How did the "Gaydar" Myth come to be?
Living in the 21st Century, homosexuality has become something that we all are familiar with. Many times, identifying as a gay man or a lesbian woman puts individuals in a situation where they might not feel entirely safe. Unfortunately, in the next couple of months, as our country transitions into a new presidency, members of the LGBTQA+ community will become more vulnerable to the “gaydar” myth.
In the early 2000’s, when homosexuality was becoming more accepted within our society, there were reality shows geared towards highlighting the stereotypes people use to try and identify someone’s sexual orientation and trying to create awareness about the effects of simply assuming someone’s sexuality (Bennett, 2006).
"A person’s gaydar is usually based off of what they see in society, particularly what they see in the media. There is a common belief about the legibility of sexual orientation has been well reflected in mainstream media" (Bennett, 2006).Image Courtesy of http://smartgaylife.com/lgbt-history-protected/ |
Recently, we saw an episode on the comedy show Fresh off the Boat that gave an appropriate example; the episode titled “Blind Spot” is depicts a “gay detection” storyline. Similarly, in the ABC hit show How to Get Away with Murder, there is an openly gay main character, Connor Walsh. Even though his character exhibits most of the stereotypical characteristics of a gay man, actor Jack Falahee declined to make a comment about his own real life sexual orientation while many of his fans try to assume whether he is also gay or not, until recently when he announced on his social media that he is “not gay but an ally” (Juzwiack, 2016). Perceivers use what they see on television and other media outlets and “call upon a number of signals, such as clothing and jewelry, to distinguish gay from straight individuals”(Rule, 2016).
Image from Fresh Off the Boat; Courtesy of http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/fresh-boat-blind-spot-217348 The problem with the “gaydar” myth is that those who fall prey to it usually base their assumption about an individual solely on nonverbal cues, focusing on hand gestures, eye gaze, posture, and vocalic cues, that society has stereotypically associated with the homosexual/Queer community. Researchers have also concluded that many times, gay men and lesbian women “accommodate their behavior to social stereotypes, so that the overall picture of the nonverbal communication of a homosexual man seemed rather ‘female’, whereas lesbian women tended to assume ‘masculine’ patterns of behavior” (Carroll & Gilroy, 2002; Webbink, 1981, cited in Knöfler & Imhof, 2007).
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