Live data from Hacker News

Gay men and lesbian women less likely to be employed in a leadership position

exactlyscience.com

1–10 of 22 posts

Re: Gay men and lesbian women less likely to be employed in a leadership position

#3
post #2

> Participants were not informed of the sexual orientation of the person but allowed to freely guess from the voice or face of the individual. > ‘gay- sounding’ voice Jesus, it's batshit-insane to me that people still think like this.

It's awful. I know plenty of straight guys who have a "gay-sounding" voice, and I'm gay but people tell me I sound "straight", which at least in my experience means this is all complete nonsense.

What they really mean is that if someone thinks you're gay or lesbian then you're likely to suffer from homophobic discrimination.

While a reminder of that is probably useful for the world at large, it's not new to anybody who identifies outside the straight cisgender categories. Or actually, anybody who is straight and cis who somebody has decided "looks gay".

Re: Gay men and lesbian women less likely to be employed in a leadership position

#4
I would like to see this study replicated in different areas throughout the United States and the world. I suspect that different regions will produce different results based purely upon cultural norms of a given society in an area. To make the blanket statement that this is true is not acceptable to me.

"Studies show eggs are good for you"

Re: Gay men and lesbian women less likely to be employed in a leadership position

#5
I wonder if there is study into biases around cultural interests too, e.g. if a male applies for a leadership position and lists "dance" as his primary hobby or interest, whether implicit cultural biases or assumptions play a role as well.

Re: Gay men and lesbian women less likely to be employed in a leadership position

#6
Help me understand this test that they did.

So, they have taken a group of homosexuals, without any history of leadership, and asked a group to rate how they would do as CEO based on voice only. The group answered based on sound alone that those individuals were not CEO material.

Well, I wouldn't pass as a CEO either and I don't have a, I quote, "‘gay- sounding’ voice".

The leaders I have know -- both male and female -- had huge charismatic voices. They had presence. They spoke in a room full of people and their voice would pick up. They would get attention right away.

How is the lack of this voice linked to discrimination against the gay community?

For this study to have any values in my eyes they would need to test actual CEOs. Actual people in leadership positions.

Re: Gay men and lesbian women less likely to be employed in a leadership position

#7
post #3
post #2

> Participants were not informed of the sexual orientation of the person but allowed to freely guess from the voice or face of the individual. > ‘gay- sounding’ voice Jesus, it's batshit-insane to me that people still think like this.

It's awful. I know plenty of straight guys who have a "gay-sounding" voice, and I'm gay but people tell me I sound "straight", which at least in my experience means this is all complete nonsense. What they really mean is that if someone thinks you're gay or lesbian then you're likely to suffer from homophobic discrimination. While a reminder of that is probably useful for the world at large, it's not new to anybody w…

I know right? People look for things that confirm their own biases ("X Y and Z are gay and they sound like this"). Oh, and I wasn't having a go at the study, even if it is a little ropey, just bewildered that people still think in that way. Like people thinking that if you're black you probably talk a certain way, or like certain music.

Re: Gay men and lesbian women less likely to be employed in a leadership position

#8
John Maynard Keynes was criticised because he was "childless and gay" and therefore he "did not care about future generations".

"Keynes didn't care about the long-run because he was a homosexual, had no children" according to Niall Ferguson.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/05/niall-f...

I'm sure having children affects your view of the future

The gay men I have known do seem to tend towards narcissism and short-term thinking. Sometimes that can be a kind leadership trait I suppose. And sometimes it can't.

Re: Gay men and lesbian women less likely to be employed in a leadership position

#10
Gay men are more likely to be shorter: http://blog.timesunion.com/kristi/2010/03/03/shorter-men-mor... Lesbians are more likely to be obese: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2014/09/0...

Whether you like it or not, both of those will be factors in influencing who gets put into leadership positions.

Post reply on HN