ABSTRACT
Many lesbian women rightly complained that gay men often appeared reluctant to confront their own sexism, or critique the super-macho forms of gay masculinities that helped to reinforce sexist attitudes. From the feminist points of view, gay men and women are not positioned as natural allies, complicating media constructions of friendships between heterosexual women and gay men that suggest otherwise. The friendships show variation in how gay men and women identify with each other, how sexual and gender norms influence the development of these friendships and how these friendships are understood to be important. Equally, while sexuality and gender may form a solid basis for organizing friendship, other differences matter such as class, age, parental status and ethnicity. For some participants, female friends have demonstrated empathy and a desire to identify with the plight of gay men as organisational Others.
