Are gay people attracted to smells and looks similarly to straight people? Taste differences?

I'm wondering what science says about homosexuality and attraction. For example to smell and appearance in the biological sexes. Although what people finds attractive is subjective, there are scientific hypothesis about some tendencies. For example that it's common for straight men to like feminine and young looking women with breasts, and for straight women to like tall, muscular and masculine men.

1) Do gay men and straight women tends to like the same things (Looks, smell)?

2) Do lesbians and straight men tends to like the same things (Looks, smell)?

3) What about the bisexuals?

4) Do lesbians and gay men pick a partner that smells fertile in the same way straight people do - when they can't reproduce with the same sex? I heard that straight men are attracted to fertile women, and that her cycle may affect her smell and his attraction to her. I also heard that women often pick men based on his smell because a man who smells good is genetically a good match for her or have a good immune system which means increasing the likelihood for healthy babies.

5) Do the culture and biology affect what lesbians and gay people finds attractive? How? Do science say anything about what is most likely nature and nurture?
> E.g. I have seen more young open lesbian couples where the women have short hair or are more masculine leaning than young open straight couples. Coincidence? False stereotype? Culture? Biology? Something else?

What do science say? What is your hypothesis?

 

I have seen lots of stereotypes about gay men having a tendency to be more feminine than straight men and lesbians being more masculine than straight women. I'm not sure how true or false these stereotypes are and if there are done any studies about it. There's not as many TV-shows about gay dating as straight dating in my country. I would like to hear. I'm curious. As the person who asked this question I can only talk about what I likes because I have no clue what is common as a "baby gay".

Appearance:
I often likes women who looks slim, pretty and feminine. There are traits all my crushes had in common.

• Long hair. Shoulder length to mid back.
• A slim and femininely shaped body.
• Smaller and feminine hands and feets.
• Some feminine facial features. May for example be small nose, big eyes, cupid bow lips, less brow ridge.
• Feminine clothing style: The colors match and the outfit fits the person well. E.g. Kate Middleton and Meghan Markles casual style.
  

Examples of celebrity crush: Nathalie Emmanuel, Emma Watson, Adriana Lima, Keira Knightley and Lucy Liu.

Voice:
Voices I likes:

• Average high pitched female voice. E.g. Emma Watson's voice.
• Sounding feminine and young (or in my age group).

Smell:
Smells I likes:

• A fresh, light and sweet smell. Something that may remind me of flowers or candy.
• My favorite products are Versace's pink lady perfume "Bright crystal" and L'oreal Paris elvital color vive shampoo/conditioner.

I'm childfree and it's not like I'm consciously thinking about the monthly cycle either. I have no idea if I'm looking for the same as the average straight men do on a subconscious level or not. Now I'm on the birth control pill. My attraction for women was there before I started on the pill. My taste in women appearance wise hasn't changed. They are feminine looking both pre-pill and post-pill. I have no idea about the smell changes, but I perceive the smell of women I was attracted to pre-pill and post-pill similar. They all have a similar sweet and mild smell.

I'M FULLY AWARE that people from all categories are different. I'm just curious if there are some pattern or tendency that are common. I have binge watched a lot of dating TV-shows and they talked about smell, appearance, chemistry and attraction in straight couples.

 

The reason I use birth control pills is to reduce the bleeding. I have talked a lot with my doctor who knows that I'm a biromantic homosexual and she said it's safe for me to use the pill. I quickly quit the pill types that had side effects and only uses that one that works for me. Different one works for different people. For some people being on the pill is safe and good. For other people it may be side effects. It's no one size fits all. I much rather being on the pill having less period bloods, having more stable emotions, be pain free and feel normal than having a painful blood bath and being suicidal half of the time. Before I started the pill I didn't want to live and had symptoms resembling gender dysphoria. After I started the pill I'm happy and now feel like a healthy cis woman.

I'm not sure if my change in partner preferences has changed when it comes to smell. To me the pre-pill and post-pill female crushes I had smelled similar. They all had the sweet, fresh and mild smell. I'm not sure if the pill makes different type of women get the smell that I liked pre-pill. Anyway, I haven't noticed any differences. Appearance wise my type in women are the same pre-pill and post-pill. My type are the feminine and long haired women. Both of us likes feminine women. I likes feminine women with a feminine style. I described my type in the comments above ^

In my opinion men and women smells different to me because of hormonal differences, not only products. A man wearing female advertised products may still smell testosterone and a woman wearing male advertised products may still smell estrogen. I likes female advertised products better than male advertised ones and I like the biological female smell better than the male one. To me estrogen in a young healthy woman smell sweet, fresh and mild - in a pleasant and calming way. Testosteron have a more sour, bitter and sharp smell. It's more dominant and I may smell it from several meters distance. It's always noticeable. It's strong. Testosterone smell is like "hey, look here! I am here!"

So far I haven't got any studies or scientific answers. I plan being patient and wait. Hopefully there is someone on this forum knowing the answer to my question. But there is a possibility I doesn't get any answer or that there isn't done enough studies on the subject. I'm going to wait and see.

 

It always surprises me how my friends and family members doesn't notice how different men and women smells unless they are extremely close to them. To me men and women are like day and night. They looks different and smell different. It's not unusual that I can smell a man from 1-5 meters distance and smell that he is a man. I'm not a dog, so I may not be good at identifying people. I just notice common differences between the sexes, age groups and ethnicity (because of different food cuisines).

There are some different male smells I have noticed and that in my opinion exist:
The macho man > It's an extremely strong, dominating and sharp smell. Many describes it as musky and woodsy. I think there are some sourness and bitterness to it. The smell can fill an average living room and last for an hour or more after he left it. I'm more sensitive to smell like how children are more sensitive to vegetable taste like broccoli and spinach. It's a smell that often tall, muscular and masculine looking men have. They tends to have more body hair, a masculine hair line or male pattern hair growth, big pores and rougher facial features. The macho man smell is a smell that many heterosexual women likes. People often associated it with fertility, strength and being able to provide for the family historically.

The office man > It's a similar smell to the macho man, but less strong and maybe less masculine. It can be smelled ca. 3 meters afar. The men with this kind of smell often looks average to masculine looking, but often still less masculine looking than the macho man.

The modern man > It's a milder and less noticeable smell that more easily blend in with the environment. It still smell "man" and testosterone. Many people may associate this one with perfumes, cologne and deodorants because it may be perceived as a bit fresher and more modern, but some people do naturally smell milder, a little bit sweeter and less super masculine. Men with this kind of smell often looks averagely masculine.

The unusual sweet > This smell I have only smelled in one man in my lifetime so far and is extremely rare. I have been to London, New York, Beijing, Paris, Rome and many other big cities. I have only experienced one case. It's a soft, feminine and sweet smell. I have no idea if the people with this smell often have an appearance type. The person who had this smell happened to look feminine when he had this smell. Later in life the same person looked more masculine and got the modern man smell when he hit his mid 20s.

Men and women will from my experience smell different regardless of products used, diets and hygiene habits because men have more testosterone and women have more estrogen in their bodies. When the estrogen level decreases and the testosterone level increases in a woman, that often happen in old women, their smell may be masculinized. That's the reason I think that old men and women have less differences than young men and women have. Women with PCOS may often smell more masculine too, in my opinion. There's not much scientific studies done on people's perception of smell. There is theories about women and men being attracted to the opposite sex's smell in heterosexual couples, and the existence of old people smell "2-nonenal".

 

Thanks : ) What do men and women smell to you? Sweet? Salt? Sour? Bitter? Floral? Woody? Something else? Now I'm curious.