Percentage of heterosexuals etc

The Office of National Statistics in the UK has concluded that 95% of the UK population classify themselves as heterosexual, and just 1% as homosexual. I’m surprised about this because I always went along with the ‘10%’ rule of thumb figure that is always thrown into discussions. Certainly, 1% is a lot lower than I’d expected (although 0.5% went with ‘bisexual’). Perhaps the ‘don’t knows’ are just kidding themselves?

guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/9280221

What about the other 4%?

It’s always been a paradox. I’ve seen everything from the traditional 10% stemming from Kinsey down to the 1% figure bandied about by fundamentalists, right-wing extremists and homophobes. But if gays only make up 1% of the population, why are the homophobes so scared of them?

Off the top of my head…
I expect the 1% number is lower than reality, because enough people still feel that there’s a stigma attached to being gay – or that it’s no one’s business – that they lie about it.
I expect the 10% number is higher than reality, because at that level there’s an obvious political incentive to support gay rights, and rallying around that made/makes tactical sense.

Chris:
What percentage of the population are boogiemen? Seem to inspire a good deal of fear in a good number of the wee folk.

[quote=“Chris”]What about the other 4%?

It’s always been a paradox. I’ve seen everything from the traditional 10% stemming from Kinsey down to the 1% figure bandied about by fundamentalists, right-wing extremists and homophobes. But if gays only make up 1% of the population, why are the homophobes so scared of them?[/quote]

The other 4% are ‘don’t knows’, didn’t respond or ‘other’. The office of national statistics aren’t exactly fundamentalists of right-wing extremists. The sample was almost half a million, so I would guess it’s statistically significant. It looks like the 1% figure bandied about by right-wing extremists is probably correct.

The other 4%? Bisexual, trisexual, triedsexualanddidn’tcareforit, asexual, unsexual, antisexual, multisexual, polysexual, etc.?

[quote=“Jaboney”]Off the top of my head…
I expect the 1% number is lower than reality, because enough people still feel that there’s a stigma attached to being gay – or that it’s no one’s business – that they lie about it.
[/quote]

There would have to be a very large number of people at such a stage of denial that they lie on an anonomous questionnaire. Seems unlikely to me.

The numbers are all over the place:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographi … rientation

Some people could be described as “asexual,” in that they experience no desire for sex with anybody. (Some of them get married anyway.) Presumably this could account for another percentage point or so. The rest are probably having sex with sheep.

I don’t know. Maybe.
I believe most people lie about certain topics on a regular basis, and lie to certain people/organizations more frequently than not.
Sex and the government makes for a nice combination of something, and someone, to lie to.
But I really don’t know. Just a guess. Pure PIDOoMA.

Welsh. Actually the Welsh make up 5% of the UK population, so a good fifth of them have integrated with mainstream homo/hetero society. I didn’t think the proportion would be that big.

Any self-reported study is going to be a low figure.

Go on craiglist anywhere in the world and look at the number of people who are married but want to have gay sex :unamused:

In my single days, when I spent time online, every time I was online a married guy would hit on me and ask for discrete sex :aiyo: And these are the ones who will admit they are married-probably many more who don’t. There are tons of self-loathing gay people-many of them married with children and totally passable as straight in day-to-day life.

[quote=“Chris”]What about the other 4%?

It’s always been a paradox. I’ve seen everything from the traditional 10% stemming from Kinsey down to the 1% figure bandied about by fundamentalists, right-wing extremists and homophobes. But if gays only make up 1% of the population, why are the homophobes so scared of them?[/quote]

the 10% number was always high in my opinion.

why?

I think back to all my classmates from grades 1-12 and very few actually ended up being gay. this is a pool of people likely in the thousands as the kids change from school to school and year to year, and you have different classmates in each subject.

lets say for argument sake I had 1000 different classmates during my schooling.

I think if a number anywhere near a hundred ended up being gay, it would be noteworthy.

5% or less is much more logical.

what are the adjectives for being scared of them? Biphobic? triphobic? aphobic? (I am not even going to try and guess the adjective for triedsexualanddidn’tcareforit).

i would guess the percentage is less than 10% among men and more among women, because more than 10% of the women I have asked for sex have said no, and less than 10% of the men i have asked for sex have said yes.

:roflmao:

what are the adjectives for being scared of them? Biphobic? triphobic? aphobic? (I am not even going to try and guess the adjective for triedsexualanddidn’tcareforit).

I would guess the percentage is[color=#FF0000] less than 10% among men [/color]and more among women, because more than 10% of the women I have asked for sex have said no, and [color=#FF0000]less than 10% of the men I have asked for sex have said yes[/color].[/quote]
Yes, but how much beer did they have in them at the time of asking? :whistle:

Welsh. Actually the Welsh make up 5% of the UK population, so a good fifth of them have integrated with mainstream homo/hetero society. I didn’t think the proportion would be that big.[/quote]

Look, all we can do is deplore the fact that there aren’t more gay people in this overpopulated world. And that people are still hung up on what gender your partner is. And that more people aren’t happy to try a little on both sides.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/6961/What-Percentage-Population-Gay.aspx

People do seem to suggest higher than necessary numbers. Is this just because gays and lesbians are smarter and therefore adept at inserting gay characters into TV shows or because their better taste leads to hetero fear exaggerating their existence?

I say: Let’s try and take the number up to 10 %, if it isn’t there already. Try a friend of the same sex tomorrow.
[color=#BF00BF] 10 %.[/color]

[quote=“ThreadKiller”]Look, all we can do is deplore the fact that there aren’t more gay people in this overpopulated world. And that people are still hung up on w gender your partner is. And that more people aren’t happy to try a little on both sides.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/6961/What-Percentage-Population-Gay.aspx

People do seem to suggest higher than necessary numbers. Is this just because gays and lesbians are smarter and therefore adept at inserting gay characters into TV shows or because their better taste leads to hetero fear exaggerating their existence?

I say: Let’s try and take the number up to 10 %, if it isn’t there already. Try a friend of the same sex tomorrow.
[color=#BF00BF] 10 %.[/color]
[/quote]
oh, all right.
Grumble.

Human sexuality is a complex and varied thing, and any attempt to draw strict boundaries and count exemplars is going to be flawed. How do you define homosexuality? By exclusivity of acts, preference vis-a-vis acts, preference in terms of fantasy, or self-identity? What about those who have experience in acts with both genders? And those with ambivalence in preference? Equal amounts of fantasy with both? Ambivalence in terms of self-identity? What about those who have exclusively hetero experiences, but whose fantasy life is dominated by the forbidden own gender? What about those who have engaged in homosexual acts due to circumstances, but whose identity is otherwise? What about adolescent curiosity which doesn’t linger on into adult perceptions of and actions regarding sexuality? Or those who have had experience with both but whose fantasy or self-identity is strongly skewed in a particular direction? Add to these questions all the obvious social pressure in most societies against answering honestly, plus poorly worded questions which don’t allow the respondent to fully express his or her feelings, experiences, fantasies and identity, and it should come as no surprise that any attempt to reduce such complexity to a single percentage is doomed to abject failure.

Perhaps in this case, people should forget the statistics and get along with just knowing each other as people.
Are people that rigid that they must always be cast?

Quoted for truth. Great post.

People who are married and/or identify as straight are not as likely to discuss any feelings they may have for those of the same sex. It’s not within cultural limits of proper discussion. On the other hand, it is VERY common (almost obnoxiously so) for str8 people to ask gay people How do you know? I’ve made out with girls and even played with boobs, but it did nothing for me, lol. A good friend of mine loves to tell the story of how he vomited in a girl’s lap when he tried to go down on her after prom. But how many str8 guys will, in any situation, discuss the number of times they have been attracted to men, fantasized about men, or (GASP) had some sort of drunken encounter that may or may not have worked for them?

And as I said before, the number of married guys who use craigslist or other gay cruise spots is not small. It’s not usually openly gay people who go to such spots…but married people (think Larry Craig). If someone was open, why would they need to go somewhere anonymous? We don’t (or I should say, I don’t, never have, and likely won’t).

And I have to say I have met quite a few married men or otherwise self-identified str8 men who have confided in me that they have, of course, questioned their own sexuality. Maybe it’s because they know it’s safe to tell me? Perhaps it’s because gay men tend to be less judgmental (unless of course your belt doesn’t match your shoes…) I dunno. But there was never any weirdness about it. It’s quite natural for people to question their own sexuality. About once every couple of years I seriously ponder/wonder if I could date and marry a woman. I can only imagine that most people have similar thoughts regardless of how they identify themselves.
Edit: And to relate this to Taiwan, I have met SO many guys who in their younger days are very sexually active with other men but who plan to get married to please their families. They think they are somehow getting it out of their system. Even if most of these men do not marry, they never actually tell their families they are gay, but let them think they just haven’t met the right girl. Such men are just waiting for their parents to croak. A sad life, IMO.