Comments on: Handedness, hair whorls, and homosexuality

By: Encefalus

Encefalus — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:30:02 +0000

This research is interesting, but on the other side, it may be completely irrelevant to the subject and may be due to error on the researcher’s part. If you wish, check out my thoughts on homosexuality at http://encefalus.com/cognitive/homosexuality/

By: Homosexuality, evolutionary psychology and cognition | Encefalus

Homosexuality, evolutionary psychology and cognition | Encefalus — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:29:31 +0000

[...] Handedness, hair whorls, and homosexuality [...]

By: whorls going to the left

whorls going to the left — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:53:19 +0000

[...] often have … Klar also related this to hair whorls, which is the direction the hair on the top …http://intro2psych.wordpress.com/2007/12/26/handedness-hair-whorls-and-homosexuality/This my LandCrazy John, the lazy bastard, was no respecter of the dead or the living either, for [...]

By: Beryl Gilothwest

Beryl Gilothwest — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:06:04 +0000

Although the studies about the correlation between homosexuality and left handedness is very interesting, I think it is important to look at the issues that studies like this raise. For instance, neuropsychologist Simon Le Vay points out that “The data obscures the fast that most homosexuals are right-handed, and most left-handed people are heterosexual” (Quoted by Bode, 2000). He is making the point that, although the data raises some interesting point about the possible relationship between sexual orientation and traits, it is important to not use it to make generalizations about people with those traits.

Reference:

Bode, N. (2000, Nov/Dec). Sexuality at Hand. [Electronic version]Psychology Today Magazine. (Retrieved March 29, 2008 from http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20001101-000005.html)

By: Dorie Obertello

Dorie Obertello — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:01:24 +0000

When I saw this article, the first thing I thought of was another article I read over the summer in New York magazine. It’s called “The Science of Gaydar.” The article was really interesting, addressing the link between handedness, hair whorls, and homosexuality, but it also looked at other connections, adding a new level to the science of homosexuality.

“Gaydar,” for anyone that doesn’t know, refers to the ability to identify an individual, based on appearance and/or actions, as a homosexual. Other than hair direction and hand preference, finger lengths have been correlated to being gay. Men usually have a shorter index finger than ring finger, while women tend to be closer to equal, sometimes even reversing the relationship. Gay men generally mimic women’s fingers and gay women have relative lengths that follow the pattern of straight men.

But do people really scan crowds in search of finger lengths? Probably not, but it may be something we subconsciously identify as “masculine” or “feminine.” More striking was a study mentioned in the article that had participants identify voices as gay or straight. 75% of gay male voices were correctly categorized. Does this mean there is a “gay accent?” Who knows, but the connections are very interesting!

The whole article is long but for more information, here’s the link:
http://nymag.com/news/features/33520/