Gaydar exists

[vwl]

Gaydar exists, according to a scientific study. Report is here:

[Trab]

I loved that bit about seeing the trees for the wood.

[Bruin Fisher]

The research concluded: "When the men and women were asked similar questions, the heterosexuals replied more quickly but were less accurate, the journal Frontiers in Cognition reports.

The homosexuals took longer but got more answers right, particularly when asked about the smaller shapes, suggesting they were able to see the small details as well as the bigger picture."

Source Article

So the gay participants took longer to answer and then got more right, because they had noticed more detail. It's not surprising they noticed more detail since they took longer over their answers. Perhaps if the straights had taken more time they'd have got more right too.

Isn't it possible that the difference between gays and straights that this research highlights is that the gays took more time over answering - that they were less self-confident, more cautious about stating their view? And isn't it likely that this difference is because they are less secure in a heterosexual society, and therefore more hesitant about stating opinions?

[DesDownunder]

The research concluded: "When the men and women were asked similar questions, the heterosexuals replied more quickly but were less accurate, the journal Frontiers in Cognition reports.

The homosexuals took longer but got more answers right, particularly when asked about the smaller shapes, suggesting they were able to see the small details as well as the bigger picture."

Source Article

So the gay participants took longer to answer and then got more right, because they had noticed more detail. It's not surprising they noticed more detail since they took longer over their answers. Perhaps if the straights had taken more time they'd have got more right too.

Isn't it possible that the difference between gays and straights that this research highlights is that the gays took more time over answering - that they were less self-confident, more cautious about stating their view? And isn't it likely that this difference is because they are less secure in a heterosexual society, and therefore more hesitant about stating opinions?

I think the homosexual delayed response is due to the fact that they have experienced a deeper level of self-questioning and this is reflected in their everyday investigations, assessments and interactions. This means homosexuals will be more inclined to question and look for detail, whereas I think the heterosexual tends to believe what he is told, without that deeper level of question and assessment.

I can agree that self-confidence in the homosexual may be challenged in the early stages of self development, but we should be careful to not confuse a diminished self confidence with acquired thoroughness. Of course the homosexual may feel less secure in a society that is founded on the false concepts of heterosexual behaviour being the norm. This applies equally to any minority group with different conditions to that proposed as being the societal norm.

However, that is not so much negative if we consider that the human race is progressing, (admittedly slowly, and not without difficulty) towards accepting diversity of human variation (including orientation) as being the underlying factors for the richness of our life experiences, and the support base for developing our human potentials. We have to learn to revel in our differences and not fear them.

Think of it in terms of the heterosexual being conditioned, staid and conservative, and those of us who have found the strength to break away from such indoctrination as being closer to living naturally, with all the freedoms and of course the responsibilities that entails.

In this regard homosexuals should perhaps take confidence in their ability to be more aware to possibilities, and even in being more natural, than the socially indoctrinated and thus limited, heterosexual.

Under this thesis, heterosexuals are the ones who have been oppressed (by their own fears and beliefs) whereas the homosexual by virtue of the self-questioning process has become the vanguard of freedom to develop the race to its greater potentials.

It must be said that the potential for any member of the human race to so develop, is inherent in the rejection of being oppressed, but the first problem is meeting and coming to terms with our own individual self-repressions. That's where the identity crisis starts. Where it ends is up to each of us, but we can support each other instead of oppressing one another.

[Merkin]

My word. That's quite a leap from 'gaydar.'

Compare it to 'brutedar.' Most of the bully boys who hang out down at the corner can tell in a heartbeat what colors or insignia you are bearing or whether or not the "lady" who just cruised by is wearing underwear, or which is the plainclothes cop in the crowd. To each his own nuance.

[Bruin Fisher]

You put these things so much better than I can, Des!

And James, as you say all sorts of societal groups have developed radar-like ability to identify friends and enemies, predator and prey, tonight's shag or nemesis. It's not just us!

[DesDownunder]

My word. That's quite a leap from 'gaydar.'

Compare it to 'brutedar.' Most of the bully boys who hang out down at the corner can tell in a heartbeat what colors or insignia you are bearing or whether or not the "lady" who just cruised by is wearing underwear, or which is the plainclothes cop in the crowd. To each his own nuance.

It's not all that big a leap if you consider the sensitivity that comes from being open to the intuitive powers inherent in the human being.

Males are taught to submerge them, ignore them, replace them with cerebration that inhibits the development of intuition, except in confined areas of interest, if they are lucky.

The next time the local group of bullies are standing around chatting or whatever it is they do to parade their masculinity, and you overhear one of them say, "I can tell a fag a mile away just by looking at them," then if you are feeling brave, say to him, " Oh, so your gaydar is working then?" Be prepared to make a hasty escape.

Gaydar is nothing more than being willing, being open to the observable reality around you. It is intuitive, yes, but it is also accompanied by reason and deduction.

If we have been trained to suppress (or repress) the intuition, then we may well limit the usefulness of our powers of observation, reason and deduction.

Worse still, we may succumb to rationalising what is natural and what is not, into a morality which oppresses us, and in particular limits us, into not seeing the universality of the human condition of love.

[Cole Parker]

The next time the local group of bullies are standing around chatting or whatever it is they do to parade their masculinity, and you overhear one of them say, "I can tell a fag a mile away just by looking at them," then if you are feeling brave, say to him, " Oh, so your gaydar is working then?" Be prepared to make a hasty escape.

Let's see, I wonder just when the next time will be that I'm out in the presence of a bunch of local toughs, listening to them expound on their personal powers, bragging on their capablitiles to ferret out the gays amongst us.

I don't often hang on the streetcorners of my 'hood, smokin' some weed, maybe throwin' back a longneck and shootin' the shit with my homeboys, dishin' 'bout the ladies I'm scorin' or the fags I'm plannin' on bashin' that night.

I think you're living in a different world than I am, Des.

C

[DesDownunder]

I don't often hang on the streetcorners of my 'hood, smokin' some weed, maybe throwin' back a longneck and shootin' the shit with my homeboys, dishin' 'bout the ladies I'm scorin' or the fags I'm plannin' on bashin' that night.

You should try it dude. There's nothing so cool as holding an intellectual discussion on the meaning of the universe and the ramifications of quark theory on French cuisine, with the local lads.

[Trab]

"There's nothing so cool as holding an intellectual discussion on the meaning of the universe and the ramifications of quark theory on French cuisine, with the local lads."

Certainly leaves me cold.