LGBT

Could "Girls Gone Wild" Help Explain How 50% of Americans Believe 20% of Americans are Gay or Lesbian?

Posted by figleaf | Tags:

Fri, 2011-05-27 19:13

Karl Smith notes a Gallup poll showing that half of all respondents think more than 20% of Americans are gay or lesbian:

"What makes this interesting to me is not that people are bad at demographics. It's that I would assume that people’s immediate experience is influencing their estimate of all of America. Yet, 52% of America can’t be experiencing anything like 1 out of every 5 people I know is gay."

...

The real number, by the way, is around 3-4%.

Source: Kevin Drum

Sheesh!

So... where do you suppose that 20% figure comes from? My first thought was that people who actually are LGBT might be more aware of the higher densities in their circles of friends and thus might themselves think they're 20% of the population? But that just means my first thought was dumb: first because most LGBT people I've met are actually pretty darn aware of the facts on the ground, but also because even if they did all believe it that would still be only 1.5% to 2% of the population they'd still add up to a rounding error.

So... I don't know.

Drum suggests

I think the real explanation for this is a lot simpler: gay and lesbian issues have been getting a lot of attention in the news lately, and that naturally makes people think they're more numerous than they really are. And personal experience probably has little to do with it. They themselves might know very few gays, but they just figure that's because all the gay people live in San Francisco or Seattle or New York.

Always possible. An even simpler explanation might be that close to half the population (a.k.a. men) are sufficiently marinated in the frat-party, spring break, porn, and (more sedately) online-dating-site-profile fueled notion that enough of other half of the population (a.k.a. women*) are up for some hawt girl on girl action (if you just get them liquored up first.*) Similarly close to half the population (a.k.a. women) are sufficiently marinated in gross "a cock has no conscience" stereotypes about men plus ravenous consumption of slash fiction to imagine that men are more opportunistic with each other then they let on in public. And that should be enough to get that number up to 20%.

*Which has always struck me as silly. As an anonymous contributor to 25 Things About My Sexuality put it

14. I get frustrated with men who insist all women will hook up with another woman if they're horny enough. Excuse me, I have toys for that.

Source: 25 Things About My Sexuality

Maybe because that makes sense to me I'm not surprised the correct number of LGBT Americans is probably closer to 3-4%.

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Definition of Egotist: Someone Who's Straight But Worries All Gay Men/Women Want to Have Sex With Them

Posted by figleaf | Tags:

Sat, 2010-10-30 05:33

Via Em & Lo, dating site OKCupid.com’s OKTrends research blog debunks yet another grievous canard about a “gay agenda” to “convert” straight people.

The subtext to a lot of homophobic thinking is the idea that gays will try to get straight people into bed at the first opportunity, or that gays are looking to “convert” straights. Freud called this concept schwanzangst; the U.S. Army calls it Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. We combed through over 4 million match searches, and found virtually no evidence of it:

only 0.6% of gay men have ever searched for straight matches.
only 0.1% of lesbians have ever searched for straight matches.
only 0.13% of straight people’s profile visitors are gay.

Source: OKTrends

OKCupid has millions of users. They make it not just possible but very easy to search using very specific criteria — for instance “both who like bi guys” “straight girls only,” “bi guys only,” “girls who like guys” and so on. And obviously you also get so specify your own preferences. The general culture of OKCupid is pretty open minded and so if for any reason you were a gay man or lesbian looking for straight matches it would be pretty easy, anonymous, and no particular hard feelings.

And yet… out of 10,000 visitors to straight people’s profiles only 13 will be the same sex they are. So much for Teh Great Gay Menace.

I remember a (straight) friend saying the thought being paranoid about getting cruised by someone of the same sex was a great way to tell if someone would be too unsuitably egotistical to date.

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Totally Dumb Celebrity-Relationship Question

Posted by figleaf | Tags:

Wed, 2009-07-15 12:30

How come tabloids spatter all manner of gossip about celebrity women’s same-sex relationships, really brief ones, but you never hear about celebrity men’s same-sex relationships, even when they’re really long-term?

It could just be I don’t read the right gossip-magazine covers in the grocery store checkout lines. I don’t think it is. And it could be that there’s some sort of “unspoken code” not to discuss male celebrity relationships. But since they seem pretty ready to speculate about different men’s sexuality I don’t think it’s that either. Or it could be that gossip almost by definition is about enforcing widely agreed upon narratives and so the idea of men (gay or straight) in relationships that aren’t mediated and maintained with the enormous Cosmo-style effort of women just don’t exist.

The other possibility is I don’t know about them because they really don’t exist. But since I only know what I read on gossip magazine covers in checkout lines (ok, ok, I’ve also skim the firehose of posts from Jezebel.com in my newsreader) I have no independent way to verify so it’s all guesses.

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May 17, is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Posted by figleaf | Tags:

Sun, 2009-05-17 16:10

Cara Kulwicki of the well-known mainstream feminist website Feministe has a just-in-time reminder.

Tomorrow, May 17, is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. This year, IDAHO is focusing on transphobia:

Each year, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (the “IDAHO”, as it is usually called), will see actions and initiatives take place in many countries and contexts and on many different issues.

All these activities and initiatives are a very strong signal to all, decisions makers, public opinion, civil rights movements, human rights defenders, etc. throughout the world that our fights for our Rights as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, intersex, etc… is vibrant!

The Day provides all different kind of actors with a very powerful opportunity to express their demands and to advocate for their case. Each year also, the IDAHO aims at using the extra public, political and media attention that it provides at all levels to highlight one specific aspect of the struggle for sexual rights.

This year, we chose to highlight the often neglected but important issue of Transphobia.

Click here to read the full appeal for rights for all trans people across the world (pdf). And then click here to sign the appeal yourself.

Remember, this is an international appeal, so anyone can sign. And of course, don’t forget to spread the word.

via Questioning Transphobia

They said it here.