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06/18/2007

Gaydar: Do You Have A Counter-Clockwise Whorl?

Whorls

If you're reading Towleroad, it's more likely than not that you do.

The Science of Gaydar [new york magazine]

Posted Jun 18, 2007 at 1:35 PM EST by in Genetics, Nature, News | Permalink

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Comments

  1. My whorl is perfectly clockwise. I always wondered if I was merely a sensitive straight guy.

    Posted by: woodroad34 | Jun 18, 2007 1:43:57 PM


  2. Suddenly half the men in Hollywood are considering shaving their heads as a 'career move'.

    Posted by: peterparker | Jun 18, 2007 1:47:33 PM


  3. My hair whorl id clockwise and I am as gay as anyone can be, so this seems to be complete bullshit!

    Posted by: don't buy it | Jun 18, 2007 1:49:14 PM


  4. Did you call me a whore-l?

    Posted by: Marc | Jun 18, 2007 1:53:21 PM


  5. I am counter-clockwise - I never noticed before. I'm also left-handed. No wonder I'm a big 'Mo.

    Posted by: sam | Jun 18, 2007 1:56:12 PM


  6. I have no idea which way mine goes, and more amazingly, as much time as I've spent looking at the back of my boyfriend's head, I couldn't tell you which way his goes either. :P

    Posted by: mp | Jun 18, 2007 2:00:07 PM


  7. I'm right-handed with a clockwise whirl and larger ring finger yet still gay and my identical (mirror) twin brother is left-handed with a counter clockwise whirl, yet straight. Are these categories helpful at all? The article offers a grab-bag of studies, some more credible than others, but a coherent third-sex they do not make.

    Posted by: GBM | Jun 18, 2007 2:04:07 PM


  8. Me: Hey, hair, am I gay?
    Hair: Yes.
    Me: Cool, thanks.

    Posted by: Iko | Jun 18, 2007 2:04:54 PM


  9. David France makes Nigeria sound kinda like my home town...

    Posted by: bigggnasty | Jun 18, 2007 2:22:18 PM


  10. I suspect traits like those listed in the article refer to groups of people who arrived at homosexuality through a very specific developmental pathway. I don't match any of the mentioned indicators for homosexuality, other than the rather obvious "men who enjoy having sex with men are more likely to be homosexual" indicator.

    Posted by: scientitian | Jun 18, 2007 2:26:42 PM


  11. Clockwise here as well.

    Posted by: BDD | Jun 18, 2007 2:29:18 PM


  12. Actually, I have a double crown, and they're both counter clockwise. What the hell does that say about me?

    Posted by: davitydave | Jun 18, 2007 2:38:51 PM


  13. What's up with the photo on page 4 (a comparison of left- and right-handed people)? The right-handed guy's arm is toned and muscular, while the left-handed guy's arm is thin and scrawny. Are they implying that gay people and/or lefties are 100-pound weaklings? Someone at new York magazine needs to go to David Barton for a reality check.

    Posted by: R | Jun 18, 2007 2:39:05 PM


  14. I have the ever-unfortunate double swirl--which means you must struggle with massive amounts of gel for your entire life!

    Posted by: adamblast | Jun 18, 2007 2:47:03 PM


  15. This is without question the DUMBEST compendium of "scientific" tripe I've ever read. One specious cliche after another.

    Why are there no studies of what makes people straight?

    Straight men loathe anything feminine, and spend the greatest amount of their time with one another -- drinking, gambling and watching all-male sporting events.

    Then every so often they run off and fuck a woman to prove what "Real MEN" they are.

    Straight women are likewise bizarre, devoting themselves to men who either ignore them (best case scenario) or beat and murder them (the usual worst case.)

    If this isn't SICK BEHAVIOR I don't know what is.

    So where are the scientists lined up to explain this grotesque self-destructive
    bi-polarity?

    Nowhere.

    Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Jun 18, 2007 2:59:55 PM


  16. Wonder if any of my coworkers just saw me take a cellphone photo of the back of my head.

    Counterclockwise and thanking the baby jeebus I have enough hair to notice.

    Posted by: Malibu Boy | Jun 18, 2007 3:07:30 PM


  17. I am clockwise whirl, right handed, and my index and ring finmger lengths= straight guy.

    Uhm, but I am gay gay gay. LOVE being gay. Maybe I am a closeted sensitive straight man. NO!!!!! I refuse to give up dick.

    Posted by: anon | Jun 18, 2007 3:20:51 PM


  18. mark & iko made me laugh. david, relax. you're a hair away from overreacting...

    my question is: does this mean where there's a whorl there's a way?

    i mean, all that's left of my whorl is a sorta fuzzy shiny spot. since it already left i guess i can't say 'you go, whorl.'

    puns. my whorl & welcome to it.

    Posted by: basis4insanity | Jun 18, 2007 3:40:27 PM


  19. I feel so tragic saying this, but the guy on the right looks hotter from the top...a life of frustrated misery obviously awaits me!

    Posted by: Greg | Jun 18, 2007 3:44:35 PM


  20. My whorl is counter-clockwise and my ring fingers and index fingers are the same length. However, I am very right-handed. What does that make me, a Kinsey 4.5?

    Posted by: Andy | Jun 18, 2007 3:57:48 PM


  21. Mine goes clockwise and there's never been any doubt in my mind what I liked from the day I came out of the womb and got off on the way the doctor slapped me.

    I hope the people who made these observations didn't quit their day jobs, I don't think "hair whol reading" is in their future.

    Posted by: Matty | Jun 18, 2007 4:02:19 PM


  22. to David:

    Did you really just state that the "usual worst case" scenario of straight relationships involves beatings and murder??

    Wow.

    One would hope if you really found the article to be riddled with specious cliches that you would end it right there, rather than commit several more on your own.

    Furthermore, I believe the article is meant to be a correlation --not causation-- study, albeit a poorly executed one at that. No one is saying that these things MAKE a person gay.

    Posted by: ghostface | Jun 18, 2007 4:10:48 PM


  23. I think some folks may have misread the study. So try this: if you whurl clockwise, nothing can be divined. If you whurl counter, then you have 4x (400%) higher chance of being gay. If you had a 400% greater chance of testicular cancer than the population, I bet you would think that is signficant.

    Also, studies have been done to determine if people are straight. However, scientifically it is easier to look at the minority groups than to determine similiar characteristics for a group that is 90+% of the population.

    Understanding genetics is important and gays make an interesting group to study since they cross family, racial and geographical divisions.

    Posted by: Cameron | Jun 18, 2007 4:15:37 PM


  24. Um yeah, according to this (statistically) I should be straight.

    Posted by: mark m | Jun 18, 2007 4:16:38 PM


  25. lordy...

    people, you need to understand that this kind of science is about probabilities and propensities, not absolutes! your single counter-example has practically no bearing on the validity of these findings. notice if you actually read the article that even among gay men, the counter-clockwise whorl incidence is only 23%. but that is a much higher incidence than in straight men at 8%. ok?

    and while i can appreciate that we might be hyper-sensitive about perceiving agendas or derogation behind these sorts of studies, they are still scientifically motivated and interesting--sexuality is a huge component of behavior, and here we have a subpopulation who behave very differently, and we'd like to know why! it's not saying anything about whether we're good or bad or right or wrong. we already know we're not "normal"--just like left-handers aren't, or people with very high or very low IQs, all groups in the minority in the population. if anything, these studies help us by pointing out the early biological factors at work, revealing that it's not a "lifestyle choice" that can just be dismissed.

    Posted by: le_sacre | Jun 18, 2007 4:18:42 PM


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