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zoobyshoe
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9269298/Women-really-do-have-a-gaydar.htmlA study found that students asked to tell whether someone was gay or straight guessed correctly more often than could be put down to mere chance.
Women had greater accuracy with 65 per cent able to identify someone's sexuality at a glance, while men were correct 57 per cent of the time.
Evidence suggest it is easier to recognise gay women's faces than men's even when photos were shown upside down and with no hairstyle visible.
Researchers in journal PLoS One say the results suggest we may unconsciously make gay or straight decisions when meeting a new face.
Joshua Tabak, of the University of Washington, said: "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.
My question: what photos were shown, and do they demonstrate a confirmation bias in selecting only masculine looking women as the lesbian examples?
A couple weeks ago I was going through my pictures trying to put together an album of the lesbians I have photographed in preparation for a possible show of these pics at a coffeehouse in a neighborhood known for its larger gay population. I found I had to avoid selecting shots that happened to enhance more masculine aspects of them. That is, I started off unconsciously selecting the most masculine looking shots.
If I put together an album of those masculine looking shots and then added a bunch of random, very feminine looking shots of women I know not to be lesbians, I could easily stack the deck such that almost anyone would be able to pick out the lesbians. Is this what happened in this study?
My own "gaydar" is highly dependent on hearing how someone talks, how they dress and their hair, and how they move. It's only about 50% accurate, too, in that some people make a point of telegraphing their sexuality and others completely avoid it. Unless they "stacked the deck" as I suggested, I very much doubt it's possible to tell if someone's gay from the shape of their face alone and in a still photograph.