Comparison on Heterosexual and Homosexual Woman’s Lonely Heart Ads in T aiwan: Taking A ll T ogether and Lesbian Board on PTT Web Forum as Examples (2023)

Abstract: This study aims to compare the lonely heart ads of heterosexual and homosexual women in Taiwan. The data was collected from the AllTogether (heterosexual) and Lesbian (homosexual) boards on the PTT web forum. Word frequency analysis and topic modeling were used to analyze the data. It was found that lesbians tend to state more on emotional and spiritual connection, using words that describe personality traits and changes in emotions. Heterosexual women, on the other hand, showed more concern about practical matters such as religion, occupation, and habits, possibly with the goal of building a family relationship through marriage and starting a family.

## introduction dating and mating are important research areas in many disciplines, including sociology and gender studies. numerous studies discuss heterosexual mating preferences from various perspectives, comparing the differences between heterosexual men and women. in recent years, there have also been more and more research focus on homosexual partner choice. among these studies, we can also see some studies comparing mating preferences between different sexual orientations, although the number is limited, it is not a completely unexplored area, particularly in the west. for example, @xcite showed that social tolerance and legal recognition of same-sex marriage are positively correlated with higher intentions of long-term dating and a stronger belief in monogamy. however, when we focus on taiwan, the first country in asia to legalize same-sex marriage, there are very few such studies. @xcite note that previous research on partnership formation and choice in taiwan has mainly focused on the description of heterosexual relationships, and has been mostly interpreted through biological evolutionism, social learning theory, and social ex-change theory to explain the concept of "marry within one's social class"(門當戶對) as well as marriage gradient. so far, there are less than ten papers in taiwan that focus on homosexual mating preference, and there is almost no literature that compares the differences in partner choice among different sexual orientations. therefore, in an aim to bridge this research gap i will compare more than 2,000 lonely heart ads of heterosexual and homosexual women published in alltogether and lesbian discussion boards of the ptt web forum from 2021 to 2022 and will reflect on the original heterosexual-based mating preference research and gender assumptions in taiwan and how it compares to similar homosexual data, specifically lesbians. ## background taiwan has been a trailblazer for lgbtq+ rights in asia, legalizing same-sex marriage in 2019. many researchers attribute the relatively positive attitude towards the lgbtq+ community in taiwan to how queer theory was one of the key theories flourishing in taiwan's academic and cultural spheres in the 1990s and helped transform the public discourse on sexuality and gender in media and popular culture early on @xcite . however, just 15 years ago, it was still difficult to recruit lgbtq+ participants for studies due to fear of stigmatization even in taiwan @xcite . more recent studies discuss the lesbian communities in taiwan more intimately by examining the outward expression of masculine inclinations, specifically zhongxinggender neutrality in appearance -, and its relation to normative constraints and queer agency @xcite . in taiwanese lesbian culture, labels such as t, p, or versatile are frequently used. t stands for "tomboy," typically referring to individuals who exhibit relatively masculine traits in personality and appearance (e.g., very short hair). p comes from the 1 278 chinese word "老婆(lǎopó)", which means wife or female spouse, signifying a more feminine quality compared to t. versatile, in chinese word "不分", refers to a state between t and p. hu (2018)'s research highlighted how these labels dominate the realms of self-identity and community interaction among taiwanese lesbians. with the influence of western queer theory and deconstructionism entering taiwan in the 1990s, these labels have also been influenced in terms of their usage and definitions. traditionally, t and p are often seen as a pair of lesbian roles, but various combinations, such as t-t, p-p, and diverse self-labeling (e.g., "masculine p", "long-haired t", and "versatile-p"), have become common expressions in the community. there are several papers that focus on comparing women of different sexualities' choice of partners (see e.g. @xcite @xcite . @xcite analyzed personal advertisements with an evolutionary interpretation and found that heterosexual women had a tendency of resource-seeking and offered more physical attractiveness. a study by @xcite also showed that heterosexual women emphasize the characteristics of good provision of resources and emotional investment in long-term relationship. also, they point out that homosexual women's partner selection pattern resembles to both heterosexual man and woman. but willis (2014) stated that lesbians have higher expectations for their female mates than straight men have for theirs, and women are preferred over men for emotional and social needs regardless of sexuality. @xcite interviewed 33 homosexual couples in taiwan in order to find their mate choosing preference, found that except for their homosexual identity and shared socialization experiences, their preferences are almost identical to those of heterosexual counterparts. li and lu (2020)'s analysis focused on the desiring self and desiring others texts of taiwanese lesbians and gay men on dating websites. he pointed out that even in same-sex relationships, there continues to be an expectation of pairs of masculine/feminine and active/passive roles. this implies that homosexual communities still have mate expectations influenced by traditional gender roles associated with norms in heterosexual relationships. however, overall, there is relatively limited research both domestically and internationally that specifically explores and compares the dating preferences and differences among women with different sexual orientations and the underlying reasons for these preferences. ## results the calculation of word frequency shows that there are indeed many differences in word usage between lesbian and heterosexual females. the more used words of lesbian woman can be divided into several categories including but not limited to the following: for heterosexual women, their more used words can be divided into several categories including but not limited to the following: ## conclusion and discussion according to the result of counting word frequency, we find that lesbians are more concerned with spiritual, emotional, and inner communication and connection. they have more adjectives that explicitly describe their (or their ideal partner's) personalities, as well as verbs and nouns that describe change of heart states. they have more spiritual interaction requirements for their potential partners. lesbians use many verbs that describe abstract nouns to illustrate the stages and progress of the relationship. in contrast, heterosexual women care about more practical issues, they reveal themselves or ask potential partners for more details about their place of residence, occupation, religion, and so on. there is also more information and requirements about having a specific habit or not, for example, drinking and smoking. also, marriage and giving birth are also more used words by heterosexual women, all of these imply that heterosexual women's lonely heart ads are not only about finding a partner for love but also about building a family relationship based on a permanent life together. however, they use many adjectives that do not have a clear statement of the object, such as well, good and bad, to state something about themselves or their counterparts, as compared to homosexual women's use of adjectives. in addition, there are differences in the vocabulary related to physical appearance in the texts of the two sexual orientations. terms like hair, long hair, and short hair are frequently mentioned in lesbian texts. li and lu (2020)'s research also identified this phenomenon, noting that the term "long hair" often appeared positively in the narratives on taiwanese lesbian dating webstes between 2013 and 2015. it was frequently mentioned alongside other feminine attributes and was highly favored. this suggests that long hair and the femininity it symbolizes were preferred qualities. seven years later, the data on ptt forum still found that hair length remained an important label used by lesbians for dating and self-introduction. hair length and the gender qualities it represents continue to be significant factors in lesbian dating preferences. on the other hand, terms like "fat" or "thin" are frequent in vocabulary related to appearance in heterosexual women's texts. this indicates that body shape and its association with attractiveness may be more important in heterosexual relationships. the findings on heterosexual women seem to be consistent with past findings that women are more concerned with resource exchange in relationships. however, the comparison with lesbians allows us to question the way in which this result has been interpreted in terms of biological evolutionary theory in the past. if this condition is particularly pronounced for heterosexual women only, is it a consequence of the social construction of heterosexual romantic relationships? lastly, the main limitation of this study are the sampling of data and the limitations of textual analysis itself. for the former, although ptt is the largest online forum in taiwan, there are still many other dating apps and physical dating events. the people gathered on ptt must have a certain degree of bias compared to the population as a whole, rather than a random sampling. as an online community, ptt is likely to have its tendency of age group, political stance, and so on. in addition, as a single ad contains both self-introduction and requirements for potential mates, we can only make a tentative distinction in the analysis process by inference due to the lack of a fixed format for the postings. as for the latter, textual analysis's limitation lies in the diversity of norms and expectations among different groups, influencing what individuals choose to disclose or withhold in their written texts. while lesbians in the study appeared to prioritize spiritual aspects over material considerations compared to heterosexual women, it does not imply lower material preferences for lesbians or vice versa. these differences may stem from different communication cultures, etc. it's crucial not to equate textual expressions with actual mate selection criteria. to obtain a more comprehensive understanding, future research should integrate textual analysis with fieldwork and interviews, enabling a nuanced exploration of partner preferences within cultural and social contexts.