Gay or straight? Watch his walk

[AFriendlyFace]

Hi all,

 

I just came across this article about gaydar and the way someone walks. I thought it was pretty good so I figured I'd share

 

Speaking for myself, the way someone walks usually isn't one of the key indicators I use to determine whether or not someone is gay. I generally look at the way they carry themselves in general as well as a range of other behavioural and social cues. Still I suppose this might be something I unconsciously examine. What do you guys think?

 

-Kevin

[C James]

Hi all,

 

I just came across this article about gaydar and the way someone walks. I thought it was pretty good so I figured I'd share

 

Speaking for myself, the way someone walks usually isn't one of the key indicators I use to determine whether or not someone is gay. I generally look at the way they carry themselves in general as well as a range of other behavioural and social cues. Still I suppose this might be something I unconsciously examine. What do you guys think?

 

-Kevin

 

Hrmmm, I guess the way someone walks might be a clue, albeit a small one, and only in some cases.

 

I generally rely on my wonderful gaydar to ferret out subtle, hidden clues, like the guy talking about his coming out party, the big rainbow flag sticker on his car, etc. My gaydar is good enough that after a few subtle clues like that, i might get an inkling.

[AFriendlyFace]

Hrmmm, I guess the way someone walks might be a clue, albeit a small one, and only in some cases.

 

I generally rely on my wonderful gaydar to ferret out subtle, hidden clues, like the guy talking about his coming out party, the big rainbow flag sticker on his car, etc. My gaydar is good enough that after a few subtle clues like that, i might get an inkling.

 

I like to think I have pretty good gaydar, but I suppose it's easy since most of the new people I meet socially are introduced to me by my gay friends. LOL, and if they're straight I'm usually told before hand or just flat out during the introduction/conversation.

Edited September 15, 2007 by AFriendlyFace

[CarlHoliday]

Jeez! Four men and four women. That's a mightly small sample, especially if you're picking volunteers who sway their hips a bit too much to begin with. Maybe they should've asked a few guys who were seriously trying to stay in the closet, like maybe half of the other two supposedly straight guys.

 

I've seen too many straight guys sway their hips a bit too much to use that as a possible indicator if a guy is gay.

 

I've always gone with a little more obvious things like the guy draped over his arm, the way he talks about having fun at the gay bar, oh, yeah, and those rainbows are a dead give away, unless he's been to a PFLAG meeting and has finally accepted his brother.

[Graeme]

Gaydar is one of those things that everyone has heard of, but no one can clearly explain. There are subtle hints, but do they really mean what we would like them to mean? Since I'm still largely in the closet, I don't have a chance to check if that person who I thought might have kept eye contact for a moment too long is really gay. Or if it is just that they need glasses, because I'm not the most attractive of physical specimens....

[rknapp]

Hrmmm, I guess the way someone walks might be a clue, albeit a small one, and only in some cases.

 

I generally rely on my wonderful gaydar to ferret out subtle, hidden clues, like the guy talking about his coming out party, the big rainbow flag sticker on his car, etc. My gaydar is good enough that after a few subtle clues like that, i might get an inkling.

Well hey, yours is a lot better than mine! They have to be nekkid and doing the horizontal tango for me to even start thinking.

 

The only difference that I could see in that video between the two men was that the gay one kept his legs together and the straight one kept them apart. That is no indication of sexuality, just masculinity and/or upbringing. I say that because there are a lot of straight men who walk the way that gay man did.

 

The fact that so few people were used in the study makes me immediately reject any and all results, but they did say that the focus of the study was on the 150 observers and how they determined sexuality, and not the four participants.

[glomph]

My gaydar is not great, but I'm convinced that if you're a guy and you spend time watching how guys walk, you're pretty definitely gay.

[Conner]

This article is yet another example of the absolute futility of reading (supposed) research results in the popular press.

 

As has already been pointed out, a sample size 8 volunteers is ridiculously low. As the researchers came up with 4 straights and 4 gays, there was obviously some bias in the small sample they did take.

 

In any event, it seems the point of the study was to examine behaviour of the "observers" in relation to "...the understanding of perception and feelings of assumptions and bias." How that aspect was looked at in this research and any findings around that simply aren't reported in this article. The reporter leads off with "A swing of the hips or a swaggered shoulder is enough for many casual observers to identify a man

[AFriendlyFace]

Gaydar is one of those things that everyone has heard of, but no one can clearly explain. There are subtle hints, but do they really mean what we would like them to mean? Since I'm still largely in the closet, I don't have a chance to check if that person who I thought might have kept eye contact for a moment too long is really gay. Or if it is just that they need glasses, because I'm not the most attractive of physical specimens....

 

Well, I think one's "gaydar" is something that requires practice, as well as exposure into gay life, to develop. I'm certainly not arguing that this is an excellent, well-constructed study. However, anecdotally speaking I have several friends who most definitely "walk gay" (both gay males who walk "femme" and lesbians who walk "butch"). I don't know that it necessarily is inborn. It may indeed be the result of some kind of social learning, and as I said it's certainly not one of the major factors I look for when trying to determine someone's sexuality, but I really think there is some truth to it.

 

Just my thoughts,

Kevin

[JamesSavik]

One of my souviners of playing football was an ACL repair which was done back in the mid-80s.

 

The knee is never quite the same after that surgery and wouldn't set off anyones gaydar.

[colinian]

Well, I think one's "gaydar" is something that requires practice, as well as exposure into gay life, to develop. I'm certainly not arguing that this is an excellent, well-constructed study. However, anecdotally speaking I have several friends who most definitely "walk gay" (both gay males who walk "femme" and lesbians who walk "butch"). I don't know that it necessarily is inborn. It may indeed be the result of some kind of social learning, and as I said it's certainly not one of the major factors I look for when trying to determine someone's sexuality, but I really think there is some truth to it.

 

Just my thoughts,

Kevin

 

I think straight girls have better gaydar than gay guys. Go figure.

 

Colin

[AFriendlyFace]

I think straight girls have better gaydar than gay guys. Go figure.

 

Colin

LOL, I think many do indeed! On the other hand I think quite a few are completely oblivious and end up becoming unwitting "beards".

 

-Kevin

[Jack Scribe]

However, anecdotally speaking I have several friends who most definitely "walk gay" (both gay males who walk "femme" and lesbians who walk "butch").

 

As I recall in the blizzard of factoids rattling around in my head :wacko: , approximately 16% of gay males display effeminate characteristics. I agree that the "femme" walk is easy to pick out but not sure if it's gaydar at work. In my mixed bag of life's luck , when a guy makes eye contact, casually looks below my waist area and subtly licks his lips - I start 'pinging' big time.

 

Jack

[Benji]

As I recall in the blizzard of factoids rattling around in my head :wacko: , approximately 16% of gay males display effeminate characteristics. I agree that the "femme" walk is easy to pick out but not sure if it's gaydar at work. In my mixed bag of life's luck , when a guy makes eye contact, casually looks below my waist area and subtly licks his lips - I start 'pinging' big time.

 

Jack

 

 

.......No argument there Jack!! eye contact, looks a waist area and licks his lips...yep! I say you wouldn't need gaydar on that one!

[rknapp]

.......No argument there Jack!! eye contact, looks a waist area and licks his lips...yep! I say you wouldn't need gaydar on that one!

Negatory! I still would need something more concrete (read my above post concerning the tango). I'm pretty sure I could walk into a gay bar and still need somebody to shout it out lol.

 

I thought of this thread today as I watched a guy in my Physics III class doing various things in class, and then later in lab. I'm still not 100% sure why, but I got the feeling that he was not straight. That doesn't mean I thought was gay (I did, but that's besides the point) I just for whatever reason got the inkling that men caught his eye from time to time.

 

Anyway, I noticed that I took note of a few things... first was what he was wearing -- shirt, pants, shoes, accessories, the whole nine yards. I also paid attention to how he walked, sat, stood, talked, and conversed. His manner of walking/sitting/standing gave just a hint of femme, particularly in how his hips swayed noticeably more than the average male (not enough to point out) and he kept his feet together when sitting or leaning against a table. He stood much in the same way that I do, leaning to one side, resting most of my weight on one foot, and consequently shooting the hip out a little. Again, not really much more than the other men in the class, but enough for me to notice.

 

Then there were the signs that said otherwise. His voice has no signs of a lisp (no, the lisp is not a true sign, since it can be a vocal deformity, but I still look for it) and simply did not sound "gay". In fact, it sounded a little more manly than a lot of the men in the class. His shirt, while tighter than normal , was not unlike something the average male would wear. His jeans weren't tight at all... I've noticed that most of the gay men here at school wear tight jeans, why is that? His shoes were simple sneakers, like mine.

 

The real kicker that tells me that he is not straight is that he seems to be BFF (so to speak) with two of the girls in the class. No straight male, I don't care who, is BFF with a woman. NONE!*

 

So that leaves a chance of 2/3 that he's not straight (could be gay, could be bi). Going strictly on the basis of his posture and relationship with women.

 

That said, bias is a universal constant, like the speed of light, the Earths gravitational pull, etc. It's never going to change, and studies such as this reinforce that fact. Even in the group it affects, bias is there, as I sorta proved to myself today.

 

 

*BFF is to be defined as not just being really good friends, as I am with a number of women, but also a friend they'll call to hang out, study, SLEEP OVER, SHOP, etc. Not even I do that. When I hang out with women, we normally watch a movie, go out to dinner (I pay if it's just the two of us), or shoot the shit. One keeps trying to get me to watch some stupid TV show on MTV with her. Newport Harbor I think? IDK, I just want to punch all of the people in it in the face...

[Benji]

Negatory! I still would need something more concrete (read my above post concerning the tango). I'm pretty sure I could walk into a gay bar and still need somebody to shout it out lol.

 

I thought of this thread today as I watched a guy in my Physics III class doing various things in class, and then later in lab. I'm still not 100% sure why, but I got the feeling that he was not straight. That doesn't mean I thought was gay (I did, but that's besides the point) I just for whatever reason got the inkling that men caught his eye from time to time.

 

Anyway, I noticed that I took note of a few things... first was what he was wearing -- shirt, pants, shoes, accessories, the whole nine yards. I also paid attention to how he walked, sat, stood, talked, and conversed. His manner of walking/sitting/standing gave just a hint of femme, particularly in how his hips swayed noticeably more than the average male (not enough to point out) and he kept his feet together when sitting or leaning against a table. He stood much in the same way that I do, leaning to one side, resting most of my weight on one foot, and consequently shooting the hip out a little. Again, not really much more than the other men in the class, but enough for me to notice.

 

Then there were the signs that said otherwise. His voice has no signs of a lisp (no, the lisp is not a true sign, since it can be a vocal deformity, but I still look for it) and simply did not sound "gay". In fact, it sounded a little more manly than a lot of the men in the class. His shirt, while tighter than normal , was not unlike something the average male would wear. His jeans weren't tight at all... I've noticed that most of the gay men here at school wear tight jeans, why is that? His shoes were simple sneakers, like mine.

 

The real kicker that tells me that he is not straight is that he seems to be BFF (so to speak) with two of the girls in the class. No straight male, I don't care who, is BFF with a woman. NONE!*

 

So that leaves a chance of 2/3 that he's not straight (could be gay, could be bi). Going strictly on the basis of his posture and relationship with women.

 

That said, bias is a universal constant, like the speed of light, the Earths gravitational pull, etc. It's never going to change, and studies such as this reinforce that fact. Even in the group it affects, bias is there, as I sorta proved to myself today.

 

 

*BFF is to be defined as not just being really good friends, as I am with a number of women, but also a friend they'll call to hang out, study, SLEEP OVER, SHOP, etc. Not even I do that. When I hang out with women, we normally watch a movie, go out to dinner (I pay if it's just the two of us), or shoot the shit. One keeps trying to get me to watch some stupid TV show on MTV with her. Newport Harbor I think? IDK, I just want to punch all of the people in it in the face...

 

 

.....That's a lot of effort (Ahem!! I hope you got some school work done!) I think that if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck it is probably a duck!! So if a guy is eyef_cking my groin. I hear quacking!!

Edited September 19, 2007 by Benji

[rknapp]

Yes sir I got some work done haha.

 

You got it all wrong. If it walks like a duck and talks like duck... then we gotta shoot that simbitch goose and suck 'er down! (Squidbillies)

[AFriendlyFace]

Anyway, I noticed that I took note of a few things... first was what he was wearing -- shirt, pants, shoes, accessories, the whole nine yards.

LOL Robbie, you know getting dressed doesn't necessarily mean that one is homosexual

His jeans weren't tight at all... I've noticed that most of the gay men here at school wear tight jeans, why is that?

Seriously? Well, it's for pretty much the same reason that straight girls wear tight jeans: guys tend to like to check out the backsides of people in whom they might be interested. Also, gay guys (and straight women) tend to be more aware of their bodies and either want to dress to accentuate their best assets, or else just want to dress to feel more attractive. This often translates to snugger, more form fitting clothing.

So that leaves a chance of 2/3 that he's not straight (could be gay, could be bi). Going strictly on the basis of his posture and relationship with women.

Hmm, well based on your observations, and the details that you have reported to us, I'm able to reach a conclusion which I can stand behind 100%. YOU are not completely straight

*BFF is to be defined as not just being really good friends, as I am with a number of women, but also a friend they'll call to hang out, study, SLEEP OVER, SHOP, etc. Not even I do that.

Does it count if you call them to go shopping?

 

 

Take care and have a fantastic day

Kevin

[rknapp]

LOL Robbie, you know getting dressed doesn't necessarily mean that one is homosexual

I just took note of various aspects of his wardrobe. Actually, I would prefer it if he wasn't wearing those things, but what can you do? lol

 

Seriously? Well, it's for pretty much the same reason that straight girls wear tight jeans: guys tend to like to check out the backsides of people in whom they might be interested. Also, gay guys (and straight women) tend to be more aware of their bodies and either want to dress to accentuate their best assets, or else just want to dress to feel more attractive. This often translates to snugger, more form fitting clothing.

I can't stand tight clothing. Hence why all of my shirts/sweaters/jackets are large or extra large, and my cargo pants are relaxed straight. I like having room for my body and then some, it's something I like to call "comfort."

 

Hmm, well based on your observations, and the details that you have reported to us, I'm able to reach a conclusion which I can stand behind 100%. YOU are not completely straight

Get with the times man, I've known that since I was eight years old! In fact, I think one of my friends just stumbled onto that fact by accident

 

Does it count if you call them to go shopping?

Doubly so!

[Razor]

Haha, I've slept over at a few girls' houses... even slept in the same bed as a few. ~shrugs~ It's easier for me to feel comfortable around girls than guys. They're so much more normal.

 

I HAVE been told before that I don't walk, I "float". I say it came from years of marching, and you're not supposed to move anything above your hips... so I didn't have any of that normal pendulum-ish movement most guys have, or the bobbing head thing. I took very even, measured eight-to-five steps, lol.

 

However, almost every single person who suddenly finds out that I'm gay is like "WHAT?! REALLY?! I would've never guessed!". ~shrugs~ Guess I give off conflicting signals or something.

[Adrian Michaels]

Hmm. I've always thought, (And this has been confirmed by friends.) that I have an excellent Gaydar.

 

Honestly, I've only been wrong once... Thought he was gay, turned out to be straight. It happens. He's one of my best friends, and somedays I still wonder.

 

I can't really explain it. I've always been good at it. Maybe I'm looking for things that I have in common with people. I'm not sure. It's probably all subconscious anyway.

 

But it's fun! Because I'm always right. (well, except for that one time...) I don't know how many times I've had to make the decision for friends.

 

Maybe it's because People-Watching is one of my favorite hobbies... Gaydar is like a game for me!

 

Maybe I need to get out more??

[rknapp]

Hmm. I've always thought, (And this has been confirmed by friends.) that I have an excellent Gaydar.

 

Honestly, I've only been wrong once... Thought he was gay, turned out to be straight. It happens. He's one of my best friends, and somedays I still wonder.

 

I can't really explain it. I've always been good at it. Maybe I'm looking for things that I have in common with people. I'm not sure. It's probably all subconscious anyway.

 

But it's fun! Because I'm always right. (well, except for that one time...) I don't know how many times I've had to make the decision for friends.

 

Maybe it's because People-Watching is one of my favorite hobbies... Gaydar is like a game for me!

 

Maybe I need to get out more??

 

Can I borrow you?

[Adrian Michaels]

lol, anytime!!

[Demetz]

Hi all,

 

I just came across this article about gaydar and the way someone walks. I thought it was pretty good so I figured I'd share

 

Speaking for myself, the way someone walks usually isn't one of the key indicators I use to determine whether or not someone is gay. I generally look at the way they carry themselves in general as well as a range of other behavioural and social cues. Still I suppose this might be something I unconsciously examine. What do you guys think?

 

-Kevin

 

Eh... I think just asking someone privately would be a lot more accurate a way to find out if someone is gay than by observing how they walk. Neither is going to tell you a thing about someone in the closet, but at least you're less likely to go on thinking a straight person might be gay. Or you could go on pretending that hunky straight is secretly gay, but that seems more like a personal issue

 

Maybe I'm just too blunt?

[Benji]

Eh... I think just asking someone privately would be a lot more accurate a way to find out if someone is gay than by observing how they walk. Neither is going to tell you a thing about someone in the closet, but at least you're less likely to go on thinking a straight person might be gay. Or you could go on pretending that hunky straight is secretly gay, but that seems more like a personal issue

 

Maybe I'm just too blunt?

 

 

......Don't know about the bluntness, consider this maybe he just walks funny