The CDC has released a report today about sexuality in persons age 15 to 44. The information is based on a survey in 2002 of in-person, face-to-face interview with a national sample of 12,571 men and women. The process involved an interviewer but the sex related questions were entered into a laptop computer without telling the answers to the interviewer.
To me, the methodology seems pretty sound and the survey size is impressive.
For a quick synopsis, you can look here or the full survey here.
The media has focused so far on a trend that suggests that younger persons are engaging in oral sex as a means of delaying vaginal sex. However, several statistics relating to our community are seen from the results.
Of particular interest, is how people identify their sexual orientation. Men said:
90.2 Heterosexual
2.3 Homosexual
1.8 Bisexual
3.9 Something else
1.8 Did not report
For women, the breakout is:
90.3 Heterosexual
1.3 Homosexual
2.8 Bisexual
3.8 Something else
1.8 Did not report
Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing what was “something else”. A calculated guess would include transgendered people, asexuals, and those who are comfortable with “gay” or “lesbian” but not with “homosexual”. I assume that some of them would also be those who identify as “ex-gay”. Interestingly, there is 1.8% of the population that simply froze and were afraid to push a button.
Perhaps the most conclusive thing that can be taken from the results is that there is about 10% of the population that does not consider itself heterosexual. That’s a larger number than I expected.
When the question is put in terms of attraction, men responded:
92.2 Only female
3.9 Mostly female
1.0 Both
0.7 Mostly male
1.5 Only male
0.7 Not sure
Women said:
85.7 Only males
10.2 Mostly males
1.9 Both
0.8 Mostly females
0.7 Only females
0.8 Not sure
When the question is determined by sexual activity:
6.0 percent of men have had oral or anal sex with another man in their life, and 2.9 have in the past year. This, to some extent, is determined by age:
4.5 of 15-19 y.o.; 2.4 in the last year
5.5 of 20-24 y.o.; 3.0 in the last year
6.5 of 24-44 y.o.; 3.0 in the last year
11.2 percent of women have had same-sex contact though it is not as specific as for men. 4.4 percent had same-sex contact in the past year. This is a fascinating finding in that fewer women consider themselves to be gay. This skewing may partly be a result of the more specific nature of the question to men.
Some information is presented about the number of sex-partners in the past year but it isn’t easy to extrapolate what a gay person’s median number might be. What was available was:
0.7 percent of men and 1.1 percent of women had one sex partner during the last year and that person was of the same sex.
0.9 percent of men and 0.2 percent of women had 2 or more partners of the same sex.
1.0 percent of men and 3.1 percent of women had sex with both men and women in the past year.
This suggests that gay men are not a promiscuous as anti-gay people claim. Nearly as many gay men had only one partner as had more than one. And lesbians, as is consistent with the stereotype, tend not to be promiscuous at all.
Also, I think we can assume that about 2.3% of guys are gay and between 1.3 and 1.5% of women ar lesbians whether defined by identity or by attraction.
An encouraging statistic is that for those who engaged in only same-sex activity in the past year, multiple partners were statistically invisible for men under 20 and women under 25.
Some more fun facts are:
40 percent of guys and 35 percent of women have had anal sex with an opposite-sex partner
90 percent of guys and 88 percent of women have had oral sex with an opposite-sex partner
Of men who had ever had same-sex contact, 60% have tested for HIV (29% in the last year) while only 46% of men without same-sex activity have tested (14% in the past year).
About 17% of men who have had same-sex contact have been treated for non-HIV sexually transmitted infection while 7% of men without same-sex contact have been treated for a non-HIV STI.
Of males who had ever had sexual contact with another male, 91% used a condom in their most recent sex. Of those without any same-sex contact, 36% used a condom in their last sex.
During 2002, 49% of HIV infections were through gay sex, 34% through vaginal sex, 15% through injection drug use, with 2% other.
7.3% of Latinos and 7.5% of black men identified their orientation as “something else” and 3 to 4 percent of each did not answer the question.
49.1% of men who have had oral or anal sex with another man consider themselves to be heterosexual.
Well, doesn’t this just point up PANsexuality?
Timothy wrote:
Actually, that figure has been relatively consistent for decades. Laumann clearly showed this 11 years ago, Kinsey did it 50 years ago.The confusion (deliberate, from some, IMO) is the “I am gay” versus the “I am not 100% heterosexual”. If talking about a take-up rate for partnership benefits then the lower figures are prob. the appropriate. If discussing sexuality education in schools or safer-sex campaigns then the higher are the appropriate.As for the “something else” people… perhaps they also include those who go around telling people:
I’m still wading through the report but nothing has popped out as unexpected.
Timothy wrote:
“Of males who had ever had sexual contact with another male, 91% used a condom in their most recent sex. Of those without any same-sex contact, 36% used a condom in their last sex.”
What? I’m assuming that you mean that 91% of gay men used a condom the last time they had anal intercourse. Unless only anal intercourse is considered “gay sex” these days!
Mark,
I don’t know. The report didn’t specify the sex act.
I doubt that this question only applied to anal sex. I imagine that for most heterosexuals it related to vaginal sex, but I’m only guessing.
Hi Timothy — it did, page 9. (Measurement of sexual behavior)
And that raises an interesting question… if this is the extent of the repertoire, this means a considerable number of “same-sex sexual contact” is perhaps not included in some data. I’ll need to check if this could cause an undercount of some reported figures or % etc.If memory serves, I recall a wider range of MSM behaviours than just those four…
Actually, here’s the first query without needing to look at the report.If 91% of encounters on those four behaviours involved condom use… this is not lining up with other data, particularly that involving longer-term couples who use “negotiated safe sex” (ie monogamy) rather than condoms.
grantdale,
I believe that the detailed same-sex-act question (as discussed on Page 9 of the report) was not linked to the condom-last-sex question.
However, I do agree with you that the limitation of same sex activity into just the four sex acts does eliminate some same-sex activity and does skew the percentages downward. But probably not significantly since the question was “have you ever” and I suspect most gay men have at some point tried one of the four.
The other factor that skews the percentages downward is including the 15 to 19 year old categories. The percentage steadily increase as age increases (though there is a strange dip in 20-21 years). This suggests to me that there are undoubtedly gay kids in that age range who have not had sex (a good thing), bringing down the average.
But in trying to decide what number I think is supported by the survey I tried to look at the self identity question and the attraction question together. Taking mostly or only same-sex attracted together the numbers are similar to self defined. And (as could be expected, allowing for “experimentation”) both are somewhere between “have you ever” and “have you this year” for same-sex sexual activity.
I also want to take a more conservative position; unlike the anti/ex-gay crowd, I am more interested in truth than political spin. Keeping that in mind, I didn’t even address the question of how bi the bisexuals really are (most gay men claim to be bi before admitting they are gay).
But I certainly am not the last word on any of this. Would you agree with “At least 2.3% of the male and 1.4% of the female population is gay”?
Timothy, yes I’d certainly agree with that last statement.I’d also nail it down by adding “self-identify, are ego-syntonic and either have or are actively seeking a long-term same-sex relationship.” ie the really gay ones, like, well, me 🙂 I think Laumann presented things better in 1994, but this report has found basically the same results in 2002 except that younger people seem to be increasingly open about same-sex attractions or behaviour.The condom use comments (p4) was linked to Table 21 (p39) which has note 3 at the bottom referring to the definition I gave. So it’s three-steps to get there rather than directly.
And yep, no probs with the other comments. Restricting answers to just those four behaviours will almost certainly gather all those (really) gay men or lesbians — but it wouldn’t gather those guys who have fooled around in a scout tent (as example) with mutual mastubation/kissing etc. Laumann asked about attractions as well as behaviours.The dip is prob. just a statistical artifact, although it could well also be picking up genuine shifts in ego-syntonic self-identification as one moves from adolesense to adulthood.The “I might be gay” at 16 to “Well, maybe I will not be” at 19 to “Who was I kidding, I am” at 25 is of course something the exgay groups are only too well aware of. Unfortunately, they filter this very normal process of growing self-awareness through some weird interpretations…But then Cohen and Nicolosi are their intellectual powerhouses so what hope do they have 🙂
grantdale,
I think we are probably driving everyone else insane with our picking at the minutia, but…
I follow part of your connection. However, footnote 3 defines “ever had sexual contact with same-sex partner” but does not define “last sexual encounter”.
As to what the anti-ex/gay crowd believes… well, if they can quote Cameron without giggling, they are capable of believing anything.
Timothy, ahh yes — that threw me too.While the behaviours to be counted as “ever had SS” where specified, the table doesn’t allow you to figure out if the last sexual encounter was either hom. or het. I hate it when they do that, and it doesn’t allow us to know (and here’s it all in shorthand!) if M2M by MSM sees higher condom use than by either M2F by MSM(&W) or M2F by MSW.And I don’t mind discussing the nitty-gritty. Who cares what all these other “But I’m a BIG PICTURE person” think about us 🙂
There’s an interesting discrepnacy in this survey between how people identify their sexual orientations and their actual patterns of sexual attraction and behavior.
In this study, 1.8% of men and 2.8% of women called themselves “bisexual.” On the other hand, 5.6% of men and 12.9% of women report having experienced attraction to both sexes (adding “mostly other sex,” “equally,” and “mostly same sex” answers).
What’s in a name? Labels such as “straight” and “gay” may not offer the best means for understanding one’s own life expreiences. Also, ignorance or denial of the reality of bisexual desire distorts evaluations of so-called “sexual reorientation.” Someone who identifies as gay or lesbian, but whose sexuality could more accurately be described as bisexual, might become more open to recognizing heterosexual attarctions. But this may not be a fundamental change in sexual orientation at all.
I’m a 100% behind you on that one, Jason.