STUDY: Why Straight Women And Gay Men Are Totes BFFS For Life

Psychologists at Texas Christian University developed a fictional Facebook personality, “Jordan,” and evaluated how participants related to this persona.

For the 88 straight women involved in the study, “Jordan” was either a straight man, a straight woman or a gay man. For the 58 gay men who participated, Jordan was alternately a straight woman, a gay man, or a lesbian. Jordan’s sexuality and gender differed from subject to subject, but everything else about him/her was constant.

After getting to know Jordan by reading his (or her) profile, the subjects were asked to imagine themselves in a number of hypothetical scenarios with their new, hypothetical friend. The situations took place at a party, in which Jordan would offer them “mating-relevant advice,” such as commenting on their interaction with a potential romantic interest.

How trustworthy did they theoretically find their fake friend’s advice to be? And how likely did they think Jordan was to help them in nailing down “a fling,” “a date,” or even “a potential relationship”?

As you might expect, the study showed that straight women were more trusting of “mating advice” from a gay man, and vice versa. (The results indicated, though, that gay men and straight girls don’t think the other is particularly helpful in helping them land a man.)

The theory put forth by lead researcher Eric M. Russell is that gays and gals connect because we see each other as “uniquely trustworthy sources of social support.”  Read More