The student dyads, who were told they were participating in a study on how strangers convey information about different topics, were covertly filmed throughout three distinct interaction periods. “This is especially true of physically attractive women who are often wary of straight men wanting more than a platonic relationship with them.”Ī follow-up study of 66 heterosexual women’s face-to-face interactions with 34 homosexual and 32 heterosexual men supported these findings. “Women can engage more openly and intimately with because they do not have to worry about the men having an ulterior sexual motive,” says Russell. The more attractive a woman reported perceiving herself to be, the larger the effect, suggesting the difference in comfort may be directly attributed to concerns about the man’s sexual interest, the authors wrote. On average, women reported feeling slightly more at ease after learning the man was straight, but significantly more comfortable when the man turned out to be gay. The participants were then asked to rate their comfort throughout the hypothetical interaction both before and after they learned the man’s sexual orientation. In the first study, 153 heterosexual female college students completed an online survey in which they were asked to imagine sitting alone in a waiting room with either a straight or gay male stranger.

“When these women discover that they are interacting with gay men, this anxiety is greatly reduced in that the women no longer feel pressured to suppress their more open and involving interaction behaviors,” Russell said. Russell, a research associate at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Women often avoid intimately engaging with male acquaintances due to concerns that the man may misinterpret friendliness as flirtation or even sexual interest, said Eric M. In a pair of studies on the intimacy of interactions between over 200 heterosexual women and their male conversation partners, researchers found that the women had friendlier, more open interactions with gay men who disclosed their sexual orientation compared to men who revealed that they were straight. It’s a tale as old as time, or at least romantic comedies: girl meets guy, guy falls in love, girl realizes they really can’t “just be friends.” Research in Psychological Science suggests, however, that discussing matters of the heart can be the start of something beautifully platonic between the sexes – so long as the male isn’t interested in more.

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