Gaydar

from 1950-1973.cite web
last=Adams
first=Mary Louise
title=The Trouble with Normal: Postwar Youth and the Making of Heterosexuality
publisher=University of Toronto Press
date=1997, ISBN 080208057X
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=piG4Uprd-RoC&dq=jonathan+ned+katz+fruit
accessdate=2007-11-15] cite web
last=Waugh
first=Thomas
title=The Fruit Machine: Twenty Years of Writings on Queer Cinema
publisher=Duke University Press
date=2000, page 7
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=F1X3Sx77OdoC&pg=PA27&dq=fruit+effeminate&sig=b8Nc-D2w_05wZLYo-S_tC9uLvgY#PPA7,M1
accessdate=2007-11-14] cite web
last=Waugh
first=Thomas
title=The Fruit Machine: Twenty Years of Writings on Queer Cinema
publisher=Duke University Press
date=2000, page x intro by John Greyson
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=F1X3Sx77OdoC&pg=PA27&dq=fruit+effeminate&sig=b8Nc-D2w_05wZLYo-S_tC9uLvgY#PPA7,M1
accessdate=2007-11-14] ] Gaydar (a portmanteau of "gay" and "radar") is the intuitive ability to assess another individual's sexuality as gay (homosexual), bi (bisexual), or straight (heterosexual). The function of "gaydar" relies on non-verbal sensory information and intuitions. These include the sensitivity to social behavior and mannerisms: for example, a sensitivity to flamboyant or overt rejection of traditional gender roles (including occupation and grooming habits).

The idea of gaydar is complicated by gay men not acting in a stereotypical fashion and also by metrosexual men who have a heightened aesthetic sense, regardless of sexuality and exhibit a lifestyle, spending habits and concern for personal appearance traditionally likened to those stereotypes of a fashionable, urban, gay man.cite web
last=McFedries
first=Paul
title=Metrosexual
publisher=Logophilia Limited
date=12 December, 2003
url=http://www.wordspy.com/words/metrosexual.asp
accessdate=2007-12-17] cite web
last=Simpson
first=Mark
title=Here Come The Mirror Men
publisher=The Independent
date=15 November, 1994
url=http://www.wordspy.com/words/metrosexual.asp
accessdate=2007-12-17] cite web
last=Simpson
first=Mark
title=Meet The Metrosexual
publisher=Salon.com
date=22 July, 2002
url=http://www.wordspy.com/words/metrosexual.asp
accessdate=2007-12-17] cite web
last=Hackbarth
first=Alexa
title=Vanity, Thy Name Is Metrosexual
publisher=The Washington Post
date=17 November, 2003
url=http://www.wordspy.com/words/metrosexual.asp
accessdate=2007-12-17]

Scientific research

A study by Philadelphia's Monell Chemical Senses Center, published in the "Journal of Psychological Science", reported that "gay men were found to be particularly good at detecting the musk of other gay men". [cite web
url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/psci/2005/00000016/00000009/art00009
title=Preference for Human Body Odors Is Influenced by Gender and Sexual Orientation
accessdate=2007-10-24
accessyear=2007
author=Yolanda Martin
last=
first=
authorlink=
coauthors=George Preti
date=2005-09-09
year=2005
work=Psychological Science] [ cite web
url=http://www.livescience.com/health/ap_050510_pheremones.html
title=Gay Men Respond Differently to Pheromones
author=Randolph E. Schmid
date=2005-05-10
work=Associated Press]

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. [ [http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20051018-000007.html Willow Lawson. Nov/Dec 2005. "Queer Eyes: Blips on the Gaydar". Psychology Today Magazine.] ] [Gaudio, Rudolph (1994) “Sounding Gay: Pitch Properties in the Speech of Gay and Straight Men.” American Speech 69: 30-57.] This finding was elaborated by Ron Smyth and colleagues in 2003. [ [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=164005 Ron Smyth, Greg Jacobs, Henry Rogers. 2003-10-03. Male voices and perceived sexual orientation: An experimental and theoretical approach. Cambridge University Press.] ]

Criticism

Some feel the idea of "gaydar" has a negative effect on the perception of sexual orientation because it typifies and thus restricts the individuality of those who are detected by the gaydar.cite web
last=Stossel
first=John
title=Test Your Gaydar: Can You Tell If Someone's Gay?
publisher=ABC News 20/20
date=1 November, 2005
url=http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=207269&page=1
accessdate=2007-12-17]

atire

The news organization "The Onion" satirizes claims to scientific discovery in the article "I Can Instantly Tell Whether Someone Is African-American With My Amazing 'Blackdar'". [cite web |url=http://www.theonion.com/content/node/34052 |title=I Can Instantly Tell Whether Someone Is African-American With My Amazing 'Blackdar' |author=Shawn Parker |date=January 12, 2005 |publisher="The Onion"]

Gaydar in popular culture

Popular cultural references to having a gaydar skill:
* In the "Ellen" episode "The Puppy Episode" (originally broadcast April, 1997), Ellen Degeneres' character learns the concept of gaydar as part of her coming out process. She then explains it to her friends, "I must be giving off one of those vibes again. That's what we do...we give off vibrations and then we pick up the vibrations from our gaydar...so I've heard."
* In "The L Word" season one episode "Let's Do It", Dana acknowledges her lack of gaydar after admitting to Alice and Shane she is unable to read the signals from people around her.
* In "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", after Kennedy asks her how long she's enjoyed sleeping with women, Willow responds, "Hey! And what, you think you have some sort of special "lesbidar" or something?" to which Kennedy replies, "Okay, you know there's a better word for that, right?"
* In the show "Gay, Straight or Taken?", a single female contestant dates three guys: one is gay, one is straight and the third has a girlfriend. Her goal is to identify the straight guy who is single in order to win a vacation with him. To do so, she must use her "gaydar".
* "Saturday Night Live" had a recurring sketch about a woman "without" gaydar played by Rachel Dratch.
* In the Australian version of "Playing It Straight", the dog on the ranch was named "Gaydar".
* In a TV series called "Boy Meets Boy" where a gay man meets and chooses a mate from a group of 15 potential male suitors that included both gay and straight men.
* In the film "Monster In Law", after Charlotte realizes the person she originally suspected to be gay was actually straight she remarks that she used to have a good gaydar.

Other references to a purported gaydar device:
* In the "Futurama" episode "Love's Labors Lost in Space", Bender has what he claims is a literal gaydar - that is, an electronic device that detects homosexuality. The device characterizes nearly every man (and alien) it evaluates as gay.
* In "The Office (US)" episode "Gay Witch Hunt" Jim tells Michael and Dwight that The Sharper Image sells a gaydar device. 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.
* A segment on "The Daily Show" shows a man from England named David Eliot who created a gaydar pager device to send vibrations to others carrying the same device. Another episode focusing on gay marriage in Massachusetts uses a fictional gay detection device called a "Homometer" that provides feedback by emitting loud gay mannerisms.
* On an episode of "Saturday Night Live" in May 2008, then-presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain poked fun at his fiscal conservatism by satirically opposing federal funding for a "Gaydar-jamming" device.

ee also

* Biometrics
* Cold reading
* Fruit machine
* Gay lisp
* Gaydar (website)
* Gaydar (film)
* Gaydar Radio
* Homosexuality
* Metrosexual

References

Further reading

* "Gaydar" by Donald F. Reuter (ISBN 0-609-61102-X)
* [http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/programs/index_20051203.html Public Radio Program on gaydar]
* [http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20051018-000007.html Psychology Today: Queer Eyes: Blips on the Gaydar]
* [http://nymag.com/news/features/33520/ The Science of Gaydar: The new research on everything from voice pitch to hair whorl]