Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

The appearance potency of gay and straight men’s websites

Jankowski, Glen; Slater, Amy; Tiggemann, Marika; Fawkner, Helen

Authors

Glen Jankowski

Amy Slater Amy.Slater@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Centre for Appearance Research

Marika Tiggemann

Helen Fawkner



Abstract

Gay men's greater body dissatisfaction compared to straight men has been explained as a result of gay men’s more 'appearance potent' subculture. This study aimed to critically appraise this explanation by assessing images of men and women for their physical characteristics and objectification across 8 popular gay and straight men's dating and porn websites. 1,415 images of men and 715 images of women across the website’s main pages were coded. Results showed that the gay men's websites featured more images of men that were appearance-ideal, nude, and sexualized in comparison to the straight men's websites. With the converse true for straight men’s websites. These results highlight the continuing need to develop and provide interventions that critique the appearance potency of popular media, particularly so for gay men.

Citation

Jankowski, G., Slater, A., Tiggemann, M., & Fawkner, H. (2016). The appearance potency of gay and straight men’s websites

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 6, 2016
Online Publication Date Dec 1, 2016
Publication Date Dec 1, 2016
Deposit Date Oct 4, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Psychology of Sexualities Review
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
Issue 2
Pages 48-62
Keywords body dissatisfaction, gay men, media, appearance potency, body image
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/920138
Publisher URL https://shop.bps.org.uk/publications/publication-by-series/psychology-of-sexualities-review/psychology-of-sexualities-review-vol-7-no-2-winter-2016.html