A couple of newspapers you’ve never heard of (the Bloomington Pantagraph and the Colorado Springs Gazette, the latter in an effort to figure out Ted Haggard) recently featured an article about the “scientific” basis of gaydar. It seems that a few studies have found that gaydar really does exist. It may even be an olfactory thing:
If you ask me, there are larger questions here. First, does the Bloomington Pantagraph really expect us to believe that their “WTF” section stands for “Weird Trivia and Facts”? Second, why do studies like this always focus on characteristics like “a narrower, more feminine gait and distinct, lispy pronunciation of words”? We lesbians are left with nothing but bi-curious shoes. (No, I won’t put another picture of Tina Fey here. But you know I want to.)Another study, by researchers at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, asked participants to sniff the underarm odors of gay and straight men and women. Researchers found gay men strongly prefer the smell of other gay men, while lesbians and straight men and women find the scents of gay men least appealing.
