Gay Men Share Women's Talent for Poor Map Reading

UK Telegraph ^ | 2.25.05 | Rodger Highfield

[gopwinsin04]

Homosexual men share the same relatively poor map reading skills as heterosexual women, according to a new study.

Earlier research found men better than women at finding their way around in a 'virtual reality' maze, relying on geometric cues while women rely more on landmarks.

Yesterday, the University of East London's Dr. Qazi Rahman reported in Behavioural Neuroscience Magazine that homosexual men used more landmarks during map reading than heterosexual men, adopting a blend of male and female navigational strategies.

They investigated map reading by 20 homoesexual men, 20 heterosexual men, and 20 lesbains.

The group memorized routes and was then asked to provide directions on how to get from one place to another.

[almcbean]

I'll start- GPS = Gay Positioning Satellite.

[Nick Danger]

I wonder if this means that if you ask a gay guy for directions, he tells you things like, "Go down this street until you see the plastic cow, then turn left and go a ways to the shuffleberry hedge."

Since Real Men® do not ask for directions, it probably doesn't matter. Women can follow directions like that.

[Miss Behave]

"Gay Men Share Women's Talent for Poor Map Reading"

And bull dyke lesbians share men's talent in not asking for directions when completely lost.

[savedbygrace]

Someone could almost say homosexual men don't know where they are or where they're going . . . but at least they're dressed nice.

I wouldn't say that, but someone could.

[PUGACHEV]

The article is misleading. The lead paragraph states that homosexual men share the poor map reading ability of women because they rely more on landmarks. But the research reported only states that homosexual men use a blend of male and female strategies in map reading. This may be a better approach, combining perhaps the best of both worlds, or it may be worse. From what's written in the article we can't tell.

[Disambiguator]

I agree with another poster that the sample size is WAY too small. Maybe someone should ask Lawrence Summers what he thinks.

[edcoil]

Maps, real men don't need no stinking maps! 8-)

[mikrofon]

Actually, you're more apt to have gay men at les bains than lesbians...

[Diddle E. Squat]

Maps aren't the only thing they don't know the proper use of.

LOL

[almcbean]

I don't recall the article saying anything about size. Size don't matter.

[Grampa Dave]

"OK, folks, 'fess up. Regardless of your gender or orientation, if you're driving south, and need to consult a road map, do you have to turn the map upside down for it to make sense to you?

"If so, you're an idiot. But I'm not convinced it has much to do with sexuality."

My wife has to do that. Her IQ is in the mid 140 range. She made one B in Highschool, College and Nursing School and the rest were A's. She reads at about 2000 wpm with a 95%+ comprehension score. She will remember right and left directions to and from a place, a decade later.

However, if she hasn't been to a place yet, she has to rotate a map. This past Wednesday, we went to a birthday party for our grandson. The place of the party was 4 miles due east on the main road from his home, one right turn south for two blocks, a left turn due east for 3 blocks to the parking lot. Even rotating the little computer map she had problems.

Our granddaughter laughed at her. On the way home from the party, I let my wife tell us how to get to their home, and she had no problem.

She is direction blind. She couldn't tell you which way was East at our home unless she saw the sun.

[lepton]

It would be interesting to compare these to male musicians.

[CatoRenasci]

You should understand that when studies of this sort are done, it does not imply that all women are poorer map readers than all men; rather that most men are better map readers than most women.

I've known a few women who were exceptional map readers, but not many. Just as I have known some men who couldn't read a map to save their lives (literally -- I taught target acquisition at the artillery school and there were guys who were absolutely hopeless with topographical maps). I learned to read topographical maps as a kid, starting with the area surrounding my hometown, where I could easily associate the map with features I recognized. It was then much easier to look at a topographical map and visualize the terrain features, and to orient a map to an unfamiliar landscape. I tried mightily to teach my daughters to read topographical maps, even doing some orienteering with them, but they just couldn't associate the graphical depiction through contour lines with the actual terrain. They can't even effectively read two-dimensional road maps, despite years of practice.

[ArrogantBustard]

Gay Men Share Women's Talent for Poor Map Reading

This is a thoroughly hosed up headline. Since when is doing something badly a "talent"?

[rockabyebaby]

>>>Has HARVARD been notified of this development?........<<


LMAO! Where are the militant feminazi's???????? LOL!

[aculeus]

Looks like the Telegraph changed (improved) their headline.

[Rifleman]

Ahhh...that turns out not to be the case.

The Ancient Sargent (a redleg) that taught me map reading told us to _always_ orient the map to match the direction that you are facing. As did the flight instructor who put the final polish on my geographical literacy. Sure you can do that affine transform in your head but why burn the skull cycles and risk an error.

If someone tells you not to turn the map, it just means that they don't know what they are doing.

A tip: learn how to fold a map.

http://www.catskillhikes.com/mapfold.html

A variation of this works fine for the cheapo road maps you buy at the corner filling station.