Seth Stephens-Davidowitz of the New York Times did a study on what percentage of males in the U.S. are gay, and came up with 5%. He also claims that many of those men are “in the closet or quietly suffering in heterosexual marriages — particularly in traditionally conservative states”. Stephens utilized information from the U.S. Census, social media sites, Gallup polls, and Internet porn searches.
It’s becoming more and more accepted that sexuality is a spectrum, so how was he defining “gay”? The answer is “men that are predominantly attracted to men”.
The sad and sobering outcome of the study would appear to be that there are still A TON of men who are into men that aren’t out, won’t talk about it, and are assuredly miserable. Here’s some other findings he came up with:
* When it comes to homosexuality, Rhode Island is the most “tolerant” state. Mississippi is the least.
* One-tenth of gay men haven’t come out to most of the important people in their lives.
* Gay men are half as likely as straight men to be open about their sexuality on social networks.
* More than one quarter of gay men hide their sexuality from anonymous surveys; about 3.6 percent of American men tell anonymous surveys they are attracted to men.
And in other depressing and dysfunctional news, “is my husband gay?” would appear to be a very popular search on Google.
In the United States, of all Google searches that begin “Is my husband…,” the most common word to follow is “gay.” “Gay” is 10 percent more common in such searches than the second-place word, “cheating.” It is 8 times more common than “an alcoholic” and 10 times more common than “depressed.” The states with the highest percentage of women asking this question are South Carolina and Louisiana. In fact, in 21 of the 25 states where this question is most frequently asked, support for gay marriage is lower than the national average.
That’s sadness, as was Stephens-Davidowitz’s conclusion:
“There is, in other words, a huge amount of secret suffering in the United States that can be directly attributed to intolerance of homosexuality.”
Do you think this study sounds accurate? Are you one of those men who is suffering in silence?
– J. Harvey
_______________________________________________________________________________
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE…
–
–
In the 80’s scientists said it was 10%.
I actually believe the 5% figure is a low estimate. Unless it’s for guys who identify as gay only and does not include guys who identify as bisexual. I read somewhere a study that suggests the number of guys identifying as bi is much higher than the guys who identify as gay.
actually, by the eighties, they were saying between 3 and 7%. 10% was based on the Kinsey studies, which were notoriously flawed in terms of how many people were doing what.
I believe it’s 5% or a bit lower. It’s easy to lose perspective when you live in a gay neighborhood or have many gay friends, but overall I’d be surprised if more than 1 in 20 of all guys in the USA are gay
Kinsey’s total was also based on men and women. As half the people are women, 5% of men would have made sense to him. And he also saw sexuality as a spectrum. I think he’s misunderstood. And given the fearlessness of his work we owe him a lot, even though he was sometimes wrong. (Not that you said anything particularly bad about him. )
🙂
This article is for gay men and not bisexual men. They’re different. That’s why they get different letters on our alliance L.G.B.T.
It is sad that men have to hide who they are from those who are supposed to love them. I do understand why staying in the closet is the only way for some. I do not agree with men who use other people (namely a wife) for this purpose. Not only do they make their life a lie but also the lives of these women.
Just today I saw an add on Craigslist for a group of married men who were meeting for group sex. And no, showing up wearing a ring did not count. You actually had to show mail addressed to both the married man AND wife as proof. Anyway, the whole point is that this was a barebacking group getting together for anonymous sex. Or as anonymous as it could be since you had to bring proof of marriage. And while I am with Dewitt that barebacking should be an informed decision for the parties involved. I am sure none of these guys are going to fess up to their wives about barebacking with other dudes. So she is NOT part of this “informed” decision.
So these men are not only making a lie of someone else’s life but also risking their health.
I’ll tell you what: being a “real man” has nothing to do with how “masc” you are. It’s how you own up to who you really are.
I agree, 5% seems low. However, if they were only counting men who are “predominantly attracted to other men” then maybe it’s not so far off. Since bi-men don’t seem to be included. Plus note that the survey also says that 25% of gay men hide their sexuality from anonymous surveys. So that also skews the real numbers.
Then where the hell are all of them?! Oh right, NOT the Midwest…. damn.
I think it might be higher but, it is still a sad dose of reality.