# Gaydar? Does it exist? Has it changed over the years? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 26, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-does-it-exist-has-it-changed-over-the-years/1013433 "2025-01-26T15:28:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 65
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-does-it-exist-has-it-changed-over-the-years/1013433/65 "2025-01-27T19:05:05Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > ETA that I wonder if in domains that attract many gay men there is some straightdar that happens? A hefty percentage of male flight attendants are gay. Well above their percentage in the larger world. I’d WAG it north of 30%, and maybe even above 50%. Very rich ore so to speak. I worked closely with that crowd for decades as the ranks of male FAs of any orientation swelled from very very darn few to nowadays ~30% of each group of new hires. As the number of males on the job increased, there began to be a real sub-society of the men amongst the vastly more numerous women, regardless of anyone’s orientation. And eventually the men became numerous enough that the gay and straight subgroups emerged as distinct groups, not just isolated individuals. Given all that exposure at work and at hotels & bars & eateries while off-duty on the road, I like to think I’ve got a fairly well-honed and well-exercised capability to tell them apart. Which really amounts to being good at spotting the far outliers in either group, but with a muddied middle. Once in awhile I’d get propositioned which I can attribute either to being obviously completely accepting of gayness as a non-issue, or maybe to a bit of metrosexuality in my off-duty dress or mannerisms. Anyhow, this interesting event from 20+ years ago suggests that while gaydar does exist, it’s highly flawed in both straight and gay men. As in “we see the obvious cases and congratulate ourselves while overlooking the massive confirmation bias inherent in our thinking”. For your reading pleasure: > [@What is the single largest screw up you've ever witnessed at your job?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-single-largest-screw-up-youve-ever-witnessed-at-your-job/721857/106): > > In a similar vein: The airline I worked for got bought by a larger competitor. So along the way we all got their uniforms. And once we were all dressed like them we began working together as one big blended group. At the old airline there was one just set of ties & pocket squares for the male flight attendants ("MFA"s). At the new airline there were 3: red, yellow, and blue. Each MFA was free to choose whichever color(s) he preferred. Officially there was no difference between them. UNoffi… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaydar-does-it-exist-has-it-changed-over-the-years/1013433)._