Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN

It’s in the Way He Walks

The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology has released a new study that looks at 'gaydar,' that elusive quality by which some people seem to be able to pick out the LGBT members of a crowd. What they've found is that 'gaydar' seems to be all about body type and motion, and specifically about the (yes) rear-end movements of the subject being observed. "112 undergraduate observers were shown videos of the backsides of the volunteers as they walked at various speeds on the treadmill," the Journal reports. "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." Interesting. But what does it have to do with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" you ask? Well, as Bilerico.com explains, the study's author actually suggests that the findings may prove that the military's ban is completely irrelevant. "Studies like ours are raising questions about the value of the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," the author 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." So perhaps a soldier's sexual orientation is pretty difficult to hide anyway. And if it is, what's the use in trying to cover up a characteristic - especially one that has nothing to do with job performance - when it's all given away in the way he walks? - Steve Ralls

Labels: bilerico, in the news, other blogs

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09-05-07