Who Has a Better Auditory Gaydar? Sexual Orientation Categorization by Heterosexual and Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People. 2023

Fabio Fasoli, and Anne Maass, and Luna Berghella
School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people are supposed to be better at gaydar than heterosexual. Across two studies we examined auditory gaydar performed by LGB and heterosexual listeners. In Study 1 participants (n = 127) listened to male and female speakers (n = 10) and judged their sexual orientation on a binary choice (gay/lesbian vs. heterosexual). In Study 2, participants (n = 192) judged speakers' (n = 31) sexual orientation on a Kinsey-like scale (1 = exclusively heterosexual, 7 = exclusively gay/lesbian). Results showed gaydar judgments differences in relative terms that did not indicate an overall gaydar accuracy. Moreover, LGB participants were not better at gaydar than heterosexual participants but rather showed a shift in criterion when making auditory gaydar judgments, namely they report a weaker straight categorization bias. Overall, these findings contribute to the understanding of sexual orientation categorization among heterosexual majority and LGB minority groups.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D001727 Bisexuality The sexual attraction or relationship between members of both the same and the opposite SEX.
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000072339 Sexual and Gender Minorities Individuals including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, gender non-conforming people, and other populations whose sexual orientation or GENDER IDENTITY and reproductive development is considered outside cultural, societal, or physiological norms. Gays,Gender Diverse,LGBTQ,LGBTQIA,Bisexuals,GLBT Persons,Gender Minorities,Homosexuals,LBG Persons,LGBT Persons,LGBTQ Persons,Lesbians,Lesbigay Persons,Men Who Have Sex With Men,Non-Heterosexual Persons,Non-Heterosexuals,Queers,Sexual Dissidents,Sexual Minorities,Women Who Have Sex With Women,Bisexual,Dissident, Sexual,Dissidents, Sexual,Diverse, Gender,GLBT Person,Gay,Gender Minority,Homosexual,LBG Person,LGBT Person,LGBTQ Person,Lesbian,Lesbigay Person,Minorities, Gender,Minorities, Sexual,Minority, Gender,Minority, Sexual,Non Heterosexual Persons,Non Heterosexuals,Non-Heterosexual,Non-Heterosexual Person,Person, GLBT,Person, LBG,Person, LGBT,Person, LGBTQ,Person, Lesbigay,Person, Non-Heterosexual,Persons, GLBT,Persons, LBG,Persons, LGBT,Persons, LGBTQ,Persons, Lesbigay,Queer,Sexual Dissident,Sexual Minority
D012725 Sexual Behavior Sexual activities of humans. Anal Sex,Oral Sex,Sexual Activity,Sexual Orientation,Premarital Sex Behavior,Sex Behavior,Sex Orientation,Sexual Activities,Activities, Sexual,Activity, Sexual,Behavior, Premarital Sex,Behavior, Sex,Behavior, Sexual,Orientation, Sexual,Sex, Anal,Sex, Oral
D018452 Homosexuality, Female Sexual attraction or relationship between females. Lesbianism,Female Homosexuality
D020010 Heterosexuality The sexual attraction or relationship between members of the opposite SEX. Heterosexuals,Heterosexual

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