The Gaze of Gays
The gaze is based on motives and helps send messages between individuals (Nicholas 2004, p. 69). People can use gaze to try and tell someone that they are romantically interested in the person. One way to tell if someone is checking you out is to watch where they are looking. In the context of Gaydar, if someone is giving you the right look they could be a member of the LGBTQ+ community. What kind of gaze lets you know if they bat for the other team? In a study by Cheryl Nicholas (2004), researchers identified two kinds of eye gaze that is used between members of the gay and lesbian community (p. 73-75).
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Image Courtesy of GIPHY |
Image Courtesy of GIPHY |
DIRECT GAZE
The first is the direct gaze. This involves direct and prolonged eye-contact. This typically involves the intentional use of direct and prolonged eye-contact to gain recognition about their sexuality. One person wants the other person to know they are gay or lesbian (Nicholas 2004, p. 73-74). One of the reasons this tactic is so effective is because direct and prolonged eye-contact is known to cause arousal. In this situation, the person being gazed upon can either accept their gaze by returning the eye contact, or they can reject the gaze by not responding or using nonverbal cues to signal they are not interested. (Nicholas 2004, p. 74).
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BROKEN STARE
The second type of gaze that can be registered on a Gaydar is the broken stare. There are two versions of this. The first is called the “stare-look-away-stare-again” action. This usually occurs when the initiator or receiver is trying to be polite and not blatantly stare at the cute stranger across the room (Nicholas 2004, p. 75). Let’s face it, some people don’t like being stared down by a complete stranger no matter how attractive they are. Of course, with this broken stare, the slightly prolonged and direct eye-contact will be initiated again till someone makes a move.
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The second version of the broken stare is the “peek-aboo” action. This involves brief but intention looks out of the corner of the initiator’s eye (Nicholas 2004, p. 75). This happens frequently in a short period of time and results in a lot of eye movement. The end goal is to end in direct and prolonged eye-contact with the eye candy in question (Nicholas 2004, p.76). An important note about eye gaze though is that it’s intentional. The initiator wants the receiver to know they are being gazed at. This usually means they are trying to be recognized. So all of the credit shouldn’t go to your “Gaydar”. It mostly means you're good at picking up nonverbal cues.
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