Do you think you can tell whether a person is gay or straight simply by looking at them? Well, you could be right, say experts.
Two science educators have scoured the research behind so-called ‘gay face’ — the theory that homosexuals have certain facial characteristics in common.
And, according to science, it is a real thing — with some of us better at spotting it than others.
The phenomenon was investigated Mitch Moffit, a biologist, and Greg Brown, a science teacher — who both happen to be gay — in a bid to unearth the facts.
And surprisingly, the pair discovered that ‘gay-face’ isn’t anything to do with looking masculine or feminine.
Gay face is term used by some members of the LGBT community for being able to spot someone isn’t straight simply by looking at their visage, and according to experts it’s a real thing
Multiple studies spanning over a decade have explored the phenomenon as well as who is better at spotting the features that make a face ‘gay’
Gay face has been the subject of research for over a decade.
Early studies dating back to 2011 found homosexual men had more symmetrical faces than their heterosexual counterparts.
But as Mr Brown highlights, these didn’t account for different grooming practices or cosmetic procedures more common among gay men.
In a YouTube clip which aired earlier this month on their channel AsapSCIENCE — which has been viewed over 100,000 times — he said: ‘Us gay guys, we like to pluck our eyebrows keep our beards nice and trim.
‘I know a lot of gay men who have Botox and filler trying to make their faces symmetrical.’
It was only in 2015, when researchers started using software to map the physical structure of faces in minute detail that more underlying patters started to form.
Mr Moffit said this research found ‘gay men had shorter noses and larger foreheads compared to their straight counterparts’.
He added: ‘Research on lesbian faces found that on average the lesbians in the study had more upturned noses and smaller foreheads than their straight counterparts.’
A particular interesting aspect of this study was that these gay faces were not tied to people rating these faces as either masculine or feminine looking.
‘So, a gay man could still have a very masculine looking face but also be considered to have a gay looking face and vice versa for lesbians,’ Mr Moffit said.
YouTube creators Mitch Moffit, an expert in biological science, and Greg Brown, a science teacher, recently discussed the trend, including one study which found gay men had shorter noses and larger foreheads compared to straight counterparts
The same team found lesbian had, on average, more upturned noses and smaller foreheads than heterosexual ones
This suggested that gay face was itself an independent variable and not simply tied to perceptions of masculinity or femininity.
The study was then taken to another level in 2021 when Spanish researchers took images of people’s faces and then morphed them to exaggerate have the features previously identified as gay face such as the shape of the nose and forehead.
These images were crafted on a scale going from the person’s original face to become increasingly exaggerated gay features.
Mr Moffit explained when these faces were assessed by volunteers they found ‘the more exaggerated the gay features were the more likely the volunteers were to think that that person was gay’.
This suggested that having a ‘gay face’ was more of a spectrum with varying degrees rather than a simple binary of either having it or not.
The final piece of research analysed involved scientists feeding an AI with 35,000 images from dating sites of both gay and straight people.
This AI was able to deduce if a man was gay with 81 per cent accuracy. The algorithm was also able to guess if a woman was gay with 74 per cent accuracy.
Examples of the computer generated images used in the 2021 Spanish study. Images grow increasingly altered to express homosexual traits from left to right with 1 being the most straight and 5 being the most gay
When examined by volunteers the more exaggerated the gay features the more likely people were to think that person was gay. This suggested having a ‘gay face’ was more of a spectrum with varying degrees rather than a simple binary of either having it or not
Mr Moffit and Mr Brown, who put their own faces through some of the trends analysed by scientists, said it crucial to remember the studies showed trends and there were individuals found who were gay but didn’t have ‘gay face’ and vice versa
It also found that gay men had larger foreheads and narrower jaws, while lesbians had smaller foreheads and larger jaws in comparison to their straight counterparts.
But not all of us are as good at detecting a gay face equally.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, gay people themselves were more adept than their heterosexual counterparts.
But women, of all sexualities, were also on average better than men at detecting gay face, particularly when looking at gay men with overall 75 per cent accuracy.
This is consistent with broader research showing women are generally better at facial processing, the term scientists give for the process of gleaning information based on looking at people’s faces, than men.
But another interesting aspect of the research found people who were less prejudiced against gay people were better at detecting gay face.
In theory, this is because homophobic people might have a very narrow view of what a gay person is ‘supposed’ to look like and dismiss people who don’t fit this stereotype as heterosexual.
But when it comes to why gay people have differently shaped faces in the first place, scientists aren’t sure.
One theory suggests genetics could be a factor and that differences in hormone levels could both influence a person’s sexuality as well as their facial structure.
Mr Brown was also keen highlight some of the potential limitations of this research and how it could be used against gay people.
‘It’s worth bringing up the genuine concern and critiques that this type for research can bring up,’ he said.
‘Whether this is going to like be technology that’s weaponized against us queer people.
‘Scanning people’s faces and then sorting them into gay or straight seems like a dystopian movie.
He also highlighted that while such studies highlight overall trends they aren’t without exceptions and that there were individuals found who were gay but didn’t have ‘gay face’ and vice versa.
According to the latest official census data, approximately 3.2 per cent of the population of England and Wales, equivalent to 1.5million people, identify as not being heterosexual.