How Many People In The United States Identify As Gay?

[reeseyboy]

Until now, I wasnt even aware that there was such a thing as "queer theory" perhaps something worth looking into. Could be interesting and im always up for a good read !

Oh yes Jason, sir it is a whole field of studies ( one of my selected fields for my degree) so there are tons of books; they essentially work at challenging norms and extending what is considered normative. Some queer theorists resist the urge to claim some biological root or naturalness and instead look to other legitimating forms of logic. I'll think of some books and put their titles on your visitor's page. Just a note, these are academic books so some can find them dry but to me they are so interesting and necessary in developing your critical and theoretical vantage point on life.

 

[JLipps4u]

If you wanna know it all, why not check: demographics of sexual orientation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_sexual_orientation

Thank you Robert. I did just that. According to the article, this poll here is way off base. That article reported that Kinsey had offered that 37% of males had reported a bisexual or homosexual experience. Even after years of analyzing Kinsey's results, it was still reported that 36,4% of males had that type of sexual gratification. It also seems that while one-third of American males have had such an experience, only 16% of females reported having such an experience.

Now, my question is, who is Gates?

 

[juanjo]

This is an area of considerable debate. There are people who identify as gay while some say they are homosexual while others reject both labels but admit to having sex with men. For some people gay is more than simply having a preference for same sex activity - it is a social and political identification they do not accept. Still others occasionally have sex with women and so reject a label which implies they do not. Others are simply confused. Then there is that group who like Roy Cohn, Senator Craig and others of that ilk have sex with men but reject any term identifying them as homosexual because they see that terminology as demeaning or otherwise threatening. There are also cultural differences which come into play. I recall some years ago sitting and talking with a group of young men who doing some work on my home in Mexico. These guys all identified as heterosexual and most of them were married or living with women, some raising families. They knew I was gay which was not an issue for them. In the course of our conversation some joking was done about whether I was "sweet" on two brothers. I laughed and said that one was my husband and the other my boyfriend. Everyone thought that was very funny. One of the guys discussed how one of the local gay guys in his barrio had come onto him in the restroom in the local bar so he took him into the stall and fucked him until he begged him to stop. The others started boasting of their various sexual encounters in which they were the active partner. The essential theme was they were sexually desirable to men and women and they were proud of that. Very different attitude from most parts of the US.

My own personal experience growing up is such that I would suspect that Kinsey was pretty spot on concerning the number men who try out some sort of sexual activity with another man at some point in their life. Exclusively gay I would guestimate is around 3% with another 10% fooling around regularly. But I doubt we will ever know for sure.

Those of you who remember Laud Humphries' 1970 study on tea room cruising, will recall that only 14% of the participants he interviewed were self identified as homosexual. 38% self identified as heterosexual, with 54% were married and lived with the wife and/or kiddies in the suburbs. The vast majority leading lives which appeared on the outside as socially and morally very conservative. In 1990 a similar study found similar numbers. A 1992 study in LA also showed similar results. The vast majority of those people engage in same sex sexual activity but would never admit to being homosexual or "gay".

 

[mikeyank]

My own personal experience growing up is such that I would suspect that Kinsey was pretty spot on concerning the number men who try out some sort of sexual activity with another man at some point in their life. Exclusively gay I would guestimate is around 3% with another 10% fooling around regularly. But I doubt we will ever know for sure.

Those of you who remember Laud Humphries' 1970 study on tea room cruising, will recall that only 14% of the participants he interviewed were self identified as homosexual. 38% self identified as heterosexual, with 54% were married and lived with the wife and/or kiddies in the suburbs. The vast majority leading lives which appeared on the outside as socially and morally very conservative. In 1990 a similar study found similar numbers. A 1992 study in LA also showed similar results. The vast majority of those people engage in same sex sexual activity but would never admit to being homosexual or "gay".

I completely agree with your thoughts and observations on this subject, Juanjo. The 10% figure of men who have sex with other men is the same as I believe it is.

As far as married men who have "tea room" sex including Larry Craig, I don't think that most consider themselves gay either. I have done a lot of "poking around" on the internet on the subject of straight guys and gay sex, and there are an incredible number of men in this country who do not think of themselves as gay, would never kiss a man, but enjoy sucking another man's cock and swallowing his cum. Go figure.

And I found your description of your discussion with the group of young men who worked on your house in Mexico, both interesting and very erotic. Straight young guys talking about fucking or getting sucked by guys, turns me on.

 

[JLipps4u]

I completely agree with your thoughts and observations on this subject, Juanjo. The 10% figure of men who have sex with other men is the same as I believe it is.

As far as married men who have "tea room" sex including Larry Craig, I don't think that most consider themselves gay either. I have done a lot of "poking around" on the internet on the subject of straight guys and gay sex, and there are an incredible number of men in this country who do not think of themselves as gay, would never kiss a man, but enjoy sucking another man's cock and swallowing his cum. Go figure.

And I found your description of your discussion with the group of young men who worked on your house in Mexico, both interesting and very erotic. Straight young guys talking about fucking or getting sucked by guys, turns me on.

I think the percentage of "gay" men in AMerica is now much greater than 10%. And, I think the percentage of men who have delved in man-to-man sex, whether gay,bi,curious, or straight, is probably closer to 30%.

You are spot on with your theory Mikey. I know. I have been with hundreds of those types of men. I hAVe always said that straight men often will do sexual acts with another man and establish for themselves, a line that they refuse to cross. They refuse to cross it because that line is what they determine makes one gay, or homosexual. As long as they don't cross that line, they are free to have oral sex, or anal sex, and still consider themselves straight. Perhaps they are deluding themselves. I can't say, I can't judge them. That "line" each man sets for himself and moves up and down the spectrum of sexual activities based on their perception of what it is to be gay.

As for Mexican men. Until about 20 years ago, Mexican men rarely ever used the "gay" word. In fact, in Mexican culture, one's sexuality was rarely discussed, except between those macho types, and only with each other. Growing up along the border with Mexico, I learned early on, and first hand, that it was quite customary for an established, happily wedded (or not) man to have a wife, a mistress, and a young boytoy to play with. Husband and their wives did not discuss it, but I saw it first hand in quite a few households. the boytoy were often boys between the ages of 13 and 16, and usually the son's of household help. Much like the white gentry of the South used their female slaves for their pleasure.
I have often wondered if they used young black boytoys as well. I don't think that continues in our modern world, but it was a very established "secret" custom. Aren't the Europeans similar? Wasn't that a custom of early Greece and Rome?

Very interesting discourse.

 

[Frontier]

Well so far the majority seem to favor the opinion that we will never know. I agree. You may ask why and this is my answer. If I decide to conduct and survey on how many people will eat peanuts and how many people will eat poop I would expect that the majority of the people who prefer to eat peanuts would respond to my survey rather than those willing to admit that they like to eat poop. Yes simplistic and graphic but shows the basic flaws in all these studies. Until the day comes when we don't care about who has sex with who it will always be a nonsensical issue.

 

[JLipps4u]

Well so far the majority seem to favor the opinion that we will never know. I agree. You may ask why and this is my answer. If I decide to conduct and survey on how many people will eat peanuts and how many people will eat poop I would expect that the majority of the people who prefer to eat peanuts would respond to my survey rather than those willing to admit that they like to eat poop. Yes simplistic and graphic but shows the basic flaws in all these studies. Until the day comes when we don't care about who has sex with who it will always be a nonsensical issue.

That was just too smart!