But, he said, it's because men, in general, want lots of partners and women, in general, do not. Many people do think that gay men are more promiscuous than straight men, and in fact, Bailey said, gay men do have more sex partners. The man who most people thought was straight was actually gay. But there were plenty of wrong guesses, too, showing that the stereotypes can be way off. People were accurate 60 percent of the time, which is better than chance. Could the testers determine who was gay and who was straight? Five gay and five straight men spent an hour mingling with dozens of people. With Bailey's help, "20/20" ran a test in 2004 to see if people could tell who was gay and who was straight. You can tell far better than chance who's a gay man from just listening to him say four sentences," Bailey said. "Gay men absolutely talk differently, on average. "I feel like I've been very much stereotyped by clients, by industry people, all the time," said William Grusel, one of the owners.Īnother stereotype is that gay people speak differently than straight people. The owners of the Prada Grusel hair salon in New York City are straight but people think they're gay. One problem with stereotyping is that there are so many exceptions. It's a great job for straight guys," said Zach Hench, a straight dancer. You are working around beautiful women all day that are half naked. And I think it's quite silly because let's think about it. "People assume that if you're a male ballet dancer you're gay. While Rainey is gay, the ballet said most of its male dancers are straight. "So what if there are a lot of gay men in dance? I think it's a good thing." It's no big deal, and as a matter of fact, it's almost celebrated if you're gay," said dancer Meredith Rainey. We visited the Pennsylvania Ballet to ask its male dancers what they thought of the stereotype. But why? "Because dancing is a feminine occupation," he said.
And it probably has to do with the causes of sexual orientation and early effects of hormones on the brain," Bailey said.īailey did a survey of professional dancers and found half the men were gay. "There's no obvious reason why sexual orientation should be associated with how masculine or feminine one is, but it is in our species. He says sexual orientation is something people are born with, and this orientation makes some gay men more feminine. Northwestern University psychology professor Michael Bailey has spent years studying human sexuality. The show's most famous character, Jack McFarland, is flamboyantly feminine. And the writers of the show "Will and Grace" made their main gay character, Will Truman, a high-powered attorney.īut the stereotypes do persist.
Barney Frank is an openly gay congressman from Massachusetts. Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres are high-profile lesbians working in comedy and daytime television. Increasingly gay people are visible in every profession. "Whether you work, you know, as an artist or a singer or a dancer, those are all really creative places where gay people are embraced," Kressley said Researchers say it's because lesbians, on average, are attracted to more masculine occupations, and gay men tend to prefer more feminine occupations.īut it is true that hostility toward gay people drove many away from some other professions. There is research that suggests gay men do prefer certain professions, like fashion, interior design and hair coloring, and that lesbians are more likely to prefer sports and the military. Not all straight men are bad dressers," he said. But, says Allen, the stereotypes are not always true. "It's that you're obsessed with fashion, and that you tan a lot and that you color your hair," they said. What, we asked, are the stereotypes about gay men?
We talked to Carson Kressley and Ted Allen, two of the stars of the hit television show "Queer Eye" about the stereotypes.