How many of us have Gaydar?

[icanuc]

I believe I have it. I just get an odd feeling about people and I end up usually being right. I cant explain how it works but it seems to with me. A lot of men don't have the stereo typical characteristics and I seem to be able to pick them out for one reason or another.

Share your experiences here with others as to weather your gaydar works or not.

[pellaz]

gaydar
its not only what they are looking at but how what they dress, how they walk, present them selves.

The old school gays are easy identifiable. Possibly the newer revision of gay could put enough effort into it no one would know, even their mother. Just at some point you got to step out of the closet. either way

[Kiid]

I'v heard of it. Is it like online dateing?

[edkrfv]

I used to have a profile there, but I deleted it. I dont like having profiles and pictures on the internet.

[Pix]

I have it, I can usually tell when a guy is gay (maybe bi) and can tell bi and gay women, even if they're not into me. I'm not sure how. With women it's just how they look at me (even if I don't interest them), it's different from how straight women do. I suppose it's something about how gay men look at me as well, different from other men, the only exception I can think of was when I saw 2 gay men together (who didn't look at me) and I knew they were gay before the PDA.

However, I can't really tell unless I'm there in person (so seeing them on a vid often doesn't work--though it has even then at times), and even in person it doesn't always work. While I don't recall ever been proven wrong on recognizing someone as gay, I did miss my current partner as bi. It's possible that because she'd only fooled around with 3 women and the last time was decades ago that she wasn't "strong enough" to register on my gaydar. I was really shocked when she came onto me hard. (She, OTOH, knew I was gay, mainly from how my partner at the time she first saw me acted. Luckily, others--at least not most others--didn't detect it there as it would've caused problems.)

I've also detected other types of people, so it's not just gaydar. As just one easy example, I was in a club and I instantly knew a guy I saw was a drug dealer, and later a guy who showed up told me he was. And there are more dramatic examples I could share, but they're more complicated or uncertain so I'll skip. Perhaps I developed this sixth sense when I was a runaway living on the streets. Or maybe that just refined it since growing up I had to be super aware of the temperamental adults around me and their moods and whims to expect.

And I recall a game friends taught me in the Bible Belt. On Sunday we'd go to the only store in town that had a few tables we could eat at and watch as the cars would drive up as the churches let out. From that I got very good at being able to tell a Baptist from a Pentecostal from a Lutheran or a Jehovah's Witness, and that was no matter where I was at or at what time. It was very subtle about how they dressed, walked, etc. (Though I've lost that ability since then and it's possible that this worked on the locals and people who were members of the same denomination in say another state might not have registered on me even back then, I don't know.)

Who knows, maybe these childhood games and survival skills are why I have a sharp (if not perfect) gaydar today.

[Inchante]

Gaydar is just picking up clues about a person based on observation and categorizing based on those clues, stereotyping in other-words, which we all do by our very nature. Though, some people are better at it than others. I am really bad at telling who is a lesbian or not. I think it has to do with the fact that I grew up in the rural Rockies where the men are men and the women are too. I can almost always tell if a man is gay, however.

[icanuc]

Gaydar is just picking up clues about a person based on observation and categorizing based on those clues, stereotyping in other-words, which we all do by our very nature. Though, some people are better at it than others. I am really bad at telling who is a lesbian or not. I think it has to do with the fact that I grew up in the rural Rockies where the men are men and the women are too. I can almost always tell if a man is gay, however.

I can seem to pick up on the men but do have some difficulty with the women. As for clues, I dont know as I seem to know right away as to whether they are or they aren't. They dont have to dress or look anything like the sterotypical gay person looks like or for that matter talk. They can be just an ordinary type...we are all so different but I do pick up that they are gay or bi.

[ceez]

my gaydar is pretty good, a lot better than my sisters . the key for me is the eyes.

[monk]

It's all in the eyes for me, too. There's a certain "look" that there's no mistaking.

[StevenL]

I don't think I have gaydar... I always assume the guys that I like are gay but you know lol it's not always the case. Maybe i do have gaydar but then I just don't care to use it??? Idk I guess i don't observe what around me enough....