Walk Like A Man

Casual observers are able to correctly detect whether strangers are gay or straight by the way they walk, according to a new UCLA study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Volunteers were filmed from behind walking on treadmills for 2 minutes and the videos were then played to 112 students who guessed people's sexual orientation to accuracy levels of 60%, reportedly using body shapes and gaits (such as hip-swaying for gay men) to make their judgments. "We already know that men and women are built differently and walk differently from each other and that casual observers use this information as clues in making a range of social judgments," UCLA study chief Kerri Johnson told Science Daily. "Now we've found that casual observers can use gait and body shape to judge whether a stranger is gay or straight with a small but perceptible amount of accuracy," she said, "Once you know a person's sexual orientation, the fact has consequences for all subsequent interactions, and our findings suggest that this category of information can be deduced from subtle clues in body movement," Johnson added. Meanwhile, in New York, the Daily News hailed 'new, super-masculine men' this week in a feature celebrating the apparent re-emergence of 'real men'. "But it's not enough to walk like a man: You've got to talk like one, too," the Post added, "Scientists have found that men who speak deeply are likely to father more children than guys with high-pitched squawk boxes. One theory: Women use a man's voice to judge masculinity. Deeper equals manlier," they suggested.