Gaydar (a portmanteau of gay and radar) is the intuitive ability to determine whether another person is gay (homosexual), or heterosexual. The function of "gaydar" relies on non-verbal sensory information and intuitions. These include the sensitivity to social behaviour and mannerisms: for example; a sensitivity to flamboyant or overt rejection of traditional gender roles (including occupation and grooming habits). Gaidar may refer to one of the following. ... A portmanteau (IPA: ) is a word or morpheme that fuses two or more words or word parts to give a combined or loaded meaning. ... GAY can mean: Gay, a term referring to homosexual men or women The IATA code for Gaya Airport Category: ... For other uses, see Radar (disambiguation). ... GAY can mean: Gay, a term referring to homosexual men or women The IATA code for Gaya Airport Category: ... A bagpiper in Scottish military clan-uniform. ...

Scientific research

A study by the Philadelphia's Monell Chemical Senses Center, published in the Journal of Psychological Science found that "gay men were found to be particularly good at detecting the scent of other gay men". ^{[1] [2]} The Monell Chemical Senses Center is an independent institute, established in 1968, dedicated to research on the senses of taste, smell, and chemosensory irritation. ...

William Lee Adams, an undergraduate at Harvard, replicated earlier work by his advisor, Dr. Nalini Ambady who is now at Tufts University. Ambady's original study published in 1999 showed that homosexuals are better at correctly identifying sexual orientation than heterosexuals from silent videos and photographs. Adams' research, started in 2004, focused exclusively on the face, the focal point of most social interaction.^[3][4] This finding was elaborated by Ron Smyth and colleagues in 2003.^[5]

Criticism

Some feel the idea of "gaydar" has a negative effect on the perception of sexual orientation because it typifies and thus restricts the individuality of those who are detected.^[6][7] The news organisation The Onion satirizes the obsession with appearances and the naive claims to scientific discovery in the article "I Can Instantly Tell Whether Someone Is African-American With My Amazing 'Blackdar'". ^[8] The Onion is a United States-based parody newspaper published weekly in print and daily online. ...

Entertainment

The "Gaydar" given to Dwight on The Office.

• In the Futurama episode "Love's Labors Lost in Space", Bender has what he claims is a literal gaydar - i.e., an actual electronic device that detects homosexuality. The device characterizes nearly every man it evaluates as gay.
• In The Office (US) episode "Gay Witch Hunt" Jim tells Michael and Dwight that they sell a gaydar device at The Sharper Image. Jim later sends a modified metal detector to Dwight, who believes it to be a genuine gaydar device. He becomes concerned when his belt buckle sets it off, thinking it is indicating that he is gay.
• In the NCIS episode 'Iced,' Special Agent Timothy McGee "sets off gaydar on the entire northeastern seaboard" according to Special Agent Tony DiNozzo.
• In the Friends episode "The One Where Nana Dies Twice" (originally broadcast 1994), Chandler has a discussion with a gay work colleague about rumours that Chandler is gay. The colleague says he knows that he isn't, and that he can nearly always tell whether someone is or not, adding, with heavy irony, that "his people" have "a kind of radar" to tell.
• In the Ellen episode "The Puppy Episode" (originally broadcast April, 1997), Ellen Degeneres' character learns the concept of gaydar as part of her coming out process. She then explains it to her friends, "I must be giving off one of those vibes again. That's what we do...we give off vibrations and then we pick up the vibrations from our gaydar...so I've heard."
• A segment on The Daily Show shows a man from England named David Eliot who created a Gaydar pager device to send vibrations to others carrying the same device. Another episode focusing on gay marriage in Massachusetts uses a fictional "gay detection device" or "gay radar" called a Homometer that provides feedback by emitting louder gay mannerisms.
• In The L Word season one episode Let's Do It, Dana acknowledges her lack of Gaydar after admitting to Alice and Shane she is unable to read the signals from people around her.
• In Buffy, after Kennedy asks her how long she's enjoyed sleeping with women, Willow responds, "Hey! And what, you think you have some sort of special "lesbidar" or something?" to which Kennedy replies, "Okay, you know there's a better word for that, right?"
• In the movie The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen's characters are playing video games while in a joking argument about how they know how the other must be gay. Rudd's character says, "You know how I know you're gay?" to which Rogen's character counters, "Because you're gay, and you can tell if other people are gay?"
• In the It's Good to Be Queen episode of the series American Dad!, Stan is equipped with a Gaydar watch around his wrist, which doesn't seem to be working at the time.
• In the show Gay, Straight or Taken?, a single female contestant dates three guys: one is gay, one is straight and the third has a girlfriend. Her goal is to identify the straight guy who is single in order to win a vacation with him. To do so, she must use her "Gaydar".
• Saturday Night Live had a recurring sketch about a woman without Gaydar played by Rachel Dratch.
• In the Australian version of "Playing It Straight" the dog on the ranch was named "Gaydar"
• In a sketch known as "Cultural Explorer" on Mind of Mencia, in which the host explores the gay community, the gay person he was walking with claimed to have Gaydar.

Image File history File links Gaydar. ... Image File history File links Gaydar. ... This article is about the television series. ... Loves Labors Lost in Space is the 4th episode in Season 1 of Futurama. ... Look up Bender in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Bender may refer to one of the following. ... This article is about the USA version of The Office. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Office (US) Gay Witch Hunt is the first episode of the third season of The Office (U.S. version). ... James Jim Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. ... Michael Gary Scott (born March 15, 1964) is a fictional character on NBCs The Office portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version of The Office. ... Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a fictional character on the NBCs The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. ... The Sharper Image Corporation NASDAQ: SHRP,founded by Richard Thalheimer, is a speciality retailer that operates throughout the United States. ... NCIS is a CBS network show about a team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. ... For friendship, see friendship. ... The One Where Nana Dies Twice is an episode of the television situation comedy Friends. ... Look up Ellen, ellen in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Daily Show (currently The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) is a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning American satirical television program produced by and airing on Comedy Central. ... The L Word is a television drama series on Showtime that portrays the lives, loves and learnings of a group of lesbian and bisexual women and their friends, family and lovers in Los Angeles. ... Lets Do It, Lets Fall in Love (1928) is the first of Cole Porters famous list songs. ... Information Gender Female Occupation Professional Tennis Player Family Iwin Fairbanks (Father) Sharon Fairbanks (Mother) Howard Fairbanks(Brother) Portrayed by Erin Daniels Created by Ilene Chaiken Dana Fairbanks was a fictional character on the Showtime television network series The L Word, shown nationally in the United States. ... Alice Pieszecki is a fictional character on the Showtime television network series The L Word, shown nationally in the United States. ... Information Gender Female Occupation Hairdresser Family Gabriel McCutcheon (Father) Shay McCutcheon (Brother) Portrayed by Katherine Moennig Created by Ilene Chaiken Shane McCutcheon is a fictional character on the Showtime television network series The L Word, shown nationally in the United States. ... For other uses, see Buffy the Vampire Slayer (disambiguation). ... Kennedy (surname unknown) is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... Willow Rosenberg (born either in 1980 or very early 1981 in Sunnydale, California) is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a 2005 American comedy film, written by Judd Apatow and co-written by Steve Carell, though it featured a great deal of improvised dialogue. ... Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American film, television, and stage actor. ... Seth Rogen (born April 15, 1982 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and Emmy-nominated writer. ... Image:AmericanDad210. ... American Dad! is a satirical American animated television series produced by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions for 20th Century Fox. ... Gay, Straight or Taken? is a reality television series that debuted on January 8, 2007 on Lifetime Television. ... This article is about the American television series. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Playing It Straight was a 2004 American reality show in which one woman spent time on a ranch with a group of men in an attempt to discern which of them were homosexual and which of them were heterosexual. ... Mind of Mencia is an American television comedy show on the cable channel Comedy Central. ...

Further reading

• Gaydar by Donald F. Reuter (ISBN 0-609-61102-X)
• The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey (ISBN 0-309-08418-0)
• Public Radio Program on gaydar
• Psychology Today: Queer Eyes: Blips on the Gaydar
• The Science of Gaydar: The new research on everything from voice pitch to hair whorl

See also

• Biometrics
• Homosexuality
• Genetics and sexual orientation
• Gaydar (website)
• Fruit machine
• Gay lisp
• Metrosexual

At Walt Disney World, biometric measurements are taken from the fingers of guests to ensure that the persons ticket is used by the same person from day to day For the use of statistics in biology, see Biostatistics. ... Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ... The genetic factors influencing sexual orientation are controversial, and research in this area is ongoing. ... Gaydar is a worldwide, profile-based dating website for gay and bisexual men, women, and couples who are at least 18 years old. ... The fruit machine is a jocular term for a device developed in Canada that was supposed to be able to identify homosexuals. ... A gay lisp is actually not a lisp but refers to stereotypical speech attributes assigned to and sometimes seen in gay males. ... It has been suggested that Ãœbersexual be merged into this article or section. ...

Notes