Gaydar is more accurate than you might think

From the press release about the Public Library of Science article, “The Roles of Featural and Configural Face Processing in Snap Judgments of Sexual Orientation.”

“After seeing faces for less than a blink of an eye, college students have accuracy greater than mere chance in judging others' sexual orientation. Their "gaydar" persisted even when they saw the photos upside-down, and gay versus straight judgments were more accurate for women's faces than for men's.

The findings, published May 16 in the open-access online journal PLoS ONE, suggest that we unconsciously make gay and straight distinctions.

"It may be similar to how we don't have to think about whether someone is a man or a woman or black or white," said lead author Joshua Tabak, a psychology graduate student at the University of Washington. "This information confronts us in everyday life."

Tabak says that our ability to spontaneously assess sexual orientation based on observation or instinct conflicts with the assertion that if people just kept their sexual orientation to themselves then no one else would know and discrimination wouldn't exist, an argument frequently used by opponents of anti-discrimination policies for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.” . . .

“It's unclear why some have better gaydar than others, since studies have only tested this aptitude in college students. Tabak speculates that "people from older generations or different cultures who may not have grown up knowing they were interacting with gay people" may be less accurate in making gay versus straight judgments. “

For this article.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0036671

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Usually this is called homophobia

observes James Taranto, on the "proof" provided by the Idaho Statesman on Larry Craig. I wonder what is the point? Can closet gays not be good Senators? I admit they probably don't make the best husbands, but that's between him and Mrs. Craig. To look at the roster the Democrats have put forward for president, a Senator's qualifications aren't all that important. They're deciding among the wife of a philanderer (he kept her busy trying to take over health care in the 90s), a lawyer with good hair who's made his fortune suing American businesses and now has a huge carbon footprint to show for it, and a guy who was writing essays about becoming the president while in kindergarten in Indonesia. Maybe it's time they took another look at Bill Richardson or Al Gore.

[Tom] Russell, 48, a Nampa native who lives in Utah, was among three men who contacted the Statesman about what they described as unusually attentive behavior on Craig's part. . . .

Russell worked as a food service manager at Bogus Basin ski resort and said his encounter probably occurred in the 1983-84 ski season, soon after Craig had married following the 1982 page scandal. Russell had taken a food class from Suzanne Craig [the senator's better half] and had heard the rumors that Craig was gay.

Russell, openly gay at the time, said he set out to engage Craig "and attempted to show a personal interest--not in a suggestive way--but a personal interest to see if he would respond."

"I recall that he was very delighted to talk to me--smiling, happy, very delighted--and that he had suggested that we could get together sometime," he said. "Why would he have a personal interest in meeting me elsewhere?"

Russell said he became convinced Craig was gay because he used subtle signals consistent with communication between gay men in public places.

"You've heard the term, 'gaydar'? OK, it's there. You know it. You know when somebody is raising an eyebrow at you because it's their gesture when they say 'hello' or when they are subtly trying to send you a message that they recognize you as being a gay person."

Nothing came of the meeting, Russell said. But he came forward now because he is offended by Craig's denials.

"I'm disgusted because it's hypocritical, and he's lying. He's lying through his teeth. Heterosexual men do not behave like that."