What the study is about

Published in Frontiers in Psychology (August 2024) by Luke Holmes, Gerulf Rieger, and Silke Paulmann (University of Essex). It examines whether sexual orientation is linked to measurable differences in the acoustic properties of people’s natural speech (not recited scripts).

They recorded 142 men and 175 women of varying sexual orientations (treated as a continuous Kinsey-style scale from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual). Participants answered an open question about the weather in England, and researchers analyzed those natural answers.

Main findings

In men:

• Homosexual men had lower average pitch and a narrower pitch range than heterosexual men (opposite of the common stereotype that gay men’s voices are higher-pitched).

• Homosexual men also had less breathy voices (lower harmonics-to-noise ratio).

In women:

• Homosexual women had a lower F4 formant (a higher vocal-tract resonance/overtone) than heterosexual women.

• Homosexual women had rougher voices (higher jitter) and a less breathy / brighter quality (flatter spectral tilt).

No clear differences were found in:

• Formants F1–F3

• Cepstral peak prominence

• Shimmer

• Speech rate

(in either sex)

When effects appeared, bisexual participants generally fell in between heterosexual and homosexual speakers.

Most earlier work used small samples, recited text, or lumped bisexual and homosexual people together. This one used a larger sample, natural speech, and treated orientation as continuous — which the authors argue is more realistic.

This study helps debunk the common myth of “the gay voice.” A lot of people (and media) assume most gay men sound a certain stereotypical way — higher-pitched, more expressive, etc. But the actual data from natural speech shows the opposite pattern on average: gay men in this sample had lower pitch and a narrower pitch range than straight men. Of course some gay guys do have more stereotypically “gay-sounding” voices, but the research suggests that’s not the norm.

Bottom line

There are some average acoustic differences linked to sexual orientation, but they are modest, sometimes go against popular stereotypes (especially the pitch findings in men), and are not consistent across every voice measure. The authors note that people may also deliberately

Are there any other fans of classic Hollywood films here?? I present to you quite possibly the gayest Hays Code era movie ever.

Enjoy!

First painting of 2026 and it still feel like this, unfortunatey. Dissociating from my mind to cope with all the absurdity of the news.

But I love this painting very very much !

I listened to a lot of Joe Hisaishi and Spirited Away OST while painting this one, Tudududum♫

Let me know if you have any comment/questions :-) Entire process video is shown on socials

Not looking for anything new, just curious what everyone's go-to is.

I'm posting because of a weird feeling that I have after learning that I got cheated on by my boyfriend of three years. It was to a point where we had a conversation about opening the relationship with both of us declining the proposition, only to find out he cheated on me the week after on my birthday while he was away.

I know that in gay culture, open relationships are more discussed, so we definitely had a discussion about it. However, we never got to fully agree on the terms and agreement so we never really fully went on with it.

It feels unfair because I have poured out my heart to a man who is very unsure and insecure. Now it's like six months after and I do feel better in terms of me not exactly missing the person, but there are hints of moments where I do mourn the relationship knowing all too well that it never was my fault to begin with because I've given everything I've had. But sometimes it's too overwhelming because I still find myself in pockets of trauma and having to let go of my future of a family with my ex.

Six months after he's out and about already with someone else while I'm still processing the betrayal that he has caused. It does feel unfair but at the same time I don't want to get into a relationship knowing that I may hurt the other person due to the pain that I'm still experiencing at the moment.

I tell myself its been half a year, I should be truly over it and I do immerse myself in other aspects of my life but sometimes during the quiet hours of the evening this feeling just takes over.

I am just wondering for those who have experienced a similar situation. How did you all cope with the betrayal and the cheating and having to let go of a future that was never yours?

Two of the finest men I ever seen. David Boreanaz has always been fine and James, those cheekbones, the swagger, those yearning eyes....ugh

So this is mainly a vent post.

First of all, I know what I did was extremely wrong, I regret it and I hate myself for it. I can tell you something tho, Im never doing anything like this ever again.

I was drunk and idk if because of long distance or what I just became weak and made a bad decision. I’ve been on and off about telling him, mainly panicking and mostly worrying about me hurting him but ultimately he has the right to know the truth and make a decision about it.

It’s just that we were perfect. Never fought, have the same interests, we are extremely compatible, he is the prettiest guy I have ever known, the sweetest one, and he definitely doesn’t deserve the shit I’ve done to him. I can’t imagine what he is feeling right now because he also loved me and it fucking hurts knowing he is not okay. This was both our first ever relationship, we met in the most random unpredictable way, and we have always said how lucky we were to be put together.

I genuinely can’t believe I have done this to him and to myself. That’s all

I personally love this one.

Hey all! I'm part of the London Stags, a queer rugby club in South London, and we've got a touch rugby new members day this Saturday (24th Oct). It's non-contact mixed gender, so everyone's welcome. Rather than just dropping the event details, I wanted to share my own experience of joining.

I moved to London a couple of years ago and didn't really have any queer friends, apart from a few random hookups 😅 Then one of the Stags' posts popped up on my Instagram, and right after Christmas I went along for a trial.

I'm not going to pretend I was confident about it.. I was overweight, I'd never played a team sport in my life, and the idea of joining a new team was really daunting. What scared me most was walking into friendship groups that had been around for years and never really feeling part of them.

On my first day, one of the existing members, Max, came over and asked how I was doing, whether it was my first time and if I knew anyone. He was incredibly sweet and made sure I felt comfortable.

Then training started. I'd never even held a rugby ball, but it was surprisingly not that hard to handle it and pass it around with the other newbies who'd joined the same day. Putting us all together was actually a really smart move by the club. It was easy to find people with the same anxiety I had, and much easier to bond when we were all starting from the same level.

By the end of it, rugby didn't feel like an impossible sport anymore, and the community around the club turned out to be so supportive. Now some of my best friends in London are from the club, and joining was one of the best decisions I've made since moving here.

If you're in London and any of that sounds familiar, come along on Saturday! You can find all the details on Instagram: @thelondonstagsrfc

Any questions, just drop them below or DM me :)

I'm 25 and have only been out for a little while. I have practically had zero physical experiences with men. On top of being new to everything, I've lost 100lbs and I'm now thin. Which, comes with its own layer of body self-consciousness (skin issues, getting used to being thin and so on). I've gone on dates but my anxiety spikes when things lean into getting physical because I really feel the need to know someone and have trust before moving forward.

How much would the combination of zero experience, past major weight loss, and wanting to take things slow throw you off? Is this something you'd be patient with or is it an immediate pass?

Where you at? How long have you and your partner been together??

11 years. We became official on 10/1/2015. 😀