What do you think of gaydar?

[Anonymous]

So, what’s your Superhero name since you have the Superhero power of gaydar...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m gay. 41. I definitely believe in gaydar. My husband thinks I’m nuts but I am very rarely wrong (which he fully acknowledges) . Only works on guys and I have no idea whether I could tell with a child that young, but even the guys I was sure were are gay who identified as straight eventually came out. I could probably count on one hand the times I was wrong (unfortunately one was a crush I overtly flirted with at a college swim party- then again I haven’t looked him in Facebook, so maybe)

Do I think straight people have good gaydar? Hell, no. The ones you are 90% sure after knowing them for a while I am seriously 100% sure in 30 seconds.

I get this. Every survey results in about 5% of men identifying as gay, though maybe a couple of points higher in large cities. Just by the way you look at each other and body language, it's something you pick up on. It's as if the other person is signaling they are in the 5%,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think sometimes when the radar is pinging but you can’t identify exactly why, it’s more about traditional masculine/heterosexual attributes that are missing rather than stereotypical gay attributes that you have picked up on.

And I believe that there are plenty of people, gay or not, who just don’t send out any noticeable vibes one way or another. I don’t believe anyone who claims that they “always know.”

This. There have been several times I've "known" someone was gay, and wondered what it was I was picking up on, since they didn't have stereotypical gay attributes. I think it's more that I noticed the lack of typical heterosexual attributes.

[Anonymous]

When a young guy commlimented me on my new purse. No straight guy would ever do that.


But, I hate term gaydar. It's like nails on a chalk board to me.

[Anonymous]

My gaydar has been accurate about 83% of the time. That said, I have met men whom I assumed were gay and in fact, were not. When It turns out I am wrong I just assume the gaydar crapped out on me again. Onto the next person.

[Anonymous]

Ok so what are ‘typical heterosexual attributes’ for a man?

[Anonymous]

I thought I had gaydar, but mine doesn’t work. I think my adult son is bi after a conversation last night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m gay. 41. I definitely believe in gaydar. My husband thinks I’m nuts but I am very rarely wrong (which he fully acknowledges) . Only works on guys and I have no idea whether I could tell with a child that young, but even the guys I was sure were are gay who identified as straight eventually came out. I could probably count on one hand the times I was wrong (unfortunately one was a crush I overtly flirted with at a college swim party- then again I haven’t looked him in Facebook, so maybe)

Do I think straight people have good gaydar? Hell, no. The ones you are 90% sure after knowing them for a while I am seriously 100% sure in 30 seconds.

Straight woman here. I agree. My gaydar sucks. I NEVER know. A gay friend/coworker of mine knew FOR YEARS a particular married politician was gay. The guy left his wife and came out about 10 years later. I assume this is MotherNature in some way. So you can find a mate.

[Anonymous]

that's nucking futs

[Anonymous]

When I was in Britain on a work trip I was surprised to find that almost every man working for our partner company was obviously gay. I was even more surprised when I met their wives/girlfriends. Took me a while to figure out that I needed to recalibrate my gaydar.

I think it's certainly possible to be able to guess at rates well above chance. At least if you're not dealing with a foreign culture.