Stockholm Pride, which works to celebrate members of the LGBT community, has conducted a cybertest on its homepage asking users to respond to the question “how hetero (are you)?”
The deliberately normative test has been developed to see “how we connect specific words to norms and perceptions of how a “real” man and woman should be and behave,” the organization explains on its homepage.
Visitors to the website are asked to input their Twitter microblog user names and the test then surveys their 200 latest “tweets” searching for words that conform to perceived sexual stereotypes such as “fishing”, “schlager” and “fashion”.
The test has been carried out on a selected group of Swedish and international celebrities and allows users to see how they measure up against the likes of Mona Sahlin, Martha Stewart, Jamie Oliver and US President Barack Obama.
According to the test Obama is 66 percent “hetero” with words such as “community” and “philadelphia” found in his most recent Twitter entries.
Social Democratic leader Mona Sahlin meanwhile comes in at a commanding 84 percent on the “hetero” test with words such as “crocs”, “fishing” and “hot dogs”.
Stockholm Pride makes no claims as to the scientific nature of the test however.
“The theme for Stockholm Pride 2009 is the focus on how heteronormativity affects the everyday life of homosexual, bisexual and transgender persons.”
“With this test we set out in a direct and funny way to show how these norms affect us by how others see us.”
Stockholm Pride 2009 will take place from July 27th – August 2nd and is the largest festival in the city’s entertainment calender.
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