So what percentage of the general population is gay.
I’ve heard people throw around 10% and I once heard someone claiming that 50% of the Dutch population classify themselves as ‘bisexual’.
Here is an aritcle from the Huffington Post (click here) which quotes many different sources but overall the article merely confuses the issue.
In my experience I’d have to shoot for less than 10% if I think of all the people I know growing up and in my social circles. Then the question of bisexuality – I think there are less bisexual guys than gay guys – again maybe this is just the circle of people that I grew up with.
Keen to hear what you guys think.
And I’ve just found an incredibly hot swimmer stripped out of his jeans, down to his speedo and then out of his speedos – I’ll post these pics tomorrow so make sure you don’t miss it.
9 Comments
Hungspeedoguy
Hey Dave. I like the idea of the 7 point scale. From memory there are spots for the sexual orientations of totally gay, totally straight, asexual and all the spots in between (i.e. mainly like men but sometimes like women, like men but also like women etc). Most studies totally ignore transgender like ladyboys though in their stats.
Plus a study suggested that 38% of all men would have a man-man sexual experience in their life.
Personally I think it has a lot to do with culture and logistics. A guy with gay tendencies in a small country town would have a different orientation when 50 than a guy growing up in Bangkok.
Interesting topic 😉
admin
HungSpeedoGuy,
I’ve heard of a siimilar scale which I’ll post tomorrow – a bisexuality scale with a 1 to 9 rating.
38% is great – higher than I expected but I like it.
Interesting that your last paragraph says that a small down guy is less likely to be gay – is this a nature vs nurture thing? Is sexuality built in or is it a choice?
Very interesting – much more to be discussed.
Dave
DeepKisser
Hi Dave,
Surprisingly some gay guys don’t like Bi guys. I don’t think Straight guys put Bi guys in a different group from gay guys either. But, I think most guys would let some guy give them a blow job…I expect that is about that 38% number. There are just types of people we each don’t get along with, shouldn’t mean we hate them. Sometimes it is easier to stay in the closet.
admin
DeepKisser,
I completely agree with you mate.
I’m in the closet to most of my friends – this is because I know it would cost me some of these friends or at least change things between us.
And my sexual preferences shouldn’t impact anyone.
Dave
Dr. Phil
This is one of my favorite photos from your site, Dave, so thanks for illustrating this post with it! 😉
The scale Hungspeedoguy is referring to is actually two different scales: the Kinsey Scale, which rated from 0 to 6, with 0 being completely straight and 6 being completely gay. In Kinsey’s studies back in the 40s and 50s, he found that about 10% of those males who were studied were completely gay, but around something like 40% were at least some degree of bisexual. The figures for women came up somewhat similar…but, there has been a lot of questioning on that ever since.
Then, there’s the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid (or KSOG), which uses a 1 to 7 scale, with 1 being straight and 7 being strictly homosexual, but which also looks at three different scales for each section (the past–all life up to a year ago; the present–now up to a year ago; and “ideal,” i.e. what one would most like to have), and then looks at a variety of different issues, like social interaction/preference, political identification, physical attraction, emotional attraction, etc. (I can’t remember all the categories off the top of my head at present.) Fritz Klein, who invented the scale, was a specifically bisexual researcher, and was a very nice guy–I met him on several occasions before he died a few years back.
I haven’t evaluated myself with the KSOG in quite a while, but I suspect my answers now would be different than when I was last doing this, and was heavily involved in bisexual activism, etc. While I’d still probably rate as bisexual overall on that scale, I’m much more physically attracted to males than females, both in ideal and in actuality; but, since I’m not exactly a “conventional male” either, that sort of problematizes things considerably, too…!
In any case, if you look up the KSOG or the Kinsey Scales, you’ll certainly get more info and stats than I’ve provided here.
Personally, I think there’s a lot more un-admitted bisexuality, not only amongst ostensibly straight people, but also among gay and lesbian people who aren’t being fully honest or forthcoming. In my own life, I’ve met a lot of bisexuals, though, who weren’t really–they were either straight guys who liked watching women get off together and had to identify as bi to be able to see that, or they were gay guys who hadn’t really come fully to terms with being gay. Of course, there are other types out there, but the ones I’ve tended to meet have fallen into those general categories, unfortunately, in almost every case.
Hungspeedoguy
“Interesting that your last paragraph says that a small down guy is less likely to be gay – is this a nature vs nurture thing? Is sexuality built in or is it a choice?”
I think your sexuality, in broad terms, isn’t a choice. But say you are a guy who can get off with women BUT you are predominately attracted to men. In a big city that accepts homosexuality you would chase cock like a champion. But in a small town with either few or zero openly homosexual men in your age range then you would probably be quite happy with a woman. There are a lot of factors to where you live and living in a small country town means you are much more likely to value things beyond sex (Like being there for your family, the countryside or whatever) that isn’t always available in a bigger city.
Right now I’m living in Thailand. There are unlimited white tourists and lots of Thai guys. But personally I want a relationship AND I prefer white sexual partners having grown up in the Western world and having seen all the marketing materials (Well, I prefer guys to be men and most of the Thai guys I’ve met here look like 12yr old guys from my school days and thankfully that turns me off).
There are about six white guys who are younger than 35 and I’ve been on a date with them all. None of them match what I’m after. So in the mean time I am quite happily chasing beautiful women and finding them in abundance. Right now I’m on the verge of a relationship with an amazing woman.
But test me on the scale? I still prefer men to women, but women do a great job of turning me on too. So a relationship with a woman would meet my needs and I’d be super happy despite my sexual orientation.
Make sense?
I’ve personally experienced a lot of discrimination for identifying as bi-sexual. Girls in the majority seem to be weirded out by the idea of a guy having played with other cocks (Plus they worry I’ll run off with a man when she isn’t looking as I must “need” cock regularly if I’m bi). Gay guys in the majority seem to be wary of bi guys as they seem to expect me to fuck them regularly until one day I decide I want a family and to run off and find someone with a uterus. So identifying as bisexual works in my favour for a hookup, but against me for a relationship (What I want).
What do you think about it all?
P.S. Dr Phil – love your well thought out comments (as always). We should Skype or Facebook sometime 😉
Dr. Phil
Hungspeedoguy: you’re too kind! Alas, I do not have Skype capabilities at present, and I’m a non-BaceFook person, too (for various professional reasons…ironically enough!). Do you have a blog, though? I thought you linked to it recently, if I recall correctly…perhaps I can read up on your adventures, comment, and so forth there?
paul
thank you…it’s me on right…
Mike
Being something and expressing something are two separate issues. I had a friend, in his 50s, e-mail me a couple of years ago that he is homosexual. This after a marriage with two kids, and a nearly two-decades heterosexual relationship (which he says was more room-mates for the past 15 years or so).
Anyway, I consider sexuality to exist on some type of sliding scale, 0-100 in my parlance. Whichever you want to put at 0 and whichever you want to put at 100 doesn’t matter; I doubt anyone would exist there anyway. Most of us exist somewhere in between. Many kids and teens experiment with same-gender partners. Once, more than once, or regularly perhaps. In recent human history, homosexuality has been condemned as an psychological aberration so its expression has been “closeted”. I figure that anyone who is more unbalanced than 60-40 probably would not express their “inappropriate” side. As balance nears equal or becomes greater than 60-40 in favour of that “inappropriate” attraction, greater exploration will take place at some point, and may continue life long given the right circumstances and respectful partners, friends and acquaintances.
I expect that most that muster only a 20% or less attraction to the opposite gender would likely express that relatively freely, or live one very miserable and secretive life.
Many culture have and do accept homosexuality with some rationalization. Western cultures are currently more tolerant, partly because psychology has taken a turn away from condemnation as an illness. Many countries still abide by laws and philosophies that cannot accept it, or a lot of other things usually.
I worry about children assessing themselves as homosexual too early; there is a phase of child and adolescent development that builds gender character from association with same gender peers and role models. I think too many, today, are confusing that with homosexuality and they fall into a pattern of behaviour that becomes self-fulfilling.
That’s my analysis, Charlie B; 5-cents, please.