This study examined the relationships between accurate perception of individuals' sexual orientation from limited silent videotapes, or gaydar, and personal demographics such as sex and sexual orientation. It also further scrutinized sexual orientation identity recognition into a more complex phenomenon called straightdar: the extent to which one can correctly identify straight individuals. Finally, this investigation further examined the use of particular nonverbal behaviors involved in the communicative phenomenon of sexual orientation identity recognition and impression formation. Despite the inability to create a highly reliable measure of gaydar/straightdar to test the stated hypotheses and research questions, data indicate that gay men and lesbians perceived the sexual orientation of gay targets with more accuracy than straight individuals, and that females perceive the sexual orientation of straight targets with more accuracy than males. Furthermore, data indicate that kinesic movements and others associated with the facial area or general appearance are reported to be utilized as significant cues in the accurate judgment of an individual's sexual orientation.
