Unlike women, if a man is sexually attracted to another man, he'd never say it, a study has found.
Most of us are comfortable with the truth that we are heterosexual. Turns out, that may not be the case.
A team of researchers from Cornell University aimed to find out how people identified their sexuality.
As part of the study, a group of volunteers including men and women were asked to watch a series of porn videos. The team wanted to test what turned them on and what didn’t.
The detailed research aimed to explore if society influences the way people viewed their sexuality.
It warned that most humans struggled with the idea of bisexuality, especially when it comes to men.
As part of the research, both male and female volunteers were asked to watch porn involving men or women.
A team of experts measured how much their pupils dilated to find out how sexually aroused they were while watching the said videos.
It was observed that women's eyes dilated watching videos featuring both men with women and women with women.
Similarly men's pupils dilated when watching both men and women masturbate, regardless of how they identified sexually.
Lead author of the survey Rich Savin-Williams suggested that "sexuality exists on a spectrum and that younger generations are more open to the idea of fluid sexuality than older adults."
Dr Savin-Williams warned that "cultural expectations of sexuality need to change in order for people to be more comfortable with who they are attracted to."
“We’ve always recognised mostly straight women, that is, women who mostly are straight but if the right woman comes along, well maybe she’ll try it out. We used to think that was only a female phenomenon,” Dr Savin-Williams told Broadly.
“Men have gotten so much cultural c**p put on them that even if a man does have some sexual attraction to guys, they would never say it.”
A study published in December in The Sun stated that: 'You are born gay or straight, sexuality is written in a man's DNA'
Previous research has suggested that women’s sexuality can change throughout their life.
Psychologist Dr Lisa Diamond of the University of Utah said it was not always the case that "once a lesbian, always a lesbian."
She added: "Historically, sexual orientation models assumed only two categories, exclusively homosexual and exclusively heterosexual.
“Men have gotten so much cultural c**p put on them that even if a man does have some sexual attraction to guys, they would never say it.”
Multiple surveys pointed that people mostly identified themselves as “mostly-but-not completely heterosexual” than exclusively heterosexual.
Interestingly, the smallest group happens to be those exclusively attracted to the same sex.
Lead image -- a still from Room in Rome -- used for representational purposes only.
