Homogeneous Gynephiles and Heterogeneous Androphiles: A Factor Analysis of Differences and Similarities in Attractions to the Sexes as a Function of Sexual Orientation

Abstract

Attractions to body parts and sexual acts were factor analyzed by sexual orientation of the attracted person. Gynephilic (female-attracted) men's and women's attractions to women (body parts and acts) were remarkably similar, but androphilic (male-attracted) men's and women's attractions to men's bodies were remarkably different—a distinction between boyish versus mature masculinity being particularly evident among bisexual men. Lesbian intragroup variability was high. Certain bisexual subgroups showed modestly elevated sexual adventurousness, but were neither consistently intermediate between homosexuals and heterosexuals nor consistently similar to them. Among men, nonsexual body parts and nonsexual acts explained somewhat more variance than explicitly erotic variables did. For women, the biggest differences pertained to specifically erotic differences, not affectionate or bodily stimuli. This is the first empirical study to report what it is about women and men that forms the basis for attractions to them, and the first to identify significant subgroups among men who are attracted to men.