Does women's sexual orientation predict preference for male thong attire or other revealing clothing?
Executive summary
There is no direct, peer-reviewed evidence in the provided sources that a woman’s sexual orientation reliably predicts whether she prefers men to wear thongs or other revealing clothing; popular articles and retailers argue that thong preference is about style and comfort rather than orientation [1] [2]. Research on sexual orientation shows complexity in attraction and behavior—women often show less sex-specific patterns of arousal and more fluid behavioral histories than men—which complicates any simple link between orientation and clothing preferences [3] [4] [5].
1. Why this question feels intuitive — and why intuition misleads
People assume sexual orientation will map neatly onto sexual preferences and partner-dress preferences because orientation describes who one is attracted to [5] [6]. But sexuality is multidimensional: attraction, behavior, identity and arousal do not always align. Studies show many women who identify as lesbian have had sex with men at some point (67–81% on some measures), and experimental work finds many women show nonspecific genital arousal to both sexes [4] [3]. That complexity makes any blanket claim — “lesbians dislike male thongs” or “straight women prefer them” — unsupported by the available research [4] [3].
2. What the lifestyle and retail reporting says: clothing as comfort and confidence
Industry and lifestyle pieces collected here frame thong and revealing-clothing preference as individual style, comfort, or erotic choice rather than a marker of the viewer’s sexual orientation. Retail and blog posts advise men that thongs remove panty lines, increase mobility, and can be worn by men of any orientation; they explicitly state thong choice is “about style, comfort, and preference — not sexual orientation” [1] [2]. These sources also present anecdotal and subjective reactions from partners and friends rather than systematic data [7] [8].
3. What academic work says about sex differences in attraction and arousal
Laboratory and survey research in the provided set finds a robust sex difference: men’s sexual arousal patterns tend to match their stated orientation more specifically, while many women show less-specific arousal to both sexes [3]. Longitudinal and multi-method work similarly shows that women’s sexual behavior and identities are more variable over time and across measures, complicating attempts to predict a woman’s partner-dress preferences from a static orientation label [3] [9].
4. Behavioral data undermines simple orientation-to-preference links
Population-level behavior surveys and contextual analyses show that self-identified sexual orientation does not perfectly predict past partners or behaviors: many women who identify as lesbians report sexual contact with men, and heterosexual-identified women sometimes report same-sex attraction or behavior [4] [9]. Because clothing preference around a partner mixes erotic taste, cultural expectations, personal comfort, and relationship dynamics, these mismatches in behavior and identity make prediction from orientation unreliable [4] [9].
5. Alternative explanations that matter for predicting preferences
The available sources suggest other factors are stronger candidates than sexual orientation for predicting whether a woman likes a man in revealing attire: personal erotic taste, cultural norms, perceived confidence/masculinity, relationship context, and exposure to fashion trends and influencers [1] [2]. Retail and lifestyle writers highlight confidence and novelty as attractive qualities; academic sources emphasize multidimensionality of sexual attitudes rather than single-label determinism [1] [3].
6. Limits of the current evidence and what’s missing
None of the provided sources report a controlled study directly measuring women’s sexual orientation and their specific preferences for male thong or revealing clothing. Retail blogs and opinion pieces are anecdotal [7] [1] [2]; academic work addresses arousal patterns and identity complexity but not clothing-specific partner preferences [3] [4]. Therefore: available sources do not mention any rigorous, direct evidence linking women’s sexual orientation to preference for men’s thong attire.
7. Practical takeaway for readers and researchers
Do not assume sexual orientation predicts partner-dress taste. If you want to know a specific person’s preference, ask them or observe consensual patterns in that relationship; broader claims are unsupported by the materials here [1] [3] [4]. Researchers seeking to answer this question need direct surveys or experiments that pair sexual-orientation measures with standardized assessments of clothing preference—an approach not found in the current reporting [3] [4].