Audio may only work in UK.

Most of us think we’re pretty good at guessing when somebody’s gay or straight, but what signals are we using to make our decision, and how often are we right ?
Psychologists at Queen Mary University of London are, for the first time, trying to isolate the individual signals and patterns in somebody’s face, in order to work out exactly what motivates us to make a snap decision about sexuality.
Using cutting edge computer imagery, researchers have found a way of transferring male facial expressions onto female faces and vice versa, which means they can work out exactly how our “gaydar” works.

Dr Qazi Rahman, assistant professor in Cognitive Biology, and PHd student, William Jolly, are hoping that their research will challenge stereotypes and prejudice by increasing awareness of how quickly, and often inaccurately, people classify each other.

genderedintelligence:

A new trans-only swimming group is starting this Friday 19th October in conjunction with Out to Swim. The session is for any trans people aged 18 and over who would like to swim in a safe environment. There are individual, gender-neutral changing cubicles and private group changing for trans people.

There is exclusive use of the pool for this trans group, with blinds to ensure privacy.

Where:

Clapham Leisure Centre
Clapham Manor Street
London SW4 6DB (Map)

Nearest tube: Clapham North

When:

Friday 19th October 8PM - 10PM

(And every other Friday after that up until November 30th).

Cost:

£7 per person per session.

Contact ots.swim@gmail.com or liammmercer@gmail.com for more info. Some low-income places may be available.

gaywrites:

Dr. Una Coales, a senior member of the Royal College of General Practitioners in the U.K., is under investigation after writing a guide suggesting LGBT medical students tone down “overtly gay” behaviors in order to pass their exams. 

Coales has responded to the controversy by saying that the guide was not meant to suggest anyone change who they are, but instead to offer realistic advice relating to how examiners may show subjective bias against minority candidates. She offered the following guidance for LGBT students and others who fall outside the mainstream:

In one passage of the guide, Dr. Una Coales’s MRCGP CSA Book, she writes: “One candidate was facing a third sitting and yet no one had told him that his mannerisms, gait and speech were too overtly gay, and that he was sitting an exam administered by a right-wing conservative Royal College.

“So I advised him to lower and deepen his high-pitched voice and neutralise his body movements. He went back to his surgery, practised his speech until his voice went hoarse and modified his body language. Not only did he pass his exam, but he informed me he noticed a huge difference in the way patients interacted with him.”

She also advises candidates such as Nigerian and Asian trainees to “focus on emphasising the lyrical Scottish or Welsh accent” if sitting exams in these regions. Female candidates should not wear a floral dress as “if you dress like a nurse they [patients] have difficulty believing they are seeing ‘the doctor’…” Male students should “shave off” facial hair as it can project an “unclean, deceitful” image, she adds, in a chapter originally published in a medical magazine in 2009. Meanwhile, she advises overweight students to “project an image of Santa Claus. Put your hands on top of your protuberant abdomen, with your fingers interlocking but open.”

Jeremy Cu…*cough*… Hunt - I hope you are listening.

iswearthisisthelasttime:

Leaflets I made for freshers fair tomorrow!

Nick Clegg is rejecting claims he was prepared to brand opponents of equal marriage “bigots” at a reception for the LGBT community. In an exclusive interview with PinkNews.co.uk the deputy PM also defended changes to the Government Equalities Office and the new Culture Secretary Maria Miller.

Shortly before yesterday’s address to a large audience consisting of campaigners, politicians and celebrities including Stephen Fry, Hugh Grant and the actor Simon Callow, the Lib Dem leader found himself engulfed in a political row.

It was after aides had to remove comments in the draft version of his speech that called opponents of the government’s plans to legalise same-sex marriage “bigots”.

Speaking, at the reception in Carlton Gardens, Westminster, Mr Clegg insisted that he never intended to use such language as it was “not the kind of word” he would use.

Mr Clegg told PinkNews.co.uk that the event was to “mark a really important step towards what I hope will be legislation which will give equal rights to marriage for same-sex couples.

“There has been a land mark, if you like, [the government] has had this public consultation, the deadline has closed…the government is now sifting through 228,000 responses, and we will be making our views known about where we are going to get to next on this by the end of the year.

Mr Clegg added: “My own personal view is of course extremely well known, I am a very staunch advocate of legislation to enshrine equal marriage for all, and that’s very much what I hope we will do.

When asked about last week’s decision to move the Government Equalities Office (GEO) from within the Home Office to the Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS), Mr Clegg said:

“This happens from time to time, to be honest there is no hard and fast rule that it should stay in the Home Office…and we all felt the combination of Maria Miller, Helen Grant at the DCMS and the Liberal Democrat Equality Minister Jo Swinson from the Business department would be a very effective team to promote this agenda”.

The decision to hand over responsibility of the GEO to Culture Secretary Maria Miller caused widespread alarm from several equality campaigners due to the Conservative MP’s poor LGBT voting record. In a move designed to reassure the LGBT community Mrs Miller told last weekend’s Sunday Times that she fully supports the government’s position on same-sex marriage.

In a further display of cross-party unity, Mrs Miller attended last night’s reception that was widely seen as a Lib Dem organised event.

When asked if Mrs Miller would find it problematic dealing jointly with media policy and then turning attention to areas such as homophobic crime, Mr Clegg replied:

“I don’t think that is an issue at all. Frankly, whatever department these issues are located in, the fact that people at the top of the government, myself and others, are keen and advocate supporters of this agenda means it won’t fall off anyone’s radar screen no matter which department it’s located in”.

Mr Clegg was also asked about the departure from government of openly gay Conservative ministers Crispin Blunt and Nick Herbert. Mr Clegg rejected suggestions that it was lowering the profile of LGBT political representation and pointed to the cabinet return of gay Lib Dem MP David Laws:

“I don’t think cabinet should be judged exclusively by the number of openly gay cabinet ministers around the table.

Mr Clegg concluded: “I think it is incredibly important that the values of all ministers around the cabinet table are tolerant, liberal and open, and that’s exactly what I think is the centre of gravity around the top of the government”.

neutrois:

More people are openly identifying as asexual, but the complex world of asexuality is still misunderstood by the mainstream

Great article in the Guardian (UK) about Asexual Visibility.

I started identifying as asexual but it didn’t mean that anything about my sexuality had changed, simply that I now had a word to describe it.