Gaydar

Why did they limit the study to facial features? That's like limiting a general study on hearing to a single tone in a single environment with a single test subject. IMO "gaydar" is really just "queer community literacy". It works on content of speech, style of speech, physical mannerisms, personal choices (ie. restaurants) and knowledge of things only a queer person could know.

And, of course, it can be jammed.

 

Looking at them, there's some boys I can tell. They just... look gay. And I know some people might hate me for saying that, but I don't know... If you saw them, you'd know. Not their style or how they talk or anything, but they just look gay. Does that make sense?
As far as like, "OMG my gaydar is going off" I don't believe in that.

 

I would imagine the researchers specified that the study was about gaydar relating to facial features only, not general gaydar. They probably want to narrow the focus of studies on gaydar to see what features exactly people are picking up on when they guess someone's orientation. And journalists do tend to oversimplify research in just about any field.

Anywho, its possible that this works. Granted, it doesnt mean that you can tell for every person based on facial features, just on average across populations. Research seems to say there are slight differences in the way homosexual and heterosexual brains are wired, its possible that there are subtle differences in more physical structures as well.

 

This.

I go under the radar. But, some guys who are even a lot more built today are noticeably gay or probably gay. I was at the gym earlier today. There was a guy there that was dressed in almost a polo shirt, coifed hair, and a fresh tan. I can understand a tan, hey - get the girls. But going to the gym (where there are 8 guys to every 1 girl, sometimes no girls) was kinda a dead give away for me lol.

With all these facial and hymen etc. things - how do they account for bi guys? Lol. Only half of those elements? Do you only get those elements if your pure gay? Lol. Don't believe that. I think there might be a gay gene though - remember those xx and xy charts? That would explain heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality really easily.

 

I will say that I have occasionally pegged someone from a picture, etc., as being gay, and been right. That said, it's not a skill I can summon up at will, and I've been wrong before. When I first came out I couldn't tell about anyone at all.

I think, more than anything, that there is a kind of "gay aesthetic" (just as there are other kinds of behaviors common in the gay community) that people adopt over time, and the more you're around gay people, the more you learn to recognize it, even if only unconsciously. I'm willing to bet the study in question didn't include people who were closeted, either as people who were to be identified as gay, or who were identifying others as gay?

 

i use the term gaydar, but i think it's really more of a gambling situation: a person who thinks somebody is gay just from looking at them is willing to make that bet, so that person thinks they have good gaydar. i sometimes determine that a man is gay by observing body language or vocal quality, though i do it subconsciously and sometimes i'm wrong. it'd be way more convenient if i could do this with women, ha. however, i can't think of a single static physical feature that could trigger gaydar.

 

Lol, well, I thought this was weird, but I identified at least one person as gay (by his facial features, well, not only that, but it did a lot!) and last week he came out to me, so I was right...

 

hmmm i can't honestly say what triggers it but i have had thos moments where i would look at a person and know....its generally right but there are a few people who throw a gaydar out the window and make it so you have to know them to get any clue.

 

Yes, you can tell. It isn't something that I can quite pin-point, but there is something in the backbeat of many gay people's movement that sets off the alarms. Yeah, I know that some people just don't flame all that hard, under any circumstances. I do not deny the existence of non-flamers, and I am sure there are plenty of gay people out there who can go their whole lives without anyone guessing. However, there are some people that you can't identify anything overtly "gay" about, but there is no way they can pass themselves off as straight to someone who has sensitive gaydar, no matter what.

I mean, let's take Dan Radcliffe as an anti-example: even though he is (well, was) a smooth-skinned hottie, it doesn't take five minutes to dismiss any illusion that he might be a gay guy. Yeah, he is a sensitive, emo-looking guy, and he supports gay-related charities, but he clearly isn't a gay guy.

Here's another anti-example: it doesn't take a genius to figure out that, no matter how much Johnny Depp lays on the camp, he ain't gay. He loves camping it up, and he loves doing things to enrage homophobic idiots, but he is so far from being a gay guy that it's ridiculous. If you can hear that subtle backbeat in people's mannerisms, you can pick up on this.

On the other hand, Ricky Martin was always a gay guy, and it was pretty clear that he was a gay guy back in the 1990s. In a completely inoffensive and non-campy way, he flames, and he honestly can't help it. I kind of feel sad for him during that part of his life because he really seems like a nice, down-to-earth kind of guy.

No, I don't think that gaydar is fool-proof, and I don't think it applies to everybody. I am sure that plenty of straight people are going to set off a lot of people's gaydar, and I'm sure that plenty of gay guys go their whole lives thoroughly undetected. It nevertheless exists.

 

I took this "gaydar test" from an online dating sight that I'm not allowed to mention. Basically they just took random pictures of people from the site and you had to guess which one was gay and which one was not. I got 75% of the questions right the first time and 80% the second time. Not sure if that means anything or not...

 

I'd like to say gaydar is a myth, that it's just based on stereotypes, etc...BUT as far as I know, my gaydar has never been wrong (with friends/acquaintances, obviously I can't know about strangers), and the only person that has ever suspected to the point of asking if I'm lgbt is a close friend of mine who's lesbian.

So I believe it exists, but you can't know just from facial expressions or something like that. Sure that probably helps...but that can't be all of it. It's just a feeling I guess lol I have no idea how to explain it...

 

To add to what Christian said... I'm in the film industry and I overheard a conversation with the VP and executive that went like this:

VP: Yeah *big name actor* is gay.
EXEC: Really? No way.
VP: Everyone's actually known for years.

Reason it doesn't get out? It would hurt business. Kinda sucks that way too. I mean, there was one guy that the casting agents liked for Superman for 'The Man of Steel' but said "we unfortunately can't choose him since he's gay." Which really shows you how much progress still needs to be made. Hollywood itself is very open and liberal, a lot goes on behind the scenes as it has during any age in film history, we're just timid about the general public's response sadly. Note: due to possible confusion, different instance - and not pertaining to the actor that was named.

But, all I can say is the name is one of these: Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Channing Tatum, among other ultra-masculine action stars. But the name is one of those. It took me by MAJOR surprise. But, it just goes to show you...

Another major example, although bisexual (and similarly to me, a Kinsey 2 (maybe the more we lean towards girls the more 'invisible' we become on the radar?)) is James Dean who while filming 'Rebel Without A Cause' had both a fling with Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. The history on that film is it was originally supposed to be LGBT oriented.

Another BIG example of being undetectable... just read up on reports on the set of 'Alexander' about Collin Farrell. I'm guessing he's kind of the modern day Marlon Brando in those regards, fucks anything and everybody. I heard about the set rumors much later on, but it was the way he talked about bisexuality when I was 16 that helped me come to terms with it.

Basically there are some very flamboyant LGBT guys out there, really "normal" LGBT guys out there (no one can see me from a mile away), and ultra masculine-definition LGBT guys out there that no one would ever guess. Some guys are detectable, others? Invisibility.

 

The straight/gay tendencies which I exhibit depend more on the people I'm around or how I choose to act. I personally think there is a gay gene. It explains why I'm bi, my Dad's straight (obviously) and my uncle is gay.

Gaydar isn't a true 'radar', it is just basing decisions on stereotypes and typical 'gay traits'. I think one key thing to look for is if you know them well, is how they act in different situations.

 

I kind of think gay people have a type of gaydar, but i think that might be beacause were on the lookout for other gay people (that sounds kind of weird) so we kind of think he or she could be gay? more than straight people

 

i think i know who you're talking about, homie, and if that's the case then that makes sense.

 

maybe it's because I'm closeted myself (mostly), or maybe it's because it's harder to tell with girls than guys, but if there's such a thing as gaydar, mine must be broken...

 

but to add on to what i wrote though since i can't edit it.

i don't believe in gaydar but i guess someone can make an argument that it's real i guess. i have some instances of situations i've been in where i was closeted and i had other gay guys pretty much let me know that i was gay.


-back in early 2009 when i was walking home from college, some guy that had saw me walking down the street driving the opposite direction came back around the street. he told me that he liked my style and if i wanted to go home/on a date/have sex with him. i declined his advances.

-back in high school, i had a classmates who probably was deep in the closet himself that kept on making passes me at. he had a girlfriend that was also in the same class too. he would say homophobic things to me too in front of other people and then sexually harass me. one time he sexually harassed me in front of the whole gym class while we were playing volleyball by backing himself up into me in a sexually suggestive manner.

-back in college. i was cool with a fellow classmates who i'm going to guess was gay. he never said he was but i think he implied it. we were talking about girls along with one of my female classmates when we were coming from class and he made a pass at me. i brushed it off. however, after class ended, i ran into him a few times and he pretty much did the same thing hinting that him and me should hook up sometime even though not in those words. i brushed those off again.

-i think one of my professors in college knew that i was gay even though he didn't say it to my face but this is more so judging by how he acted around me. him and me didn't talk like that but i could tell by the way he acted, some of the things he did and etc that he knew my little secret. he just didn't say it to my face because he knew i was chilling in the closet and wasn't ready to come out. maybe he was interested in dating me but then again, that's just wishful thinking though. i did have a crush on him anyway. it's funny because i'm sure we both knew and i'm sure to this day if i were to ever run into him again and he remembered/recognized me, i'm pretty sure if we had a conversation about life, he will bring it up and ask me if i'm gay. i just know it. he seems like a guy like chip.

-there were several gay guys that have come into my job that i talked with or came in that as soon as they put two and two together, they pretty much figured it out and let me know that they knew what was up.

-last summer, there was a hottie on the train with his mom and he looked over at my homie and me sitting across from him. he looked at me dead in the face trying to make eye contact and i looked away. i could tell right then and there by how he was smiling and acting around his mom that he knew that i was gay.

i think it was very creepy because one i was trying to hide it to the best of my ability even though i was deeply conflicted. two, although i was nervous around gay people at the time because i thought that they might figure me out, i didn't think that such a thing existed. three, i knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before i was going to have to question and come out to myself or someone was going to do that for me. i figured that in all of those situations, it was more of a warning if anything. all of those people were pretty much tell me "you better come out to yourself and acknowledge that you're gay or one of us is going to pull you out the closet ourselves. it's okay to be gay". that's when i decided to be the one to do it for myself.

if anything, i think gaydar is sort of intrusive and at the same time, helpful because it makes people that are closeted eventually come out.

 

Jeez, my boyfriend and I are content to whisper, "ding-ding-ding," and giggle about it privately.

The most interesting thing to watch is when a gay couple deliberately keeps a certain distance from each other, walking in almost a combat pattern. Closeted gay guys do it all the time: one will walk down an aisle, and the other will look at the meats. I've seen them get pretty elaborate. And I'm thinking, "guys, you are not fooling anybody." Except perhaps the most dense, who want to be fooled anyway.

Anyway, I think that people ought to be respected if they want their privacy. Leave the speculation to just that: speculation.