Real Life ‘Gaydar’ Isn’t as Funny As it Seems

In case you’ve been living under a rock, ‘gaydar’ is the supposed ability to detect if others around you are gay.

Personally, I have a terrible gaydar, but according to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, scientists say it’s all in the face. The study featured 35,326 facial images and found certain consistencies within the LGBTQ population otherwise not seen in straight people.

Perhaps this information will be helpful next time you see someone you’re interested in, but there is a possibility this new information can be used to threaten the safety and privacy of LGBTQ people. As technology continues to evolve, the study foresees the feasibility that government and companies may use this algorithm to ‘uncover’ LGBTQ people without consent.

As trivial as a real-life gaydar sounds, it is something to be mindful of with all seriousness. For those who wish not to be outed by a webcam, this is a real threat to personal protection. The potential for this information to go from ‘statistically, that person has a gay symmetry to their face’ to ‘non-consensual knowledge of a person’s sexual identity’ is something to be mindful of.