They all look gay to me...
Posted on 09/12/2007 2:10:02 PM PDT by presidio9
An individual's body motion and body type can offer subtle cues about their sexual orientation, but casual observers seem better able to read those cues in gay men than in lesbians, according to a new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
"We already know that men and women are built differently and walk differently from each other and that casual observers use this information as clues in making a range of social judgments," said lead author Kerri Johnson, UCLA assistant professor of communication studies. "Now we've found that casual observers can use gait and body shape to judge whether a stranger is gay or straight with a small but perceptible amount of accuracy."
Johnson and colleagues at New York University and Texas A&M measured the hips, waists and shoulders of eight male and eight female volunteers, half of whom were gay and half straight. The volunteers then walked on a treadmill for two minutes as a three-dimensional motion-capture system similar to those used by the movie industry to create animated figures from living models made measurements of the their motions, allowing researchers to track the precise amount of shoulder swagger and hip sway in their gaits.
Based on these measurements, the researchers determined that the gay subjects tended to have more gender-incongruent body types than their straight counterparts (hourglass figures for men, tubular bodies for women) and body motions (hip-swaying for men, shoulder-swaggering for women) than their straight counterparts.
In addition, 112 undergraduate observers were shown videos of the backsides of the volunteers as they walked at various speeds on the treadmill. The observers were able to determine the volunteers' sexual orientation with an overall rate of accuracy that exceeded chance, even though they could not see the volunteers' faces or the details of their clothing. Interestingly, the casual observers were much more accurate in judging the orientation of males than females; they correctly categorized the sexual orientation of men with more than 60 percent accuracy, but their categorization of women did not exceeded chance.
The findings build on recent research that shows that casual observers can often correctly identify sexual orientation with very limited information. A 1999 Harvard study, for example, found that just by looking at the photographs of seated strangers, college undergraduates were able to judge sexual orientation accurately 55 percent of the time.
"Studies like ours are raising questions about the value of the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," Johnson said. "If casual observers can determine sexual orientation with minimal information, then the value in concealing this information certainly appears questionable. Given that we all appear to be able to deduce this information to some degree with just a glance, more comprehensive policies may be required to protect gays against discrimination based on their sexual orientation."
The findings also are part of mounting evidence suggesting that sexual orientation may actually be what social scientists call a "master status category," or a defining characteristic that observers cannot help but notice and which has been scientifically shown to color all subsequent social dealings with others.
"Once you know a person's sexual orientation, the fact has consequences for all subsequent interactions, and our findings suggest that this category of information can be deduced from subtle clues in body movement," Johnson said.
Reference: Kerri L. Johnson, Simone Gill, Victoria Reichman, and Louis G. Tassinary "Swagger, Sway, and Sexuality: Judging Sexual Orientation From Body Motion and Morphology", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 93, No. 3, pp. 321–334.
Video available at: http://www.apa.org/journals/supplemental/psp_93_3_321/Supplement1.mov
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of California, Los Angeles.
They all look gay to me...
That is my experience, as well.
I can’t believe that this they pulled (”bounced” said the Admin Moderator) the MSN bra/breast study thread while this thread survived.....
This thread is so gay!
Although I agree with their premise/theory - that you can often tell someone's sexual orientation from subtle clues - their methods and sample size put them in the realm of not too serious "researchers."
Oh, I just KNEW this was going to be a fun thread!
Omigosh what a fun thread!
Oddly, the best roomie I ever had turned out to be a dyke. (Um no, not THAT kind of best roomie.) Once we settled the fact that I did NOT sleep through her bringing in one of her uh dates for a little whatever action I could hear going on across the room before the alarm clock went off... Trapped there by embarrassment, I didn’t hit the snooze button as was typical, LOL!
Gadzooks, Eric... 
Stop trying to Larry Craig me!
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
Im a womans man: no time to talk.
Music loud and women warm, Ive been kicked around
Since I was born.
And now its all right. its ok.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
The new york times effect on man.
Whether youre a brother or whether youre a mother,
Youre stayin alive, stayin alive.
Feel the city breakin and everybody shakin,
And were stayin alive, stayin alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive, stayin alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive.
Well now, I get low and I get high,
And if I cant get either, I really try.
Got the wings of heaven on my shoes.
Im a dancin man and I just cant lose.
You know its all right. its ok.
Ill live to see another day.
We can try to understand
The new york times effect on man.
Wait a minute. Are you implying that the BeeGees or their music is gay?
This will end up on Bill O’Reilly as proof that FR is a “hate site” that is unfriendly to folks who are gay through no fault of their own.
Next thing you’ll tell me is that the Village People were gay. Slander. Just stop it before you get us all sued.
Larry Craig was misunderstood.
He is NOT gay. He is bi-partisan. He was the kind of Senator who brought men together....a uniter, not a divider.
No, not at all...
If you want a gay bashing lyric you need Dire Straits.
= )
The only Dire Straits lyrics I know are “money for nothing and you chicks for free”
Plus the “Walk of Life” video which I loved with all the baseball bloopers followed by highlight reel catches to make a melodramatic point.
What gay bashing lyrics from them did I miss?
From “Money for Nothing”
See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that’s his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he’s a millionaire
See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy thats his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot hes a millionaire
We gotta install microwave ovesns
Custom kitchens deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour tvs
——— Same choice of words as dear Ann used in regards to John Edwards.
= )
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