Perceptions of gay men’s masculinity are associated with sexual self-label, voice quality and physique

Like all other men, gay men may utilise stereotypically masculine attributes and behaviours in an attempt to accrue ‘masculine capital’, a term referring to the social power afforded by the display of traits and behaviours associated with orthodox, ‘hegemonic’ masculinity. Previous research findings suggest that gay sexual self-labels – conveying position preferences in anal intercourse between men – voice quality and muscularity may contribute to gay men’s masculine capital. This study examined the relative contribution to gay men’s masculine capital made by sexual self-labels, voice quality (deep/high-pitched) and physique (muscularity/thinness). It also assessed the beliefs gay men and straight people hold regarding the gendered nature of gay sexual self-labels in anal intercourse. Results from a survey of 538 participants showed that gay and straight people perceived the anally insertive sexual self-label as the most masculine and the anally receptive self-label the least masculine. The findings also revealed that voice quality and physique were more strongly associated with perceptions of gay men’s masculinity than their sexual self-label, although gay men who had masculine attributes and were anally receptive were perceived as less masculine than those who had the same attributes and were anally insertive.