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.
Totally agree with you (waste of money), and see my post, #52 on this thread. The “study” itself was not only a waste of money simply because its a waste of time, but then it was not even conducted in a manner to provide “scientific” results. A double waste of some portion of the school’s “research” budget.
Well this is a big duh ....
SWISH = Gay man walk.
If you can tell just by looking, how did Rock Hudson go so long before anyone knew?
Are those men or women?
You mean that they spent tax dollars to determine that gays sashay and lesbians trudge along like trolls? Sheesh!
I have the perfect study to get a grant on.
Do lesbian women prefer to chew, eat or lick their grilled cheese sandwiches??
No
Does anyone have a personal example of someone who they thought “looked, walked and talked” like a homo - but it turned out that person wasn’t?
I have a theory, which seems to be proven certainly by my experience, that if you ever think, “geez, that guy is a fag” it turns out to be true, even if way down the road.
Anyone have anecdotal experience which goes against that?
Many of the lesbians I’ve known (when I was a secretary at a liberal arts college) tended to be more tomboyish or athletic looking than thin.
From the “duh” files ...
H
softball players?
Dang these guys look like they’re out of the Capital One credit card commercial... ‘What’s in your wallet?’
LOL!
Are you sure they weren’t the male gays? (smile) They can look pretty good when they get all dressed up.
>> About some nerdish professors who studied the “jiggle quotient” (my term not theirs) for how womens’ breasts sway when they walk/run/exercise.
These two scientific groups should compare their results.
I think they should combine the studies ...
Any guy who doesn’t want to watch a scientist perform a breast jiggle quotient study must be gay.
Bomchicka-wah-wah!
H
Hmmmm, don’t know fer sure.
Shouldn’t that be “Dude look like a Lady” ?
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