‘Gay glass ceiling’: why more feminine men get passed over for leadership roles

In a University of Sydney study actors performed the same job application script in masculine and feminine styles. Composite: University of Sydney

Gay and heterosexual men prefer masculine-presenting men in leadership positions over those deemed more feminine, according to a University of Sydney study, suggesting that gay men themselves are “complicit” in penalising “feminine-presenting members of their own community”.

Ben Gerrard, the study’s lead author, told Guardian Australia: “In society there is a strong association between gayness and femininity and many gay men grow up with an unconscious idea that gayness is bad, so they may consciously or unconsciously suppress feminine traits.”