When Fluency Matters: The Interplay between Categorization Fluency and Gender Atypicality on Gaydar Judgments

Perceiving a male speaker as gender atypical increases the chances of categorizing him as gay. The perception of how fluent the categorization process is can also play a role. Listeners categorized gay and straight speakers’ sexual orientation, reported their perceived categorization fluency, and rated speakers’ gender atypicality. When categorization fluency was high, gay speakers perceived as gender atypical were more likely categorized as gay. When categorization fluency was low, gender atypicality increased the likelihood of categorizing straight speakers as gay.