What kind of men do gay men find more attractive?

What kind of men do gay men find more attractive? According to the old thesis, the gay man liked physical attractiveness over other characteristics. That’s why we’ll check out if this is still valid.

Firstly, this article will reveal what kind of men are the most attractive. Our report is based on Aaron McCauley’s research journal, What Makes a Man: Physical Attraction Among Young Homosexuals and Harward University’s research (2009 – For gay and straight men, facial attraction operates similarly).

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1. Thesis: Gay men prefer athletic men more

When reviewing their results, many of the answers reflected previous research. Namely, the gay males desired an athletic/more significant build man. More than one-half drew attention to the fact that arm, chest, and abdominal muscles were attractive features of a potential partner. So, it repeats Swami & Tovee’s (2008) notion that gay males prefer muscularity to other body shapes. The gay man also likes for a partner to care for his health, for example, by not being too skinny or not obese.

However, many participants didn’t specify the answer when asked about the legs and buttocks. These explanations concluded that homosexual males would show a preference for physically fit/muscular men.

2. Thesis: homosexual men prefer masculinity even more than heterosexual women

In a second study, homosexual males emphasized bodily features (torso, legs, genital region) as more important/attractive than facial features (eyes, smile, hair). Therefore, the results provided contrasting results.

The most noticeable results from the questions dealt with facial features. Participants consistently voiced a desire for specific eye colors, a muscular jawline, and hairstyle preferences, including facial hair. When arranging the photos in order of attractiveness, participants also noted details of physical shape. While participants knew how to define bodily and physique preferences, the subjects were more demanding when picking the most attractive facial features in a potential partner.

However, the most potent attractiveness factors were eyes, jawline, and hair, declared “masculine” and “strong” by subjects. These findings support the idea that homosexual men prefer masculinity even more than heterosexual women (Bailey, Kim, Hills, & Linsenmeier, 1997).

The following results showed that homosexual males are drawn to facial features more than bodily ones, contrasting with the first construct.

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3. Theses: Gay men will not like the same features as heterosexual women would

The third and final construct stated, “homosexual males will not value the same features that heterosexual women would, given the freedom to construct an ‘ideal partner’ themselves.” Previous research showed that gay men found highly masculine faces significantly more attractive than feminine ones. Also, the types of male faces that gay men found attractive generally did not mirror those that straight women found attractive on average. Men, gay or straight, prefer high sexual dimorphism in the faces of the sex that they are attracted to. Gay and straight men disagreed on the types of male faces they considered attractive.”

The study is the first to examine the facial feature preferences of gay men and lesbians. In the study, straight women preferred more masculine-faced men than lesbians, while lesbians preferred slightly more masculine female faces than straight women or men. Women’s priorities were more complex than men’s, as indicated by prior research demonstrating that ovulation, contraceptive use, self-perceived attractiveness, and sex drive affect face preference.

When comparing the findings from the various analyses, some answers are quite different. Later studies indicated that homosexual males prefer the same ideals as heterosexual women. The prominence of masculine features and physical fitness as important attraction indicators for both sexual orientations discredits the original hypothesis. The study also showed that homosexual males prefer similar features as heterosexual women when pursuing a potential male partner. Those results indicate that some previous assumptions were incorrect.

What kind of men do gay men find more attractive? – Final thoughts

This article was more or less focused on physical attraction. However, we all know that those represent only part of our traits (like personality). So, which features do you like the most?