gawker says gaydar is dead

By The Cajun Boy

So you think you can spot a gay in the wild? Oh really! Because according to the New York Post, male sexual ambiguity is rendering mere mortals incapable of such callous judgmental accuracy. What exactly is this world coming to?!

Every few months it seems as though one or both of the New York City tabloids repackage this identical story — the lines are being blurred between what a straight man is and what a gay man is, blah blah blah — but this appears to be the first time that either one of them has gone all out and just flat-out declared gaydar to be dead.

The Post's Danica Lo laments:

From the sleekly coiffed power players on "Mad Men" to socialite-seducing lothario fashion designers, baseball player-branded perfume and hockey players interning at Vogue, it's getting harder to tell, on first impressions, whether a man would rather make out with you — or your brother.

In today's post-metro social consciousness, boys will still be boys — just more sensitive and stuff. A generation raised on therapy, teen flicks, reality TV and emoticons (it's hard to be butch and Twitter at the same time, you know?) has embraced the freedom of sexual ambiguity.

This maddening confusion leads Lo to the obvious(?) conclusion:

RIP, gaydar, we'll miss how you kept us from winking at the other team.

All of this leads one to wonder: what's wrong with just asking a guy if he's gay or straight? Lo mentions that doing such a thing is "awkward," but if a straight guy is comfortable with his sexuality, he won't mind being asked. In fact, he may even be flattered, and the same thing probably applies for the gays. And if the guy happens to freak out over having his sexuality questioned, then screw him, he isn't worth your time. So there, problem solved, right? Well, probably not, but it was worth a half-assed try.