Abstract
This paper examines eye-gaze associated with identity recognition among gay men and lesbians. Eye-gaze is argued to be crucial to forces that either trigger or reinforce one gay person’s perception of another person’s gay identity during social encounters. “Gaydar” is the folk concept used within the gay and lesbian culture to name this identity recognition device. An ethnography on Gaydar conducted over a period of three years reveals that eye-gaze in relation to Gaydar includes two different variations of visual contact, the direct and the broken stare. These types of gaze can be accentuated by the presence of other forms of nonverbal communication such as posture, gestures, and smiles. Consciousness in relation to eye-gaze is also discussed to be a distinct trigger and reinforcer of gay and lesbian identity recognition.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Argyle, M. & Cook, M. (1976). The gaze and mutual gazing. London: Cambridge University Press.
Argyle, M. & Dean, J. (1965). Eye-contact, distance and affiliation. Sociometry, 28, 289–304.
Bailey, J. & Pillard, R. (1991). A genetic study of male sexual orientation. Archives of General Psychiatry, 48, 1089–1096.
Baker, P. (2002). Polari—The lost language of gay men. New York: Routledge.
Bernstein, M. (1997). Celebration and suppression: The strategic uses of identity by the lesbian and gay movement. American Journal of Sociology, 103, 531–565.
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspectives and method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bohan, J. (1996). Psychology and sexual orientation: Coming to terms. New York: Routledge.
Brown, M. (2000). Closet space: Geographies of metaphor from the body to the globe. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1991). Imitation and gender insubordination. In D. Fuss (Ed.), Inside/Out: Lesbian theories, gay theories. (pp. 13–31). New York: Routledge.
Cass, V. (1979). Homosexual identity formation: A theoretical model. Journal of Homosexuality, 4, 105–126.
Chesebro, J. (1980). Paradoxical views of “homosexuality” in the rhetoric of social scientists: A fantasy theme analysis. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 66, 127–139.
Chesebro, J. (Ed.). (1981). Gayspeak: Gay male and lesbian communication. New York: Pilgrim Press.
Chesebro, J. (1994). Reflections of gay and lesbian rhetoric. In R. Ringer (Ed.), Queer words, queer images: Communication and the construction of homosexuality. (pp. 77–90). New York: NYU Press.
Corey, F. (1996). Performing sexual identities in an Irish pub. Text and Performance Quarterly, 16, 146–160.
Corey, F. (2002). Alexander. Communication Quarterly, 50, 344–358.
Cox, S. & Gallois, C. (1996). Gay and lesbian development: A social identity perspective. Journal of Homosexuality, 30, 1–30.
Cruikshank, M. (1992). The gay and lesbian liberation movement. London: Routledge.
Dank, B. (1971). Coming Out in the gay world. Psychiatry, 34, 180–197.
D’Augelli, A. & Patterson, C. (2001). Lesbian, gay, and bisexual identities and youth: Psychological perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Darsey, J. (1981). Gayspeak: A response. In J. Cheseboro (Ed.), Gayspeak: Gay male and lesbian communication. New York: The Pilgrim Press.
DeCecco, J., & Parker, D. (Eds.). (1995). Sex, cells, and same-sex desire: The biology of sexual preference. Birmingham, NY: Haworth Press.
Dillallo, K. & Krumholtz, J. (1994). The unofficial gay manual. New York: Main Street Books.
Dovidio, J., Keating, C., Heltman, K., Ellyson, S. & Brown, C. (1988). The relationship of social power to visual displays of dominance and affiliation between men and women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 233–243.
Drukman, S. (1995). The gay gaze, or why I want my MTV. In P. Burston & C. Richardson (Eds.). A queer romance: Lesbians, gay men and popular culture. New York: Routledge.
Ekman, P. & Friesen, W. (1969). The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: Categories, origins, usage, and coding. Semiotica, 1, 49–98.
Ellsworth, P. & Langer, E. (1984). Staring and approach: An interpretation of the stare as a nonspecific activator. In A. Katz & V. Katz (Eds.), Foundations of nonverbal communication. (pp. 111–118) Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
Exline, R. (1963). Explorations in the process of person perception: Visual interaction in relation to competition, sex and the need for affiliation. Journal of Personality, 31, 1–20.
Fernbach, D. (1998). Biology and gay identity. New Left Review Journal, 228, 47–66.
Garcia, N. (1998). Remaking passports: Visual thought in the debate on multiculturalism. In N. Mirzoeff (Ed.). The visual cultural reader. New York: Routledge.
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Goodwin, C. (2000a). Visual analysis: An ethnomethodological approach. In T. Van Leeuwen & C. Jewitt (Eds.). Handbook of visual analysis. (pp. 157–182). London: Sage Publications.
Goodwin, C. (2000b). Vision and inscription in practice. Mind, culture & activity, 7, 1–3.
Greenberg, D. (1988). The construction of homosexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Grindstaff, D. (1999). A rhetoric of the gay male body. Paper presented at the Natinoal Communication Association Conference, Chicago, IL.
Gross, L. (2002). Up from invisibility: Lesbians, gay men, and the media in America. New York: Columbia University Press.
Guerrero, L. (1997). Nonverbal involvement across interactions with friends, opposite-sex friends and romantic partners: Consistency or change? Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 14, 31–58.
Hamer, D., et al. (1993). A Linkage Between DNA Markers on the X Chromosome and Male Sexual Orientation. Science, 261, p. 326.
Harper, R., Wiens, A., & Matarazzo, J. (1978). Nonverbal communication: The state of the art. New York: Wiley and Sons.
Horowitz, J., & Newcomb, M. (2002). A Multidimensional Approach to Homosexual Identity. Journal of Homosexuality, 42, 1–19.
Jagose, A. (1997). Queer theory: An introduction. Washington Square, NY: New York University Press.
Jandt, F. & Darsey, J. (1981). Coming out as a communicative process. In J. Cheseboro’s (Ed.). Gayspeak: Gay male and lesbian communication. (pp. 12–42). New York: Pilgrim Press.
Kendon, A. (1967). Some functions of gaze direction in social interaction. Acta Psychologica, 26, 1–47.
Kimmel, D. & Sang, B. (1995). Lesbians and gay men in midlife. In A. D’Augelli & C. Patterson (Eds.), Lesbian, gay and bisexual identities over the lifespan. (pp. 190–214). New York: Oxford University Press.
Kleinke, C. & Taylor, C. (1991). Evaluation of opposite-sex person as a function of gazing, smiling, and forward lean. Journal of Social Psychology, 131, 451–455.
Leap, W. (1994). Can there be gay discourse without gay language? In M. Bucholtz, A. C. Liang,
L. Sutton, & C. Hines (Eds.), Cultural performances: Proceedings of the third Berkeley women and language conference. (pp. 399–408). Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Women and Language Group.
Leap, W. (1996). Word’s out: Gay men’s English. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnessota Press.
Leap, W. (1999). Language, socialization, and silence in gay adolescence. In M. Bucholtz, A. C. Liang, & L. Sutton. (Eds). Reinventing identities: The gendered self in discourse. (pp. 259–272). New York: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, R. (1997). Looking good: The lesbian gaze and fashion imagery. Feminist Review, 55, 92–109. Liang, A. C. (1999). Conversationally implicating lesbian and gay identity. In M. Bucholtz, A. C. Liang, & L. Sutton. (Eds). Reinventing identities: The gendered self in discourse. (pp. 293–310). New York: Oxford University Press.
Livia, A. & Hall, K. (Eds.). (1997). Queerly phrased: Language, gender, and sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Majors, R. (1992). Discovering gay culture in America. In L. Samovar & R. Porter (Eds.). Intercultural communication: A reader (7th ed.), (pp. 160–167). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, Self, and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mehrabian, A. (1969). Significance of posture and communication in the communication of attitude and status relationships. Psychological Bulletin, 71, 359–372.
Mischel, W. (1968). Personality and assessment. New York: Wiley and Sons.
Mulvey, L. (1988). Visual and other pleasures. Bloomington, IA: Indiana University Press.
Munt, S. (Ed.). (1998). Butch-Femme: Inside lesbian gender. London: Cassell Books.
Nardi, P. & Schneider, B. (Eds). (1998). Social perspectives in lesbian and gay studies. New York: Routledge.
Nicholas, C. (2003). Contextualized cues as identity recognition: An ethnography on Gaydar. Paper presented at the Central States Communication Association’s Annual Conference.
Painter, D. (1981). Recognition among lesbians in straight settings. In J. Chesebro (Ed.), Gayspeak: Gay male and lesbian communication. (pp. 68–79). New York: The Pilgrim Press.
Patterson, M. (1973). Compensation in nonverbal immediacy behaviors: A review. Sociometry, 36, 237–252.
Patterson, M., Jordan, A., Hogan, M., & Frerker, D. (1981). Effects of nonverbal intimacy on arousal and behavioral adjustment. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 5, 184–198.
Phillips, D. (2002). Negotiating the Digital Closet: Online Pseuudonymity and the Politics of Sexual Identity. Information, Communication, and Society, 5, 406–424
Plummer, K.. (1981). Going gay: Identities, life cycles, and lifestyles in the male gay world. In John Hart & Daine Richardson (Eds.). The theory and practice of homosexuality. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Plummer, K. (1996). Symbolic interactionism and the forms of homosexuality. In S. Seidman (Ed.) Queer theory/Sociology. (pp. 64–82). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Ponse, B.. (1998). The social construction of identity and its meanings within the lesbian subculture. In P. Nardi & B. Schneider (Eds.). Social perspectives in lesbian and gay studies. (pp 246–260). New York: Routledge.
Ringer, J.. (Ed.) (1994). Queer words, queer images: Communication and the construction of homosexuality. New York: New York University Press.
Risman B., & Schwartz, P.. (1988). Sociological research on male and female homosexuality. Annual Review of Sociology, 14, 125–147.
Rudd, N. (1992). Clothing as a signifier in the perceptions of college male homosexuals. Semiotica, 91, 67–78.
Rutter, D. (1976). Visual interaction in schizophrenic patients: The timing of looks. British, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 16, 357–361.
Rutter, D. (1984). Looking and seeing: The role of visual communication in social interaction. New York: Wiley and Sons.
Rutter, D., Stephenson, G., & Dewey, M. (1981). Visual communication and the content and style of conversation. British Journal of Social Psychology, 20, 41–52.
Sedgwick, E. (1990). Epistemology of the closet. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Seidman, S. (2002). Beyond the closet. New York: Routledge
Shaw, D. (1998). Gay men and computer communication: A discourse of sex and identity in cyberspace. In S. G. Jones (Ed.), Virtual culture: Identity and communication in cybersociety. (pp. 133–145) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Slagle, R. (1995). In defense of Queer Nation: From identity politics to a politics of difference. Western Journal of Communication, 59, 85–102.
Tieu, T. (1999). Rhetorical investigations into identity in gay Chicago. Paper presented at the 1999 National Communication Conference, Chicago.
Troiden, R. (1988). Gay and lesbian identity. New York: General Hall Inc.
Turner, W. (2000). A genealogy of queer theory. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Vicinus, M. (1988). They wonder to which sex I belong: The historical roots of modern lesbian identity. In D. Altman, C. Vance, M. Vicinus, & J. Weeks (Eds.), Homosexuality, which homosexuality? (pp. 65–75). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Wieder, D. & Pratt, S. (1990). On being a recognizable Indian among Indians. In D. Carbaugh’s (Ed.), Cultural communication and intercultural contact. (pp. 45–64). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nicholas, C.L. Gaydar: Eye-gaze as identity recognition among gay men and lesbians. Sex Cult 8, 60–86 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-004-1006-1
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-004-1006-1