The literature examining racial preferences in attraction among sexual minority men in Western contexts illuminates a stable racial hierarchy of desire. Within this hierarchy, White men are generally highly favored, and racially minoritized men are systematically stratified below them in terms of sexual appeal. The present research employed latent class analysis to empirically model gay White men's racial preferences in attraction, allowing us to both quantify the proportion of individuals whose preferences align with this established hierarchy of desire, while also identifying additional, meaningful alternative patterns of racial preference shared among gay White men. We further assessed the role that preferences for masculinity and femininity may play in shaping these different patterns of racial preference. Data pertaining to the racial preferences of 544 gay White Australian men recruited via Grindr (a popular geosocial networking app) were analyzed. Participants reported whether or not they were attracted to men from various racial groups, as well as the degree to which they were attracted to masculine and feminine men (among other demographic predictors). A latent class analysis revealed four classes of racial preference, across which White men were consistently highly desired, but preferences for racially minoritized men varied - [1] inclusive, [2] conventional-hierarchical, [3] unconventional-hierarchical, and [4] White-exclusive. We found that preferences for masculinity and femininity predicted class membership to the two classes, in particular. These findings support the idea that racial hierarchies in sexual preferences may - to some extent - reflect gendered, stereotyped expectations.
