Men with an outspoken dislike for gays are actually often attracted to other men themselves. That is the outcome of a new study published in the scientific journal Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Researchers at the University of Geneva studied a group of men who had previously shown themselves to have a particularly negative attitude towards homosexuals. The results were compared to those of a group of men who were not negative about homosexuality. With their research, the researchers wanted to test whether the often heard "gay haters are often gay themselves" is based on truth.
During the experiment, the participants were given pictures with a gay or a heterosexual couple in the center of the picture. While the participants viewed the photos, the movement of their eyes was measured. The scientists wanted to know how long the subjects kept looking at the couple in the photo. In a second test, participants were asked to rate photos of heterosexual and gay couples. Again, it was looked at which photos the participants kept their eyes on. As it turned out, those who judged the gay couples negatively stayed many times longer to look at the photos of gay couples.
It is not the first time that such a study has been carried out. In 2012, a joint study by the University of Rochester in New York, the University of California and the University of Essex showed that homophobic people often have homosexual feelings themselves. Netta Weinstein, one of the lead researchers, explains, "These people probably feel threatened by gay couples because it confronts them with their own similar feelings."