Does "Gaydar" Even Exist?

When I got into high school, and... you know, wasn't out, there was a gay couple in school. One of the two, Anel, was the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life... I had a huge crush on him. This, of course, caused me to glance it him and his boyfriend... a lot.


I just admired them so much. They were proud of who they were, and kept their heads of while others shunned them. Also, I was a loner, so I didn't have much to do.


Since I glanced so much, he obviously noticed.


A year later, after he graduated and I was out, we talked on Facebook.

I told him I was gay, and I was asking for advice.

He gave me very, very good advice, and ended his paragraph with: ''By the way, I knew you were gay...''


I do believe gaydar exists. Like regular radars, they can sometimes fail you, but right now I think I'm really good at identifying gay people in the closet.

I can't explain how I know it exists, it just does. It's something you can feel.

 

I personally don't have good "gaydar" although I have heard that people who are gay actually tend to be better at identifying other people as being gay because of their mannerisms. Whether or not that's actually true, I don't know but I guess it would make sense.

---------- Post added 22nd Jul 2015 at 03:24 PM ----------

Here's an article about a scientific study about gaydar in homosexual vs. heterosexual people:
Gaydar really exists: Scientists prove gays can pick out fellow homosexuals | Daily Mail Online

I feel like this isn't completely conclusive because whether or not this "attention to detail" actually contributes to better gaydar isn't really addressed, but it's still interesting.

 

My gaydar is pretty good. I can just tell which gays are gay by talking to them for only a minute.

 

My gaydar is pretty spot on, everyone can spot the obvious gay guys, but I seem to have a bit of a knack to working out someone's closeted after 10-15 mins talking. I think having been closeted for nearly half my life I'm just good at spotting people who are in a similar situation to what I was.

 

I definitely have a horrible gaydar. Of course, I don't actively try to determine who is gay or straight.

Of some I suspected were gay; straight. Some I expected to be straight; gay.

Haven't met anyone who is bi, far as I know.

 

Don't hold me to this bc I can't remember exactly but I heard someone once postulate that it might have to do with pheromones and shit, humans do after all pick up on a lot about ppl unconsciously just like kissing can help our brains determine if our genetics are compatible. (SciShow has some shit on this stuff). Me personally I just think ppl give off certain vibes-regardless of mannerisms-which is pure speculation of course but there's my two cents.

 

Yes it does.

 

My friend says that his gaydar is top-notch. Surprisingly, it is.....

 

I just think gaydar is a silly name for people's abilities to pick up on certain social cues. Like some people are good at telling if you're being looked at, or just the way people respond to questions, look at you or the like. Through all these different subtle things you can maybe see someone is into you or at least shying away or any sort of response that could indicate that they are gay, in the closet, etc.

I don't think it is something that all gay people have, I think it develops over time. Some are better at picking up on it and others aren't. That's why some people say they have bad gaydar and others say they have great gaydar.

Maybe I'm just being weird with it. I guess to answer shortly I don't think it exists in the sense we think it does but it exists somehow.

 

Gaydar exists. I swear by it. I had a feeling that two of my friends were somewhat queer around the beginning of the school year in 2014 and by the time school let out a few months ago, I knew that one of them is ftm transgender and one of them is gay/bisexual. (She came out to me as bisexual but everyone keeps saying she's gay...?)

 

It's just some name that people use to guess whether people are gay or not based off of stereotypes most of the time.

 

No, I don't believe it does. It looks more like it relies on gut feelings more than anything.

 

Seems a bit more impossible with women at least, the majority of lesbians pass at straight in my experience. I probably wouldn't be obvious as gay in real life- even though I'm not as feminine as some people, and I've always had people be surprised other wise.

 

I don't think gaydar is real, it's more like how some people dream about things that happen in the future and when those things do happens, it feels like you've been here before. It's something that some humans have and no one can really explain it. The gaydar is something like that, honestly you can never really assume someone is gay and the best way to find out is to ask, if you suspect it and are right well it's that you are good at reading sexual orientation in people. Gaydar is how some people explain this

 

If you have a close attention to detail and are good at reading people, sure it can

 

I can take an educated guess, but I don't believe I have "gaydar."

It can be awkward when you read someone's sexual orientation before they've accepted it themselves.

Most of my false positives were the result of reading too deeply into someone's insecurity.

When it comes to detecting weaknesses, I'm like a shark sensing a drop of blood in the ocean! 3edgy5me

Some people can really surprise you... if they don't make a big deal out of their sexual orientation, then it might be hard to tell.

 

Couldn't have said it better

 

Same tbh I still have no idea how to tell if another girl is bi or gay just from talking to her, and especially making it hard is that even if you flirt with another girl most of the time she will just think you're really friendly (*sigh *) but I guess you do end up with a lot of straight female friends^^

For some reason though I have really good 'gaydar' picking up on gay or even bi men I have no idea how or why seeing as that isn't related to my orientation hardly at all :rolle: Weird!