title: Friends with benefits, but without the sex: straight women and gay men exchange trustworthy mating advice.
abstract: Although research has made progress in elucidating the benefits exchanged within same- and opposite-sex friendships formed between heterosexual men and women, it is less clear why straight women and gay men form close relationships with one another. The current experiments begin to address this question by exploring a potential benefit hypothesized to be uniquely available to straight women and gay men in the context of these friendships: trustworthy mating advice. Experiment 1 revealed that straight women perceive mating-relevant advice from a gay man to be more trustworthy than similar advice offered by a straight man or woman. Experiment 2 demonstrated that gay men perceive mating advice offered by a straight woman to be more trustworthy than advice offered by a lesbian woman or another gay man. Overall, the results provide initial experimental evidence that relationships between gay men and straight women may be characterized by a mutual exchange of mating-relevant benefits in the absence of sexual interest or competition.
authors: Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA. ericmrussell@yahoo.com
authors: Eric M
authors: EM
authors: Russell
authors: Danielle J
authors: DJ
authors: DelPriore
authors: Max E
authors: ME
authors: Butterfield
authors: Sarah E
authors: SE
authors: Hill
mesh_terms: D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology; D018452:Homosexuality, Female; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D035502:Trust / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
references: Arch Sex Behav. 1976 Mar;5(2):157-69
references: 1275691
references: J Pers Soc Psychol. 1996 Jun;70(6):1185-204
references: 8667162
references: J Pers Soc Psychol. 1994 Jun;66(6):1081-93
references: 8046578
references: Psychol Sci. 2009 Feb;20(2):184-90
references: 19170940
references: Body Image. 2009 Jun;6(3):235-41
references: 19447691
references: Evol Psychol. 2011 Dec 08;9(4):543-63
references: 22947994
references: Am J Community Psychol. 1994 Aug;22(4):447-70
references: 7754998
references: J Homosex. 2005;49(1):47-76
references: 16048885