Kan man se om en kvinna är lesbisk? Ja, det verkar inte så svårt, enligt studien ”Female Sexual Orientation Is Perceived Accurately, Rapidly, and Automatically from the Face and Its Features”, snart publicerad i Journal of Experimental Social Psychology:

Study 1 showed that female sexual orientation could be accurately judged from the face and from just eyes without brows and limited to the outer canthi. Study 2 then examined the speed and efficiency of these judgments, showing that judgments of the faces following very brief, near subliminal (40 millisecond) exposures were significantly better than chance guessing. Finally, Study 3 tested the automaticity of judgments of female sexual orientation by examining the effects of deliberation on accuracy. Participants who made snap judgments of female sexual orientation were significantly more accurate than participants who made thoughtful and deliberated judgments. These data therefore evidence a robust, reliable, and automatic capacity for extracting information about female sexual orientation from nonverbal cues in the face.

Tidigare har samma resultat funnits för homosexuella män. Det verkar svårt att smyga med sin läggning. Lika bra att komma ut! (Eller är det så att vissa lesbiska vill och lyckas förbli smygisar och att de av det skälet inte ingår i ovan nämnda studie?)