More gay guys than lesbians?

i think it's a range of factors -

- the world's media is fixated on presenting the standard homosexual as a young 20-something ridiculously good-looking white male, it's certainly not representative of the truth. little attention is paid to lesbians let alone other types of gay males.
- i think it works differently for males and females, studies tend to focus on the causes of male homosexuality, therefore lesbians tend not to be at the centre of people's attention when discussing homosexuality.
- females may not notice their homosexuality and may overlook it as simply admiring what society considers the "more attractive" sex. lesbians aren't taken as seriously too, unfortunately.

^ just ideas, not fact.

 

I think women are simply given more societal leeway to identify as bisexual or not, whereas males are pressured a lot more to identify as one or the other. The difference is that many are free to use that bisexual "transitional period" for as long as necessary, sometimes decades, without anyone questioning their attraction to the opposite sex, where a man would be pressured, and rejected, from all sides, pretty much.

There seems to be a lot more research into causes of male homosexuality; it's more visible, so think of the fraternal birth theory, whereas female homosexuality is often times overlooked. I don't think there's a heavy skew between men and women in LGBT, honestly.

Gay men seem to be more in favor of identifying with the label, culture, and flaunting it, ie living "out and proud" and maintaining a distinct gay identity. So, visibility seems a contributing factor, and for a few, there's almost a disdain for anything non-gay.

As diverse as EC might be, I do think it has a slight gay male slant...

 

It also possible has something to do with our own psychological make up.

Males are generally the more sexual sex.This isn't to say that us ladies are platonic sacks, but due to sperm being constantly produced, men are more inclined to their sexuality. This makes it harder for men really hide their attractions, because it is stronger and even more physical. Boys often find out that they are gay earlier than girls because of how puberty affects young men and how everything is experienced. So therefore, males tend to come out at an earlier age.

Females on the other hand tend to come out later in their teen years. Girls aren't really expected to be sexual, so this attraction for females is very easy to misconstrue as something as innocent. Females also have the boy crazy phase that can often push lesbians to comply just to fit in, since courting males is seen as very important in girl society. These factors make it so that it is harder for lesbians themselves to know their own sexuality.

 

The one-out-of-ten number is probably not right. Most studies but the rate at closer to 3-4 people out of 100. However, the rate varies across different sub-populations; for example, poor people and those in urban areas are more likely to be LBGTQ.

As far as the gender ratio within the community goes, I think most studies indicate that there are actually more queer women than men. The highest I saw was something like 20% of women in one subset of the population (poor and in their early twenties, if memory serves right) identified as something other than straight. Of course, like all studies, take this with a grain of salt. However, women are less visible in our culture in general, and this carries over to representations of LBGTQ issues.

Lastly, EC's ratio is skewed due to being an internet forum. The majority of the internet is dominated by men for historical reasons. (There are places where women dominate, like Pinterest and Tumblr, and at least on the latter I've come across a lot more queer women than men.)

 

One - 10% is a kind of a white lie... no a down right miscarriage of the truth. Its more like 2-5%, depending on what study you want to do.

I think the ratio of gay males to lesbians is closer to 1:1 -

Gay males tend to be more out there, and also more urban. Lesbians tend to be a bit more reserved, and rural.

Further, gay men tend to be more promiscuous, while lesbians tend to settle down for relationships - that is a man and woman thing, not a lesbian/gay thing.

Gay males are covered in the media more than lesbians. Lesbians are hot - ask nearly any straight male - so they are not a problem to be talking about - Gay men - well they are a problem - the darn sickos.... See how the mentality between how gays are intolerable and lesbians are tolerated affects visibility.

Lastly and most ashamedly, The gender roles still apply. Women are treated differently then guys, women tend to be more prone to be victimized - as such less women are actually as likely to be forthcoming about their sexuality - they already are threatened and view being a lesbian on top of being a woman to be too great of a threat risk.

Its our sick society that skews the numbers. Which is why 10% was the initial figure. The sickness of our society lead to a lot of estimates being made attempting to cover potential 'hiding' of people polled. Its our sick society that causes many to hide, its our sick society that victimizes women more than men that lead to women being less likely to fully express themselves in many area thus 'hide' in plain sight.

In a perfect world, were everyone could be who they are, I think we would find the ratios to be just about even.

 

Actually there was a huge poll done by Gallup within the last year which provided some interesting results:

Special Report: 3.4% of U.S. Adults Identify as LGBT

They did a huge survey across all 50 states and asked "Do you personally identify as LGBT?"

In total, 3.4% of Americans said Yes, but they also broke it down by demographics.



So among the Millenial/GenY age group women are almost twice as likely to say yes. This could either reflect a truly larger number of LGBT women, or it could just mean that men are more reluctant to say yes. My theory is that bisexual men are much more likely to identify as "straight" - especially if they are currently in a relationship with a woman. This theory is supported by a separate poll I saw which showed that about 70-75% of self-reported bisexuals are women.

The other interesting thing to note in this poll is that Millenials/GenY are twice as likely to say Yes than are their parents, and four times more likely than their grandparents. This probably isn't much of a surprise either, but I think it sheds some light on the true number of LGBT. Gallup may have 3.4% across the whole population, but it's logical to assume that the 18-29 respondents were more truthful. I'd say it's fair to put the real number at 7-8%, and maybe even 10% after all.

 

I've never gone to gay bars and such, but in my many years of living in Baltimore, and being very social, going to see local bands, art openings, out to hipster bars, late-night parties, dive bars, museums, festivals, and just out and about, I've met a lot more gay men than lesbians. And of the lesbians I do know often complain about how few there seem to be, and how hard it is to meet. So from my limited point of view, I'd say yes, there are fewer, even in a vibrant diverse/arts/college oriented part of town. I'm not sure why this is.

 

The polls run from real low to reasonably high percentages.

I stick to 4% gay among men (1 in 25), and 3% lesbian among women (1 in ~33). That figure does not include bisexuals, which could add a couple of percentage points, at the very least, to both men and women. There could be a margin of error for gay men, lesbians, and especially bisexuals who under-report, as well. Also, the reason the percentages are higher in some cities is just because of that - they're cities. Most people who live in a part of the country or a town where they'd get hassled move to the big city. Another interesting thing is that some cities may have higher GLBT populations, such as NY and LA, but other smaller cities such as Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Atlanta actually have higher percentages of their populations who are GLBT. This is a topic that is continuously discussed and debated.

 

At my school, there are quite a few bisexual girls, but I think I oly know one bisexual boy. I don't know any gay guys, but I know a few lesbians.
Me and my friends were talking about it the other day, and we think that maybe it's just that the girls are coming out first in our school, because they feel that it's less of an issue in our community for girls.
I do think that there are a lot less lesbians on here than gay guys though. I don't know why…

 

I've never known a gay guy, but I know heaps of lesbians. I imagine it varies around the world. Even just within social circles.

 

I remember reading somewhere that gay men greatly outnumber lesbians. I think the results of that poll may be due to more women identifying as bisexual than men, rather than more women identifying as lesbians versus men identifying as gay (so I agree with what you said regarding bisexuality). I also remember reading an article about how MtF transexuals outnumber FtM transexuals. Since MtF trans people would be considered part of the female demographic in that poll, that could also explain the large difference in numbers between LGBT men and women.

---------- Post added 19th Aug 2013 at 02:09 PM ----------

I'm quite the opposite. I've never in my life met a lesbian, and I knew only one girl who labeled herself bi, but seemed to be doing it more for attention than genuenly being bi. I also don't know of any public figure in my country who is out as a lesbian, though there are a couple of gay men.

 

i think there are more bisexual females..that is all i know

 

The numbers in that poll show that, but I wonder how many guys on the d.l., or basic MSM types, would identify as straight on a poll. I think the number of bi men might be higher than being 1/2 of the reported bi women, but maybe just a little less.

I am amazed to see that the 18-29 group's number is so much higher. Maybe they're being super honest by counting a couple of experiences experimenting.

 

I think that it varies among cultures... in some culture, many women are conservative about themselves.... and also, take account the population... the more guys, the higher the probability of gay guys