Science Of Gay Bestfriends: Experts Explain Why Women Have GBFs

Ever wonder why television shows like Will & Grace and Sex & the City have adorable GBF relationships? A new study explains the science behind attractive women having gay best friends.

Mail Online reported that researchers at the University of Texas in Arlington studied why attractive women opt to be with their gay best friends than straight men. They discovered that these women most likely find it difficult to trust the entirely opposite sex due to possible sexual exploitations and trigger highly competitive mating situations among other straight women.

In their two-part study, the researchers first photographed 68 women wearing tight clothes to be assessed by a panel in a scale of 1 to 10 in attractiveness. These photos were then assessed by a group of 103 people -- heterosexual men and women combined.

The male group were asked to rate, in a scale of 1 to 7, their probability on these possible mating reactions such as seducing the woman, persuading her to have sex, telling her what she wants to hear to make her have sex with him and convincing her that he is good for her.

The females, on the other hand, were asked to rate on the same scale how likely they feel threatened, compete for a partner; hide information about mating opportunities and steer the woman's attention away from the participant's potential mate.

The 68 women were then instructed to make each of their ideal friends circle by putting "friend dollars" to a certain group of people -- straight, gay males and females combined.

The researchers found out that those who were highly rated attractive placed more "friend dollars" to gay male friends.

According to Gay Star News, Eric Russel, the study's lead author, concluded: "This provides novel experimental evidence that there is more to the gay male-straight female friendship than just what we see on TV - certain social psychological processes are, indeed, driving these relationships in real life."