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Perception, 2013, volume 42, pages 187 – 197
doi:10.1068/p6909
Preferences for facial and vocal masculinity in homosexual
men: the role of relationship status, sexual restrictiveness,
and self-perceived masculinity
Jaroslava Valentová1, S Craig Roberts2, Jan Havlíček3
1 Center for Theoretical Study, Charles University and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech
Republic, Jilska 1, 11000 Prague, Czech Republic; e-mail: valentova@cts.cuni.cz; 2 School
ofNatural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom; 3 Department of
Zoology, Facultyof Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Received 18 January 2011, in revised form 16 January 2013
Abstract. Studies on mate preferences usually examine heterosexual attraction; comparatively little
is known about preferences of individuals whose sexuality is aimed at the same sex. We examined
preferences of two groups of androphilic individuals—homosexual men and heterosexual women—
for male facial and vocal level of masculinity. Facial images of 58 men and vocal recordings of 30 men
were rated by 51 heterosexual women and 33 homosexual men for their attractiveness and masculinity–
femininity. In both groups of raters, ratings of vocal attractiveness and masculinity were positively
correlated, but there was no overall preference for facial masculinity. After splitting raters according
to their relationship status, sexual restrictiveness, and self-rated masculinity, we found signicant
preferences for masculine voices only in single homosexual men and coupled heterosexual women,
while a preference for feminine male faces was found in coupled homosexual men. Furthermore,
homosexual men describing themselves as relatively masculine signicantly preferred masculine
voices but also more feminine male faces. Our results demonstrate that conditional mate preferences
are not restricted to heterosexual interactions, and homosexual men prefer a mixture of masculine and
feminine traits in their potential male partners.
Keywords: attractiveness, face, voice, sexual orientation
1 Introduction
A large body of recent empirical research has focused on aspects of human physical
attractiveness and its social and evolutionary implications. Although it is only part of the
broader picture, physical appearance undoubtedly plays a key role in mate choice decisions,
with signicant sex differences in preferences for different traits which, more often than not, are
robust across different cultures (Andersson and Iwasa 1996). In addition to characteristics such
as symmetry, averageness, and adiposity, sex-typical physical traits are perceived as attractive
by individuals of the opposite sex (Perrett et al 1998; Rhodes et al 2000). Expression of these
physical sex-typical traits are thought to be mediated by sex hormone action during prenatal
and early childhood, and/or at pubertal development (Johnston et al 2001), and to reliably
indicate an individual’s health, genetic quality and immunocompetence (Folstad and Karter
1992; Gangestad and Thornhill 2003; Yeo et al 1994; review in Roberts and Little 2008).
1.1 The effect of male sex-typical vocal and facial traits in opposite-sex preferences
One of the sexually dimorphic traits which develops under the inuence of pubertal
testosterone is voice pitch (a perceptual correlate of fundamental frequency). On average,
adult men produce lower-pitched voices than women and children (Hollien et al 1994).
The development of preferences for low voice pitch is linked to pubertal changes and
only becomes fully developed as adulthood approaches and mate choice decisions become
relevant (Saxton et al 2006, 2009b, 2009c). Lower-pitched male voices are rated as
masculine and attractive by female raters (Berry 1992; Collins 2000; Feinberg et al 2005a,
188 J Valentová, S C Roberts, J Havlíček
2005b; Hodges-Simeon et al 2010; Oguchi and Kikuchi 1997; Puts 2005; Riding et al 2006;
Zuckermann et al 1995), are associated with perceived maturity of their owners (Childers
and Wu 1991; Wu and Childers 1991), perceived muscularity, age, and weight (Collins
2000), actual body size (Evans et al 2006, 2008; Puts et al 2012, Zuckermann et al 1995),
and actual level of testosterone (Dabbs and Mallinger 1999). Low voice pitch is also linked
to self-reported number of sexual partners (Puts 2005), and self-reported reproductive
success (Apicella et al 2007). Moreover, attractiveness of male voices predicted sexual
behaviour in males, such as lower age of rst sexual intercourse and higher number of
extra-pair sexual relationships (Hughes et al 2004). These relationships may arise as a
result of selection pressures on male vocal display (Puts et al 2006, 2012), such that higher
reproductive success of men with lower-pitched voices reect female preferences for male
dominance (Wells et al 2009).
Another extensively studied domain of physical attractiveness is facial appearance. As
with voices, since human faces display sex-dimorphic morphological traits, such as larger
jaws and prominent eyebrow ridges in men, it has been suggested that male facial masculinity
is related to attractiveness and mating success (Johnston et al 2001), and sociosexuality in
men (Boothroyd et al 2008).
Although preferences for sex-typical traits occur across cultures and are thus robust,
there is nonetheless substantial individual variation in strength of preference for such traits,
which has been particularly well-described in the face literature. Positive relationships have
been found between rated facial masculinity in males and attractiveness (Perrett et al 1998),
their actual health (Rhodes et al 2003), symmetry (Little et al 2008), and level of salivary
testosterone (Penton-Voak and Chen 2004). Relative strength of women’s preferences for male
traits are context-dependent, ie being inuenced by perception of females’ own attractiveness
(Little et al 2001), phase of menstrual cycle (Jones et al 2008), relationship status (Little et al
2002), or sexual restrictiveness (Burt et al 2007). Overall, it has been shown that women
who perceive themselves as more attractive, coupled women, those who seek short-term
relationships, and those who are less sexually restricted, show stronger preferences for male
facial masculinity.
1.2 Effect of male masculinity–femininity in same-sex preferences
In contrast with the extensive investigations of heterosexual partner preferences (Barber 1995;
Enquist et al 2002; Penton-Voak and Perrett 2000; Rhodes 2006; Roberts and Little 2008),
there is very limited research on partner preferences of homosexual individuals. It has been
reported that homosexual men show male-typical mating psychology, including interest in
casual sex and visual sexually explicit material (Bailey et al 1994); they also report male-
typical mate retention behaviour (Vanderlaan and Vasey 2008), prefer potential partners
who are younger than themselves (Hayes 2001; Silverthorne and Quinsey 2000) and, again
similarly to heterosexual men, value physical attractiveness in their potential partners more
than heterosexual women (Howard et al 1987). On the other hand, homosexual men prefer
as partners men who describe themselves as rather masculine, and this is dependent on their
own level of masculinity (Bailey et al 1997; Muscarella 2002). This is further supported
by a recent study that found that homosexual men prefer digitally masculinised male facial
pictures over feminised pictures (Glassenberg et al 2010). Except for the last-mentioned study,
the previous research on partner preferences of homosexual men is methodologically limited
to questionnaire data or data based on personal advertisements. To investigate preferences for
masculinity–femininity of homosexual men in more detail, in this study, we use non-manipulated
male facial pictures and vocal recordings.
Preferences for facial and vocal masculinity in homosexual men 189
1.3 Aims of the current study
The main aim of the current study was to investigate preferences for male facial and vocal
masculinity in androphilic individuals, ie men and women sexually attracted to men (thus,
we intentionally did not include ratings of heterosexual men and lesbian women, since they
are not sexually attracted to men), and to test effects of potentially modulating variables. In
line with the aforementioned ndings, we expect that lower-pitched male voices perceived
as masculine will in general be rated as attractive by both homosexual male and heterosexual
female raters, and because of individual condition-dependence, that there is no general
overall preference for facial masculinity. Based on ndings described above for heterosexual
preferences, we test for possible inuence of relationship status, sexual restrictiveness, and
self-perceived masculinity on preferences for both facial and vocal masculinity in homosexual
males and heterosexual females.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Participants
Facial photos and vocal recordings of 61 men (targets; mean age 23.3 years; SD 3.82 years;
range 18–35 years) were obtained for this study; 27 men were identied as homosexual, and
34 as heterosexual. There were no signicant differences between the two groups of target
men in age, type and level of education, and religious belief, but homosexual men reported
higher income (t55 = 5.37; p < 0.001). Except for two participants who were of Slovak origin
(both of them were homosexual and were excluded from the voice rating study), all of the
targets were Czech, Caucasian. The target sample was mainly recruited by distribution of
information yers in various faculties of Charles University in Prague, on gay web pages,
in bars, and by the snowball method; ie through social networks of the rst author who sent
an information e-mail about the research to her heterosexual and homosexual friends and
colleagues, and asking them to spread the information further. Data collection was performed
by the rst author during two summer months of 2006 (ie within one season), in order to
reduce possible seasonal effects (eg on skin colour due to tanning).
2.2 Sampling procedure
All data were collected under standard conditions at the Laboratory of Human Ethology and the
participants were each reimbursed by 300 CZK (approximately 17 USD) in compensation for
their time. All participants signed a consent form having been informed about the procedure,
and assured that data would be treated condentially and for scientic purposes only. They
further completed a battery of questionnaires collecting information on basic demographic
data, sexual orientation, and self-reported attractiveness.
2.3 Facial photographs
All targets were dressed in white T-shirts of appropriate size (which we provided) when
photos were taken, in order to standardise dress and reduce shadows in faces caused by
coloured clothes. Each participant used a black hairband to remove hair from the forehead.
Further, the participants were asked to remove earrings, facial jewellery, and to adopt a neutral
facial expression. The portraits were taken with a Canon 350D camera with the focus Canon
EF 50/1.8 II from a distance of 1.5 m. A light blue background was used to optimise white
balance, following digital adjustments. In order to eliminate possible inuences of hairstyle,
only faces with scalps covered were used for the ratings (procedure used in previous studies,
eg Pivonkova et al 2011). The scalps were covered using Photoshop 7.0 software, and faces
were placed on a black background.
190 J Valentová, S C Roberts, J Havlíček
2.4 Vocal recordings
Vocal samples were recorded with a digital recorder Olympus WS310M with an external
Sennheiser E845-S microphone. Seated targets were asked to read aloud a standard paragraph
of an emotionally neutral text describing various concepts of a rainbow (Jacobs et al 2006)
which was translated into the Czech language. Each participant was familiarised with the
text before recordings were taken. To avoid potential effects of stress or fatigue, we extracted
an intermediate section (approximately 20 s out of 90 to 120 s) of the recording, similar to
the research of Jacobs and colleagues. SoundForge 8.0 software was used for the extraction
and the volume standardisation. All 59 voice samples (two individuals of Slovak origin were
excluded from the analyses and the voice of one participant was not recorded) were analysed
by Praat software (www.praat.org) for average fundamental frequency (F0) that ranged
from 86.4 to 191.8 Hz. Fundamental frequency was measured using Praat’s autocorrelation
algorithm with parameters set to a pitch oor of 75 Hz and a pitch ceiling of 300 Hz, with
all other values set to default. Fundamental frequencies were averaged across recordings for
each speaker.
2.5 Raters
The sample consisted of 50 heterosexual female raters (mean age 24.8 years, SD = 5.57 years,
range 17–42 years) and 33 homosexual male raters (mean age 28.7 years, SD = 6.08 years, range
19–48 years). Women were recruited in various public places in Prague (mostly open-air
cafés) with access to sit at the computer. Ratings took place during afternoons, and only
individuals who had not been drinking alcoholic beverages were recruited, since there is
some evidence that alcohol consumption may affect attractiveness ratings (Parker et al 2008).
Before rating, raters completed a short questionnaire on basic demographic data, including age,
use of hormonal contraception, and sexual orientation as assessed on a 7-point Kinsey scale
(0 = heterosexual; 6 = homosexual). Of 62 females who answered this question, 50 (81%)
rated themselves as heterosexual (ie scores of 0 and 1 on the Kinsey scale), and 12 (19%) as
bisexual (ie 2–4 on the Kinsey scale). For all analyses, we only included data from women
identifying as heterosexual. The average number of reported male sexual partners was 9.4
(with median 6). 6 women stated they had had at least one female sexual partner during their
lifetime. 20 women (39.2 %) reported being in a long-term relationship at the time of the
study and 29 female raters (56.9 %) were using hormonal contraception at the time of the study.
5 women stated they had at least one child.
Male raters were recruited in gay bars, by the snowball method, and by distributing
leaets in gay internet sites. 3 men did not complete the questionnaires. 33 men (89 %) rated
themselves as homosexual (5–6 on the Kinsey scale) and 4 (11 %) as bisexual (ie scores
of 3–5). All the analyses are based on male raters who identied themselves as homosexual.
The average number of reported male sexual partners was 68.1 (with median 20.0). 11 men
(29.7 %) reported having a long-term partner at the time of the study. 20 men (54.1 %) stated
they had had at least 1 female sexual partner during their lifetime. Raters also answered a
question on how masculine or feminine they would rate themselves (answers on a 7 point
scale, 1 = masculine, 7 = feminine).
Recruitment locations were chosen in order to minimise the between-location variability
(for factors such as lighting or surrounding noise). We also asked participants to complete
ratings while sitting at the researcher’s table in order to reduce possible distraction by their
friends. We note that differences across locations are more likely to reduce the chance of
nding signicant effects than to generate them. None of the raters was paid for his/her
participation.
Preferences for facial and vocal masculinity in homosexual men 191
2.6 Rating procedure
In this study we chose to use unmanipulated voices and faces to explore preferences instead
of experimental manipulation (eg manipulation of vocal fundamental frequency, or masculine
facial traits) of facial and vocal masculinity. By using this method, we can estimate the effect
of perceived masculinity in faces and voices with other acoustic or visual parameters that are
freely varying. It was shown that vocal fundamental frequency correlates with other acoustic
parameters (Hodges-Simeon et al 2010) but can be used as a proxy measure of overall
vocal masculinity (Puts 2006). Furthermore, we were not only interested in objectively
measured vocal or facial masculinity, which can be experimentally manipulated, but also in
the relationship between perceptions of attractiveness, and perceptions of facial and vocal
masculinity.
We randomly chose only half of the vocal recordings because of time constraints for raters
(the rating took approximately 20 min in total) and each rater rated only 1 parameter to avoid
carry-over effects. Each rater judged rstly the vocal recordings and then the whole sample
of facial images (each photo and vocal recording of a heterosexual individual was alternated
by a photo or vocal recording of a homosexual individual) for attractiveness or masculinity
on a 7 point scale (1 = attractive/masculine, 7 = not attractive/feminine). Of 50 female raters,
33 rated both facial and vocal stimuli and 17 rated only facial stimuli. All homosexual male
raters rated both facial and vocal stimuli. Image ratings were carried out on a laptop screen
with resolution of 1280 × 800 pixels using ImageRater 1.3 software specically developed
for our purposes. Vocal recordings were rated with the same laptop with Koss headphones.
2.7 Statistical analyses
Analyses were carried out with SPSS v.16.0. Initially, data normality was tested by visual
examination of histograms, and the assumptions of univariate normality for rating scores
was checked with Shapiro–Wilks’s W test. In several cases data violated the assumption of
normality, we have thus used nonparametric correlations to test for relationships between
the variables. Moreover, to compute possible differences between the two correlations, we
used Fisher’s Z. We then did some exploratory analyses to prepare for the planned inferential
testing.
First, using Mann–Whitney U tests, we tested for possible differences between homo-
sexual and heterosexual targets in judged attractiveness and masculinity. The ratings of
attractiveness and masculinity for both vocal and facial stimuli did not signicantly differ
between homosexual and heterosexual targets as rated either by male or female raters (all
p s > 0.12); therefore the ratings were further analysed for both groups of targets together.
Furthermore, both female and male raters showed high consistency in their facial attract-
iveness judgments (Cronbach’s a = 0.965 and 0.940, respectively) and vocal attractiveness
judgments (Cronbach’s a = 0.627 and 0.763, respectively); they also showed high consistency
in their facial masculinity judgments (Cronbach’s a = 0.938 and 0.942, respectively) and
vocal masculinity judgments (Cronbach’s a = 0.897 and 0.620, respectively). Ratings of vocal
(r = 0.646; N = 30; p < 0.001) and facial (r = 0.752; N = 61; p < 0.001) attractiveness among
heterosexual females and homosexual males were highly correlated. Similarly, ratings of
vocal (r = 0.891; N = 30; p < 0.001) and facial (r = 0.775; N = 61; p < 0.001) masculinity
were highly correlated among heterosexual females and homosexual males.
The preferences for facial and vocal masculinity were analysed by Spearman’s
correlations, with mean ratings for each target as the unit of analysis. In order to test for a
possible effect of relationship status, we split the raters into two groups based on their self-
report. Similarly, to test for possible inuence of sexual restrictiveness, we split the raters
by the median of their number of reported sexual partners (we describe the group below the
median as restricted and those above the median as unrestricted). There was no signicant
192 J Valentová, S C Roberts, J Havlíček
difference in age between coupled and single heterosexual women (Mann–Whitney U = 296;
N = 51; p = 0.786), nor in age or self-ascribed masculinity–femininity between coupled
and single homosexual men (Mann–Whitney U = 79.5; N = 32; p = 0.715; Mann–Whitney
U = 75; N = 32; p = 0.552, respectively). However, in both women and men, those with a
higher number of sexual partners were signicantly older than more restricted individuals
(Mann–Whitney U = 160.5; N = 51; p = 0.002; Mann–Whitney U = 38.5; N = 29; p = 0.004,
respectively).
Male raters were also categorised according to their self-rated masculinity (also using
a median split), with those below the median being described as feminine and those above
as masculine. To adjust for multiple comparisons, Bonferroni corrections were applied.
Finally, to test for the possible inuence of voice pitch on general vocal attractiveness and
masculinity ratings, we used simple linear regression with rated parameters (attractiveness
or masculinity) as dependent variables, and age and voice pitch as predictors.
3 Results
3.1 General preferences
To test our main hypothesis, we ran a series of non-parametric correlations between rated
masculinity–femininity and attractiveness. In homosexual male raters, rated vocal masculinity
was strongly and positively correlated with vocal attractiveness (Spearman’s t = 0.745; N = 30;
p < 0.001), and the same effect was found in heterosexual female raters (Spearman’s t = 0.536;
N = 30; p = 0.002). There was no signicant difference between the correlation coefcients
( p = 0.18). Concerning facial ratings, we found a non-signicant trend towards a negative
correlation between rated facial masculinity and attract iveness in homosexual male raters
(Spearman’s t = – 0.246; N = 61; p = 0.056), but no evidence of a signicant relationship
between these variables in heterosexual female raters (Spearman’s t = 0.064; N = 61; p = 0.625).
These correlations did not differ signicantly ( p = 0.08).
3.2 The effect of relationship status
We then split the raters according to their relationship status (for all subsequent analyses
we applied Bonferroni correction, α = 0.0125). The positive relationship between vocal
attractiveness and masculinity remained signicant only in single homosexual male raters
(Spearman’s t = 0.594; N = 30; p = 0.001), but no signicant results were found in coupled
homosexual males and heterosexual females ( p s > 0.06). There was a signicantly higher
correlation between vocal attractiveness and masculinity in single homosexual male raters
than in coupled homosexual males (Z = 2.49; p = 0.012), and in coupled heterosexual
females than in single females (Z = 2.36; p = 0.018).
Concerning facial ratings, we found a signicant negative relationship between rated facial
masculinity–femininity and attractiveness only in coupled homosexual men (Spearman’s
t = – 0.371; N = 61; p = 0.003), while it remained non-signicant in other groups of raters
( p s > 0.21). Fisher’s r-to-z test revealed that this relationship was signicantly stronger
in coupled than in single homosexual male raters (Z = 2.98; p = 0.002), but there was no
signicant difference in female ratings ( p = 0.36).
3.3 The effect of sexual restrictiveness
After dividing the sample according to the median number of sexual partners, signicant
positive relationships between vocal attractiveness and masculinity–femininity were found
in both restricted (Spearman’s t = 0.724; N = 30; p < 0.001) and unrestricted (Spearman’s
t = 0.603; N = 30; p < 0.001) homosexual male raters. There was also a trend (α = 0.0125)
in restricted (Spearman’s t = 0.404; N = 30; p = 0.027), and a signicant relationship in
unrestricted, female raters (Spearman’s t = 0.542; N = 30; p < 0.002). There was no signicant
difference between correlation coefcients among any of the groups of raters (all p s > 0.07).
Preferences for facial and vocal masculinity in homosexual men 193
In facial ratings, unrestricted homosexual men tended (α = 0.0125) to prefer less masculine
faces (Spearman’s t = – 0.294; N = 61; p = 0.022), while there was a trend towards a positive
correlation in women, with unrestricted women tending to prefer more masculine faces
(Spearman’s t = 0.284; N = 61; p = 0.027). The relationship was not signicant in the other
groups of raters ( p > 0.112). Sexually unrestricted homosexual men preferred signicantly
more feminine male faces than unrestricted heterosexual women (Z = 3.2; p = 0.001).
3.4 Effect of self-rated masculinity in male raters
Correlations between vocal masculinity and attractiveness were positive and signicant in
both masculine and feminine homosexual men (Spearman’s t = 0.750; N = 30; p < 0.001;
Spearman’s t = 0.496; N = 30; p = 0.005, respectively), and these coefcients did not differ
signicantly. Furthermore, rated facial masculinity was negatively associated with attractiveness
in homosexual raters who described themselves as masculine (Spearman’s t = – 0.364; N = 61;
p = 0.004), while this relationship remained non-signicant in feminine homosexual raters
(Spearman’s t = 0.067; N = 61; p = 0.608). Fisher’s r-to-z test revealed that this relationship
was signicantly different in feminine homosexual men than in masculine men (Z = 2.42;
p = 0.015).
3.5 Voice pitch as a predictor of rated vocal attractiveness and masculinity
To test for an effect of voice pitch of the rated individuals on rated attractiveness and masculinity,
we ran linear regressions with voice pitch of the target individuals entered as independent
variable, and rated attractiveness and masculinity as separate dependent variables. Because
voice pitch was positively correlated with age, age of the target participants also entered as
another independent variable. Rated vocal attractiveness was signicantly predicted by voice
pitch in both male and female ratings (men: t = 2.623; b = 0.476; p = 0.014; women: t = 3.990;
b = 0.649; p < 0.001). Similarly, rated vocal masculinity was signicantly predicted by voice
pitch in both male and female ratings (t = 3.955; b = 0.650; p < 0.001; t = 5.078; b = 0.746;
p < 0.001).
3.6 Additional analyses
We also tested the relationship between ratings of attractiveness and masculinity between the
two studied modalities (ie vocal and visual). We found no signicant correlation between
facial and vocal stimuli either in ratings of attractiveness or masculinity, in either group of
raters (all p s > 0.3).
Finally, to test whether other-rated attractiveness from facial and vocal stimuli predicts
self-rated attractiveness of the targets, we ran a linear regression with self-rated attractiveness
as the dependent variable and facial and vocal attractiveness (as rated by both groups of
raters) entered as independent variables. This model explained 27% of the variance, and we
found that self-rated attractiveness was signicantly predicted only by facial attractiveness
as rated by homosexual male raters (t = 2.130; b = 0.597; p = 0.043).
4 Discussion
In this study, we aimed to test whether vocal and facial preferences of androphilic men
and women are linked to male sex-typicality in targets. As predicted, we found that
both homosexual men and heterosexual women prefer male voices which are perceived
masculine, and which are low in pitch. In contrast, there was no general preference for
masculinity in facial stimuli. Next, we investigated the possible inuences of relationship
status, sexual restrictiveness, and self-perceived masculinity on preference for masculinity.
We found a signicant effect of relationship status on preferences for masculinity in voices
which, however, showed opposite patterns in homosexual male and heterosexual female
raters. In facial ratings, we also found this opposing direction in preference among sexually
194 J Valentová, S C Roberts, J Havlíček
unrestricted women and men. Finally, the results suggest that homosexual men describing
themselves as relatively masculine prefer masculine male voices but more feminine male faces.
Our results, in general, indicate that androphilic individuals, irrespective of their sex,
prefer sex-typical male voices over high-pitched, feminine voices. This result is in agreement
with previous studies reporting similar preferences in English-speaking female raters (Collins
2000; Feinberg et al 2005a, 2005b; Riding et al 2006), and suggests that this preference is not
specic to a particular language, sex or sexual orientation.
Nevertheless, this preference is modulated by the raters’ relationship status. It is suggested
that masculinity in men provides a cue to underlying genetic quality, and is thus preferred
by women. However, the faces of masculine men are associated with perceived traits that
indicate lower investment in potential offspring, and masculinity might be thus relatively
preferred by women who already have a long-term relationship with a man willing to invest
in their offspring. However, it should be noted that the evidence supporting this assumption is
mixed (eg Gangestad and Simpson 2000; Pawlowski and Zelazniewicz 2012). Furthermore,
this effect could also be due to an exposure effect, as coupled women are exposed on a daily
basis to their male partner, which might shift their preference towards more masculine faces
(eg Saxton et al 2009c).
In contrast, we found an opposite pattern in homosexual male raters: single homosexual
men preferred more masculine male voices and faces than coupled men, which would be
inconsistent with an exposure effect. Previous research has shown general preferences
in homosexual men for potential sexual partners who describe themselves as relatively
masculine (Bailey et al 1997) and also preferences for masculinised over feminised male
faces (Glassenberg et al 2010). However, none of the previous studies tested possible effects
of relationship status on these preferences, and we show that these preferences might be more
pronounced in single homosexual men.
Furthermore, we also found an effect of self-perceived masculinity on facial and vocal
preferences, showing that homosexual men who describe themselves as relatively masculine
prefer more masculine male voices, but also more feminine male faces. To our knowledge,
only one other study has investigated this, in personal advertisements, where more masculine
homosexual men preferred men describing themselves as masculine (Bailey et al 1997). Here
we show that self-perceived masculinity also inuences preferences of homosexual men, but
rather than seeking either sex-typical or atypical traits in their potential partners, it seems they
prefer a mosaic of masculine and feminine traits. This is consistent with our result showing
that there was no correlation between judged attractiveness across the two modalities. Several
previous studies have claimed that different cues in one individual signal the same underlying
quality, particularly in men (eg Feinberg et al 2008; Roberts et al 2011; Saxton et al 2006,
2009a). However, in our study, facial attractiveness was not associated with vocal attractiveness,
and facial masculinity did not correlate with vocal masculinity. Thus, our targets were rated
differently in the two modalities by both groups of raters. This nding is consistent with Collins
(2000), who found no correlations between male voice pitch and either measured or estimated
bodily characteristics. In her study, voices with low frequency were rated as attractive, and their
owners as heavier, older, and more likely to be hairy-chested. Nevertheless, these estimations
did not relate to the measured or self-reported qualities of the rated individuals. Thus, facial and
vocal masculinity–femininity in men might be associated with different qualities—while vocal
masculinity might cue to positively valued social dominance or maturity (Wells et al 2009),
masculine faces might be rather associated with aggressiveness or impulsivity (Perrett et al 1998).
It is also worth noting that our results show that, with increasing age, male faces were
rated as more masculine but not as more attractive, which is in agreement with a previous
study (Boothroyd et al 2005). Consequently, masculine physiognomy in faces (and not low
voice pitch) might evoke perceptions of higher age or dominance, rather than attractiveness.
Preferences for facial and vocal masculinity in homosexual men 195
The current study has also several limitations. For example, although raters were asked
about their relationship status, other details such as their relationship length, general and sexual
satisfaction within the relationship, and extra-pair sexual activities might have explained
additional variation in raters’ responses.
In summary, our results show that conditional mate preferences are not restricted to hetero-
sexual interactions. Circumstances such as relationship status or self-perceived masculinity
inuence preferences for male sex-typical traits in both females and homosexual males.
Acknowledgments. We would like to thank to all participants of this study and in particular to the gay
community in Prague who helped us with participants’ recruitment. We also wish to thank our colleagues
and friends, particularly to Martin SVU Cech, for their help with data collection. JV was supported
by the Czech Science Foundation (GACR 13-16959P), JH was supported by the Czech Science
Foundation grant (P407/10/1303) and both JV and JH were supported by Charles University Research
Center (UNCE 204004).
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