Gender roles in the relationships of lesbians and gay men

Recent research on gay male and lesbian couples suggests that traditional gender-role-playing sometimes occurs in their relationships, though it is less common than in the relationships of heterosexuals. This paper briefly explores three issues raised by these findings. First, we consider reasons why partners of the same gender might engage in gender-role-playing. Second we discuss the processes that might be involved in allocating masculine and feminine roles to partners in a couple. Finally, we consider the finding that traditional gender roles are associated with diminished satisfaction and suggest possible reasons why this might be so.