Tufts University graduate student Nicholas Rule, known for a study published last year that suggested a man’s sexual orientation can be “accurately and rapidly perceived” merely by looking at his face, is back at it again.  This time around Rule’s study finds female faces easily convey which gender turns them on.  In a recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Rule wrote, “sexual orientation is perceived accurately, rapidly and automatically from women’s faces.  Deliberation and thinking too much seems to disrupt this ability.”

For the study, Rule collected photos from online dating sites: 98 photos of women who identified as straight and 94 photos of women that identified as lesbians, all the women were white and in their 20s. The photos were cropped to include just the face and then cropped again to just show the eyes.  Study participants – 16 undergraduate women and 5 undergraduate men -  then were asked to make a decision as to the sexual orientation of these women.  The first study required them to make a snap-judgment about the sexual orientation of the women in the photos while a separate study required them to deliberate more on their decision.

Rule found the snap-judgment group had a higher level of accuracy than the deliberative group, suggesting one can easily identify the sexual orientation of another if too much thought isn’t given to it.  Yes, because so many of us have lost sleep over a faulty gaydar. *sarcasm*

According to Rule, “it remains unknown what aspects of the face and its features may underlie these judgment.  One hypothesis would be that lesbian women’s faces are somehow more masculine, whether by nature, nurture or both.”

Hmmm. I can’t help but wonder if the 94 lesbian women chosen were based on Rule’s stereotype of what a lesbian looks like.  I’ve looked in many a lesbian’s eyes and no two lesbians’ eyes are created equal.  Please believe it. Now looking in a woman’s eyes and seeing the crazy that lies within, now that’s another story all together.

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