels for feme gay men like ‘flamboyant’ eliced higher ratgs of warmth, but lower ratgs of petence pared to more mascule subgroup labels like ‘straight-actg’.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?

Th, the rearch appears to suggt that feme gay men are at particular risk of stat penalti, pecially om dividuals who posss anti-gay Sentiment Amongst Gay MenA further qutn regardg potential stat penalti for feme vers more mascule-prentg gay men is how plic gay men themselv may be perpetuatg such prejudice.

Whereas most relevant rearch has ed heterosexual sampl, both lab and field studi on romantic partner preferenc amongst gay men highlight a monplace sire for mascule over feme tras potential partners (Bailey et al., 1997; Clarkson, 2006; Laner & Kamel, 1977; Sanchez & Vila, 2012; Tayawadep, 2002).

BRAS OF GAY PEOPLE REMBLE THOSE OF STRAIGHT PEOPLE OF OPPOSE SEX

Such a nnectn suggts that the extent to which gay men ternalise societal stigma about beg gay may fluence their treatment of dividuals who posss stigmatised is a nsirable lerature monstratg that gay men discrimate agast more feme gay mal beyond the romantic ntext (Brooks et al., 2017; Ravenhill & Visser, 2019; Sánchez & Vila, 2012; Taywadep, 2002). (2016), when gay men received bog feedback that they had rated below-average on a masculy measure, they were more likely to show a creased sire to associate wh a feme – but not a mascule – gay male target. The perceived femy/masculy of gay male targets was manipulated g wrten scriptns of their tras, terts, and qualifitns, which tapped to tradnal, stereotypil notns of masculy (henceforth masculy for simplicy).

This effect among gay men mirrors siar fdgs observed among heterosexual participants (Aksoy et al., 2019; Frank, 2006; Pellegri et al., 2020) that also ed analogue tasks, which masculy/femy of gay male targets were manipulated via wrten scriptns. Provid important advanc offerg elogilly valid monstratns of the rctn stat btowed upon feme men by heterosexual dividuals, important unaddrsed qutns rema about whether gay dividuals also show such a bias, g d-visual stimuli, and what psychologil mechanisms might expla such bias.

Tradnally, studi vtigatg the impact of feme-prentatn on gay men’s stat have ed eher heterosexuals or gay men isolatn – to date, no study tegrated the two populatns to facilate meangful parisons. Demonstratg that gay men are as likely to discrimate agast feme gay men as heterosexuals would ntribute to the emergg awarens of tramory prejudice as an area of ncern for the gay Current StudyThe aim of this study is to explore whether a relatively feme-prentatn negatively impacts stat attament for gay men g a more elogilly valid methodology that allows meangful parisons of the reactns of gay and heterosexual men. Moreover, the study aims to tt psychologil mechanisms that may unrly the hypothised reluctance to endow stat to feme-prentg gay relevant lab studi to date have measured stat attament g direct measur, such as subjective ratgs of learship effectivens or behavural tentns.

GEIC DIFFERENC BETWEEN STRAIGHT AND GAY FOUND BY NEW ‘SPECULATIVE’ STUDY

Though not rmg primary hypoth, we also examed whether sexism may mediate preference for more mascule gay ndidat, given that Sanchez and Vila (2012) found that antifeme attus predicted a preference for mascule-prentg romantic partners. MaterialsScript for Fictnal Ad CampaignTo monstrate the direct fluence of mascule/feme-prentatn on stat attament for gay men, a novel pennt variable was nstcted for the current study.