Gaydar

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For the personal name, see Gaidar. For the website, see Gaydar (website).

Gaydar (a portmanteau of gay and radar) is the intuitive ability to determine whether another person is gay or bisexual.[1] [2] Whether anyone actually has such an ability is a debated question, especially in Western culture.

The idea of "gaydar" relies on indirect senses and intuitions rather than direct questions ("Are you gay?") or fact-finding (like researching the identity of previous romantic partners). It also relies on sensitivity to certain mannerisms: anything from flamboyant or overt rejection of traditional gender roles (including occupation, grooming habits, and so on) to more subtle clues, like one's style preferences or other personal tastes or habits.

1 Stereotype reinforcement
2 Gaydar in popular culture
3 Scientific research
4 Further reading
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External Links

[edit] Stereotype reinforcement

Some feel the idea of "gaydar" has a negative effect on the perception of sexual orientation because it reinforces social stereotypes about gay people. [3] [4] [5]

The idea of gaydar as an ability is also complicated by homomasculinity (gay men exhibiting masculine characteristics) and the rise of the metrosexual (straight men who emulate the LBGT culture).[6]

[edit] Gaydar in popular culture

The "Gaydar" given to Dwight on The Office.

The Futurama episode "Love's Labours Lost in Space" asserts that the character Bender has a functional Gaydar antenna.
A segment on The Daily Show shows a man from England named David Eliot who has created a Gaydar device to send vibrations to others carrying the same device. Another episode focusing on gay marriage in Massachusetts uses a fictional "gay detection device" or "gay radar" called a Homometer, that provides feedback by emitting louder gay mannerisms.
An episode of The Office entitled "Gay Witch Hunt" shows Jim telling Michael and Dwight that they sell a gaydar device at The Sharper Image. Jim later sends a modified metal detector to Dwight, who believes it to be a genuine gaydar device. He becomes concerned when his belt buckle sets it off, thinking it is indicating that he is gay.

[edit] Scientific research

A study by the Philadelphia's Monell Chemical Senses Center, published in the Journal of Psychological Science found that "gay men were found to be particularly good at detecting the scent of other gay men". ^[1] [7] [8]

William Lee Adams, an undergraduate at Harvard, replicated earlier work by his advisor, Dr. Nalini Ambady who is now at Tufts University. Ambady's original study published in 1999 showed that homosexuals are better at correctly identifying sexual orientation than heterosexuals from silent videos and photographs. Adams' research, started in 2004, focused exclusively on the face, the focal point of most social interaction.[9] Similar work by Rudolph Gaudio in 1994 showed that men's sexual orientation can be reliably identified from their voices (gay lisp). ^[2] This finding was elaborated by Ron Smyth and colleagues in 2003. [10]

[edit] Further reading

Gaydar by Donald F. Reuter (ISBN 0-609-61102-X)
The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey (ISBN 0-309-08418-0)
NPR Program on gaydar
Psychology Today: Queer Eyes: Blips on the Gaydar

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ Martins, Yolanda; Preti, George; Crabtree, Christina R.; Runyan, Tamar; A. Vainius, Aldona; Wysocki, Charles J. "Preference for Human Body Odors is Influenced by Gender and Sexual Orientation." Psychological Science 16 (2005): 694-701.
^ Gaudio, Rudolph (1994) “Sounding Gay: Pitch Properties in the Speech of Gay and Straight Men.” American Speech 69: 30-57.