Is Gaydar Real?

Its funny cuz at pride toronto this past summer there was a booth where some university students were collecting data on our 'gayday'. Basically we were put in front of a computer and shown a series of pictres of men and we had to decide (from those pictures) whether we thought the person was gay or straight. I remember picking out a lot of gays! (lol)
I think my 'gaydar' score was something like 67% accurate so I guess according to what elens study says I have a slightly above avg gaydar (gaydar as 60% accurate?), lol.

 

Yes, but it has uncertainty. Mine has a lot of it, and it's poorly calibrated. My straight friends have much better gaydar than I do.

 

I do think gaydar is real , but I don't go off stereotypes I use body language and eye contact. If a guy gives me the "up and down" look that's a hint. lol I would not say it's 100% more like 75% unless they are closeted or just trying to be nice. It's a funny clip!! Thanks for sharing =)

 

Well, I go to a university which has one of the top fashion programs in the US, not to mention it has a fairly large College of the Arts (Music, dance, theatre, musical theatre, fashion, art, etc) so I can usually spot 'em really easily here haha

 

I find gaydar fascinating. My gaydar isn't very good, except when I see really stereotypical lesbians/gays/....

With me it's a bit weird.

I'm like a real girly girl, I love make up, dresses, perfume, jewelry, nailpolish and all that jazz, I have a lot of female friends and some guy friends, and when I came out to them they weren't even surprised.

They were like "OMG I KNEW IT! HA!"

How in the world did they find out without relying on stereotypes? I actually gotta give them some credit for that

 

Mine is pretty good. When I tell my friends I think somebody is gay, they're like 'no way!' and it usually turns out that I'm correct. I also use the eye contact technique, works perfectly (almost).

On the flip side, I've had situations in which people told me that they're gay and I've been like, are you being serious? I'd never have guessed!

 

"This video is private"

 

how do you guys mean you can tell by using eye contact and if someone's looking you up and down?

i am unsure if mine's any good - i think i tend to think that people i like, if they're guys, aren't straight - cause of course that's how i want it to be.

 

Same, my gaydar is terrible. I wouldn't be able to stand in a room full of people and tell you which one(s) were gay and which were straight if my life depended on it. One of my straight friends is much better at accurately predicting who's gay/who's not before they come out. It'd be nice to trade that quality with her XD

 

Yeah I think it's real. Not gunna lie I have quite good gaydar... >.>

I've thought 5 blokes were gay and in the closet since really caring about the subject (since I was 16 basically). 4 have come fully out as either gay or bisexual, and the 5th recently came to me saying he thinks he's gay...

Girls I'm more iffy about, but it's not as relevant to me. I've thought 3 girls might be bi/lesbian, and one came out as lesbian a year ago. So again, not bad, right?

 

I once watched a video about LGTB rights with a gay man, and didn't realize he was gay until about the fifth time he commented on a guy's appearance.

I suspect accurate gaydar typically depends on noticing subtle signs of sexual attraction. Since I find sexual attraction hard to spot (for example, failing to notice a pair of heterosexual friends were involved with each other until they announced their marriage, when everyone else found it obvious) it stands to reason I'd have sucky gaydar.

I'm a lot better at spotting mild autism.

 

I think it's real, but mine is nearly nonexistent!

One of my best friends' sister has ridiculously accurate gaydar. She's also crazy good looking. So my guess is that she can tell by how people act around her because of her attractiveness (if they swoon or not).

 

If it does exist I don't have it!

 

The up/down look is like the once over look, check out what your wearing, your body, your look in general.

Eye contact I recently found out is a way of communicating with gay men. If they hold your eye contact for longer then normal it could be a sign.

However these are both unreliable in my opinion. I know heterosexual men eat are very fashionable and will look at what someone else is wearing, and some people just like to stare.

 

yes it is real, but also can be quiet flawed. My brother is straight, im gay. But people think my brother is gay and I'm straight (sucks when girls hit on me and guys hit on my brother!). The Science of ?Gaydar? - NYTimes.com

 

Same thing with me... lol.. they were all saying that they knew it already.

 

I'm not a girly girl or a tomboy, but everyone said they had a feeling... My family and friends are socerers.... I don't think I have good gaydar because I don't know any LGBT people as far as I know besides my gal pal whose bi. Or maybe I just have terrible gaydar... lol

 

cheers!
i think i do this a lot, both the eye contact and the general staring. maybe that's how people can tell... i've recently started minding myself and now i don't do this as much, so i guess others might be thinking the same thing and also stopping themselves, and like you say some people will stare even if they're straight, oh this is all so hard eh...

 

Yep it's real. And I don't have it. lol. A friend of mine does, but I think that gift was given to him due to his line of work... It's not as obvious as it used to be ya know? The straight guys dress in tight pants and the masculine gay ones don't.. so not I'm all upside down lol.