Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1977, 45, 1156.
@ Perceptual and Motor Skills 1977
SEX-DEVIANT HANDWRITING, FEMININITY, AND HOMOSEXUALITY DAVID LESTER, SHEILA MC LAUGHLIN, ROBERT COHEN, AND LORRAIN DUNN Richard Stockton State College Lester and McLaughlin (1976) have observed sex-deviant handwriting, that is, males who write with handwriting judged to be feminine and vice versa, and searched for correlates of such writing. Here in the first study 26 males (Mag, 25.0 yr., SD 8.6 yr.) and 30 females (MBge24.8 yr., SD 6.9 yr.) from two psychology classes provided one sample of writing1 each and completed the Gough femininity scale (Gough, 1952). The handwriting samples were given to three judges who rated the writing on a scale from very masculine ( -3) to very feminine ( + 3 ) . The ratings of the three judges* were summed and correlated with the femininity scores. The small Pearson correlations were not significantly different from zero ( r = 0.22 for males and 0.01 for females). In the second study each of 20 male homosexuals (Mag, 28.0 yr., SD 7.8 yr.) who were friends of a gay store owner and 20 male heterosexuals (M,,, 27.1 yr., SD 6.2 yr.) who were college students was asked for a sample of handwriting. Five judges rated the sex of the writers, believing them to be ordinary males and females. They rated each sample as either male or female, and their ratings were summed giving a score of 0 to 5. The writing of the homosexuals was more often judged female than that of the 0.01; respective M ratings of 2.9 and heterosexuals ( t = 3.08, df = 38, two-tailed @ 1.3, SDs 1.8 and 1.3). In the third study 17 male and 17 female homosexuals were recruited from the gay community of a small city and their handwriting compared with that of 17 males and 16 females who were heterosexual school teachers. The handwriting was judged as in the second study by five judges. The mean ages of the groups were respectively 27.3 yr., 28.2 yr., 22.2 yr., and 28.4 yr. (SDs 8.3 yr., 10.0 yr., 3.7 yr., and 8.0 yr.). The male homosexuals and heterosexuals were judged to have equally masculine handwriting (respective Ms 3.1 and 3.2, SDs 1.6 and 1.7), and the female homosexuals and heterosexuals were judged to have equally feminine handwriting (Ms 0.8 and 0.9, SDs 1.3 and 1.5). It must be concluded that sex-deviant handwriting is not reliably associated in these studies with femininity or with sexual orientation.'*'
@ Perceptual and Motor Skills 1977
SEX-DEVIANT HANDWRITING, FEMININITY, AND HOMOSEXUALITY DAVID LESTER, SHEILA MC LAUGHLIN, ROBERT COHEN, AND LORRAIN DUNN Richard Stockton State College Lester and McLaughlin (1976) have observed sex-deviant handwriting, that is, males who write with handwriting judged to be feminine and vice versa, and searched for correlates of such writing. Here in the first study 26 males (Mag, 25.0 yr., SD 8.6 yr.) and 30 females (MBge24.8 yr., SD 6.9 yr.) from two psychology classes provided one sample of writing1 each and completed the Gough femininity scale (Gough, 1952). The handwriting samples were given to three judges who rated the writing on a scale from very masculine ( -3) to very feminine ( + 3 ) . The ratings of the three judges* were summed and correlated with the femininity scores. The small Pearson correlations were not significantly different from zero ( r = 0.22 for males and 0.01 for females). In the second study each of 20 male homosexuals (Mag, 28.0 yr., SD 7.8 yr.) who were friends of a gay store owner and 20 male heterosexuals (M,,, 27.1 yr., SD 6.2 yr.) who were college students was asked for a sample of handwriting. Five judges rated the sex of the writers, believing them to be ordinary males and females. They rated each sample as either male or female, and their ratings were summed giving a score of 0 to 5. The writing of the homosexuals was more often judged female than that of the 0.01; respective M ratings of 2.9 and heterosexuals ( t = 3.08, df = 38, two-tailed @ 1.3, SDs 1.8 and 1.3). In the third study 17 male and 17 female homosexuals were recruited from the gay community of a small city and their handwriting compared with that of 17 males and 16 females who were heterosexual school teachers. The handwriting was judged as in the second study by five judges. The mean ages of the groups were respectively 27.3 yr., 28.2 yr., 22.2 yr., and 28.4 yr. (SDs 8.3 yr., 10.0 yr., 3.7 yr., and 8.0 yr.). The male homosexuals and heterosexuals were judged to have equally masculine handwriting (respective Ms 3.1 and 3.2, SDs 1.6 and 1.7), and the female homosexuals and heterosexuals were judged to have equally feminine handwriting (Ms 0.8 and 0.9, SDs 1.3 and 1.5). It must be concluded that sex-deviant handwriting is not reliably associated in these studies with femininity or with sexual orientation.'*'
