For those living in the UK, I’m told that not being a football fan is a sure giveaway. This might apply to stage more than film, though. I don’t put much stock in this, as I’ve known gay men so muscular and scary that you’d soil yourself if you met them in a dark alley, as well as some lesbians who were feminine enough to work in strip clubs, teasing the hell out of the married men.Īnother tip that was passed along was that all actors are gay. The most well known of these clues is the idea that gay men have feminine characteristics and lesbians have masculine ones. It seems that numerous clues wait for those who are observant. Yet, most of their tips had to do with behavioral characteristics. I learned about the long fingers from another co-writer. Knowing that they are a worldly and informed group, I asked them to share any tips they had heard. I learned this from one of my co-writers here at PopMatters. It’s not often you hear someone say, “Oh wow, would you look at how many ridges that guy has?”Īpparently, gay men can’t whistle. We also have more ridges on our fingers, but I don’t think that’s going to help much. Various studies have shown that gay men have both larger fingers and penises (score one for our side). In addition to the toe test (which can be difficult to discreetly determine most anywhere outside of a beach), there are other parts of the body that might serve as clues. The first order would be to look for physical traits. I didn’t get as many responses about woman as I did about men, but I did learn a few things.
To see if people knew of any sign of gayness with which I was unfamiliar, I started checking with folks about the subject. It might be some behavior or a noticeable physical characteristic. I mean some gene that can alert even the straightest of persons. Still, if it’s true that homosexuality is genetic, is there some built-in DNA marker that will tip off any observant person? I don’t mean “gaydar”, the sixth sense radar that gay men and women use to meet new “friends” in straight bars. My cowboy boots come with a built-in redneck swagger that my loafers are lacking.
As for the methods proposed by my friends, I don’t use straws, and the way I walk is more closely related to the shoes I’m wearing than my sexual orientation. I just left that one alone.Īre there certain cues that can tip you off as to whether a person is gay or not? Do all lesbians own at least one flannel shirt? Do all gay men have a heightened fashion sense? One look at my wardrobe will tell you that the answer is no. Gay men also have a unique way of sucking on a straw, she said. So is the way a man walks gay men, my friend proposed, have a certain walk, “and I don’t mean the stereotypical swishy walk.” I’m not sure what she did mean, though. What I learned was that big toes seem to be a giveaway. This led to a disagreement about the sexual orientation of a man sitting at the bar, which led to a conversation about how you could tell if a man was gay. I was sitting with friends in a Dallas restaurant, engaged in one of our favorite activities: making up stories about the other patrons.
“I’ve noticed that all the gay men I’ve known have had large big toes.”