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== Scientific research == In 1987, a ''Journal of Homosexuality'' study<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=3611750 |year=1987 |last1=Berger |first1=G |last2=Hank |first2=L |last3=Rauzi |first3=T |last4=Simkins |first4=L |title=Detection of sexual orientation by heterosexuals and homosexuals |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=83β100 |doi=10.1300/J082v13n04_05 |journal=Journal of Homosexuality}}</ref> asked people to judge sexual orientation from video clips, with results concluding that it was a myth. A 1999 study in the ''Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'' showed that people could judge sexual orientation more accurately than chance.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=10510507 |year=1999 |last1=Ambady |first1=N |last2=Hallahan |first2=M |last3=Conner |first3=B |title=Accuracy of judgments of sexual orientation from thin slices of behavior |volume=77 |issue=3 |pages=538β47 |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.77.3.538}}</ref> This study asked people to indicate their sexual orientation using the [[Kinsey scale]] and then had others view very brief silent clips of the people talking using [[thin-slicing]]. The viewers rated their sexual orientations on the same scale and the researchers found a significant correlation between where the people said they were on the scale and where they were perceived to be on the scale. Studies in 2008 and 2010 have repeated this finding<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=18810629 |year=2010 |last1=Rieger |first1=G |last2=Linsenmeier |first2=JA |last3=Gygax |first3=L |last4=Garcia |first4=S |last5=Bailey |first5=JM |title=Dissecting "gaydar": Accuracy and the role of masculinity-femininity |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=124β40 |doi=10.1007/s10508-008-9405-2 |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|s2cid=7106372 }}</ref> and have even shown that home videos of children can be used to judge accurately their sexual orientation later in life.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=18194004 |year=2008 |last1=Rieger |first1=G |last2=Linsenmeier |first2=JA |last3=Gygax |first3=L |last4=Bailey |first4=JM |title=Sexual orientation and childhood gender nonconformity: Evidence from home videos |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=46β58 |doi=10.1037/0012-1649.44.1.46 |journal=Developmental Psychology|s2cid=41662483 }}</ref> Later studies found that gaydar was also accurate at rates greater than chance for judgments just from the face. Study participants use gendered facial cues and stereotypes of gay people to make their judgments, but reliably misjudge sexual orientation for people countering stereotypes.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=20682754 |year=2010 |last1=Rule |first1=NO |title=Sexual orientation perception involves gendered facial cues |volume=36 |issue=10 |pages=1318β31 |journal=Pers Soc Psychol Bull |doi=10.1177/0146167210378755|hdl=1807/33147 |s2cid=14964334 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The ethnicity, and nationality of neither the person making the judgment nor the person they are judging seems to make a difference when making judgments from faces.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=22128555 |year=2011 |last1=Rule |first1=NO |title=The influence of target and perceiver race in the categorisation of male sexual orientation |volume=40 |issue=7 |pages=830β9 |journal=Perception |doi=10.1068/p7001|hdl=1807/33198 |s2cid=23790518 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |pmid=21483863 |year=2011 |last1=Johnson |first1=KL |last2=Ghavami |first2=N |title=At the crossroads of conspicuous and concealable: What race categories communicate about sexual orientation |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=e18025 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0018025 |pmc=3069043 |journal=PLOS ONE |bibcode=2011PLoSO...618025J |editor1-last=Gilbert |editor1-first=Sam|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |pmid=21807952 |year=2011 |last1=Rule |first1=NO |last2=Ishii |first2=K |last3=Ambady |first3=N |last4=Rosen |first4=KS |last5=Hallett |first5=KC |title=Found in translation: Cross-cultural consensus in the accurate categorization of male sexual orientation |volume=37 |issue=11 |pages=1499β507 |doi=10.1177/0146167211415630 |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin|s2cid=3847105 }}</ref> Even individual facial features (just the eyes) can sometimes give enough information to tell whether a man or woman is gay, straight, or lesbian.<ref name="Pmid">{{cite journal |pmid=18954191 |year=2008 |last1=Rule |first1=NO |last2=Ambady |first2=N |last3=Adams |first3=RB |last4=MacRae |first4=CN |title=Accuracy and awareness in the perception and categorization of male sexual orientation |volume=95 |issue=5 |pages=1019β28 |doi=10.1037/a0013194 |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|citeseerx=10.1.1.418.9273 }}</ref><ref name="Doijesp">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jesp.2009.07.010 |title=Female sexual orientation is perceived accurately, rapidly, and automatically from the face and its features |year=2009 |last1=Rule |first1=Nicholas O. |last2=Ambady |first2=Nalini |last3=Hallett |first3=Katherine C. |journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |volume=45 |issue=6 |pages=1245β1251|hdl=1807/33133 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> One study showed that judgments of men's<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jesp.2007.12.001 |title=Brief exposures: Male sexual orientation is accurately perceived at 50ms |year=2008 |last1=Rule |first1=Nicholas O. |last2=Ambady |first2=Nalini |journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=1100β1105|hdl=1807/33129 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and women's<ref name="Doijesp" /> faces for about 1/25 of a second was enough time to tell whether they were gay, straight, or lesbian. People's judgments were no more accurate when they had more time to make their judgments. Follow-up work to this suggested that gaydar happens automatically when someone sees another person and that seeing someoneβs face automatically activates stereotypes about gays and straights.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=19399971 |year=2009 |last1=Rule |first1=NO |last2=MacRae |first2=CN |last3=Ambady |first3=N |title=Ambiguous group membership is extracted automatically from faces |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=441β3 |journal=Psychological Science |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02314.x|citeseerx=10.1.1.418.7386 |s2cid=16461512 }}</ref> People seem not to know that they have gaydar, though.<ref name="Pmid" /> Gay men have more accurate gaydar than straight men,<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=17972734 |year=2007 |last1=Rule |first1=NO |last2=Ambady |first2=N |last3=Adams Jr |first3=RB |last4=MacRae |first4=CN |title=Us and them: Memory advantages in perceptually ambiguous groups |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=687β92 |journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review |doi=10.3758/bf03196822|doi-access=free |hdl=1807/33124 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and women have more accurate gaydar when they are ovulating.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=21670428 |year=2011 |last1=Rule |first1=NO |last2=Rosen |first2=KS |last3=Slepian |first3=ML |last4=Ambady |first4=N |title=Mating interest improves women's accuracy in judging male sexual orientation |volume=22 |issue=7 |pages=881β6 |doi=10.1177/0956797611412394 |journal=Psychological Science|hdl=1807/33191 |s2cid=3791324 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> One study hypothesized that this might be because homosexual people are more attentive to detail than heterosexual people are, apparently as an adopted perceptual style aiding in the recognition of other homosexual people.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=21607070 |year=2010 |last1=Colzato |first1=LS |last2=Van Hooidonk |first2=L |last3=Van Den Wildenberg |first3=WP |last4=Harinck |first4=F |last5=Hommel |first5=B |title=Sexual orientation biases attentional control: A possible gaydar mechanism |volume=1 |pages=13 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00013 |pmc=3095381 |journal=Frontiers in Psychology|doi-access=free }}</ref> Other studies have found that men and women with body shapes and walking styles similar to people of the opposite sex are more often perceived as gay.{{cn|date=January 2024}} A study by [[UCLA]] assistant professor Kerri Johnson found that observers were able to accurately guess the sexual orientation of men 60 percent of the time, slightly better than would be achieved by random chance; with women, their guesses didn't exceed chance.<ref name="kl" /> Gender-specific body movements are not reliably associated with a person's sexual orientation;<ref name="kl">{{cite journal |pmid=17723051 |year=2007 |last1=Johnson |first1=KL |last2=Gill |first2=S |last3=Reichman |first3=V |last4=Tassinary |first4=LG |s2cid=14992542 |title=Swagger, sway, and sexuality: Judging sexual orientation from body motion and morphology |volume=93 |issue=3 |pages=321β34 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.93.3.321 |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology}}</ref> this is true of face shape,<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=20682754 |year=2010 |last1=Freeman |first1=JB |last2=Johnson |first2=KL |last3=Ambady |first3=N |last4=Rule |first4=NO |title=Sexual orientation perception involves gendered facial cues |volume=36 |issue=10 |pages=1318β31 |doi=10.1177/0146167210378755 |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin|hdl=1807/33147 |s2cid=14964334 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> but surprisingly not for voices,<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00028.x |title=Loose Lips and Silver Tongues, or, Projecting Sexual Orientation Through Speech |year=2007 |last1=Munson |first1=Benjamin |last2=Babel |first2=Molly |journal=Language and Linguistics Compass |volume=1 |issue=5 |pages=416β449}}</ref> even though people think they are associated with a person's sexual orientation.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s10919-011-0123-4 |title=Acting Gay: Male Actors Shift the Frequency Components of Their Voices Towards Female Values when Playing Homosexual Characters |year=2011 |last1=Cartei |first1=Valentina |last2=Reby |first2=David |journal=Journal of Nonverbal Behavior |volume=36 |pages=79β93|s2cid=55699533 }}</ref> A handful of studies have investigated the question of gaydar from the voice.<ref name="Pmid_a">{{cite journal |pmid=9509737 |year=1998 |last1=Linville |first1=SE |title=Acoustic correlates of perceived versus actual sexual orientation in men's speech |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=35β48 |journal=Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica |doi=10.1159/000021447|s2cid=23557815 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S0047404503323024 |title=Male voices and perceived sexual orientation: An experimental and theoretical approach |year=2003 |last1=Smyth |first1=RON |last2=Jacobs |first2=Greg |last3=Rogers |first3=Henry |journal=Language in Society |volume=32 |issue=3|pages=329β350 |s2cid=146631251 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |jstor=455948 |pages=30β57 |last1=Gaudio |first1=R. P. |title=Sounding Gay: Pitch Properties in the Speech of Gay and Straight Men |volume=69 |issue=1 |journal=[[American Speech]] |year=1994 |doi=10.2307/455948}}</ref><ref name="bare_url">{{cite journal |last1=Zimman |first1=Lal |title=Female-to-Male Transsexuals and Gay-Sounding Voices: A Pilot Study |journal=Colorado Research in Linguistics |date=2010 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=1β21 |doi=10.33011/cril.22.1.3 |doi-access=free}}</ref> They have found that people can tell who is gay and straight from their voices, but have mostly focused on men (sometimes terming the vocal difference "[[gay lisp]]"). Detailed acoustic analyses have highlighted a number of factors in a person's voice<ref name="bare_url" /> that are used, one of which is the way that gay and straight men pronounce "s" sounds.<ref name="Pmid_a" /> [[Acoustic phonetics|Acoustic]] cues have also been shown to contribute to [[Auditory phonetics|perception]] of homosexuality in other languages, including [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] (for men)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Geng |first1=Puyang |last2=Gu |first2=Wentao |title=Acoustic and Perceptual Characteristics of Mandarin Speech in Gay and Heterosexual Male Speakers |journal=Language and Speech |date=2022 |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=1096β1109 |doi=10.1177/00238309211000783 |pmid=33740875 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33740875/ |access-date=4 January 2024}}</ref> and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (for men and women).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Duarte |first1=Jesus |title=Sociophonetic Differences in Queer Speech of Spanish Speakers |journal=UC Berkeley Undergraduate Thesis |date=2022 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3009g0js |access-date=4 January 2024}}</ref> Research by [[William T. L. Cox]] and his colleagues proposed that "gaydar" is simply an alternate label for using [[LGBT stereotypes]] to infer orientation (e.g., inferring that fashionable men are gay).<ref name="Cox et al. (2015)">{{cite journal |last1= Cox |first1= William T. L. |last2= Devine |first2= Patricia G. |last3= Bischmann |first3= Alyssa A. |last4= Hyde |first4= Janet S. |year= 2015 |title= Inferences About Sexual Orientation: The Roles of Stereotypes, Faces, and The Gaydar Myth |journal= [[The Journal of Sex Research]] |volume= 52 |issue= 8 |pages= 1β15 |doi= 10.1080/00224499.2015.1015714|pmid= 26219212 |url= https://zenodo.org/record/1043253 |pmc= 4731319 }}</ref> This work points out that the scientific work reviewed above that claims to demonstrate accurate gaydar falls prey to the [[false positive paradox]] (see also the [[base rate fallacy]]), because the alleged accuracy discounts the very low base rate of LGBT people in real populations, resulting in a scenario where the "accuracy" reported above in lab studies translates to high levels of inaccuracy in the real world. Cox writes, "Most people think of stereotyping as inappropriate. But if you're not calling it 'stereotyping', if you're giving it this other label and camouflaging it as 'gaydar,' it appears to be more socially and personally acceptable."<ref>{{Cite news |date=2015-09-08 |title=Put your gaydar down and stop trying to work out people's sexuality |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-08/shaw-put-your-gaydar-down/6758912 |access-date=2024-07-26 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}</ref> In the research by Chadly Stern done at [[New York University|NYU]] about the relationship of "gaydar" and [[Political spectrum|political orientation]], the team found out that conservatives possess mostly better βgaydarβ than liberals do.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stern |first=Chadly |last2=West |first2=Tessa V. |last3=Jost |first3=John T. |last4=Rule |first4=Nicholas O. |date=2013 |title=The politics of gaydar: Ideological differences in the use of gendered cues in categorizing sexual orientation. |url=https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031187 |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=104 |issue=3 |pages=520β541 |doi=10.1037/a0031187 |issn=1939-1315|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Though the accuracy of "gaydar" in conservatives depend on the "validity of the cues" more, Stern writes, overall, conservatives performed better in determining the sexual orientation in their research. The real-world connection of the finding is weaker because the correlation between facial features (which their research used for the basis of participants' "gaydar") and sexual orientation. By using cognitive load manipulation, the team also found that both liberals and conservatives used gender stereotypes to determine the sexual orientation during the research. This finding further the idea that "gaydar" is an alternate label to for using stereotypes in a more socially acceptable way.
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