Guess What? Most Homophobes Are Actually a Lil' Bit Gay, According to Latest Study

Earlier this year, a small group of self-identified homophobic men were given the chance of a lifetime. They were presented with the rare opportunity to prove — despite the pervasive theory that homophobia is an expression of repressed homosexuality — that they themselves are actually straight.

And they failed! Lol.

Such are the results of a study recently published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, titled "Homophobia: An Impulsive Attraction to the Same Sex?"

Researchers at the University of Geneva tested 38 heterosexual male subjects by having them first rate their levels of "homonegativity" to determine how antigay each of them were. Then the men participated in a sneaky little series of photo experiments designed "to evaluate their impulsive approach tendencies toward homosexual stimuli." 

The first experiment involved showing the (again: straight male) subjects a series of images of straight or gay couples in the center of a computer screen, and then repeatedly moving a small human figure toward or away from the central image several times. The second test required the men to rate images of gay or straight couples while equipment monitored how long their gaze lingered on each picture.

Altogether, the tests revealed that "men with a high homonegativity score looked significantly longer at homosexual than at heterosexual photographs," while the non-homophobic men skipped by them more casually, at a "neutral" pace.

"For some homophobic men, there is a conflict between their reflective and their impulsive system," lead researcher Boris Cheval said in an email. "They declare themselves as anti-gay, but [at] the same time they have an impulsive attraction toward same sex stimuli."

"They declare themselves as anti-gay, but [at] the same time they have an impulsive attraction toward same -sex stimuli."

Cheval previously told PsyPost that these results alone don't exactly prove the men's homophobic views are because of their own repressed homosexual desires. But he did point to a hidden gem of a study from 1996 for further reading.

In the 1996 study, researchers exposed 35 self-identified homophobes and 29 non-homophobes to gay, straight and lesbian porn. The men's dicks were then literally monitored throughout the viewing process for each, which is just savage and amazing.

"Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile erection to male homosexual stimuli," that study concluded. "Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies."

Honestly, these studies explain a lot of recent headlines. For example: this report from April which found that gay porn is disproportionately popular in states that pass antigay legislation. Also: the fact that Craigslist was replete with NSFW gay sex hookup ads during this year's Republican National Convention.

Hmmm. It kind of sounds like a lot of homophobes are secretly a lil' bit gay.