Sexual Behavior of Gay Adolescents

I think one of the major shortcomings of wikipedia is that it never fully explains these studies. Depending on the sample size of either group (gay or straight) the study could be manipulated so it doesn't actually show the truth. It also depends on the question that they asked. There are plenty of factors that can make a study phony.

 

Well, I believe Martin summed it up amazingly well. I mean, to put it simply, if some surveyor goes around asking kids "are you gay?" What are the chances they'll say yes, even if they are? Through my empirical experiences, I surely would not have participated (and if so not honestly) in such a survey at that age. Like Martin said, if the kids are open enough to disclose to a surveyor the fact that they are gay, it is likely that they are much more open with themselves and society in order to partake in such a relationship than a closeted adolescent.

Furthermore, we can attempt to analyse the pregnancy statistics. It's all too easy to ask "how the hell are homosexuals more likely to get pregnant?!" One possibility, I suppose, is the results of bisexual participants. However, this is taking a minority (gay, bi, lesbian), and narrowing it down even further! It would be quite strange to suggest that bisexual participants are creating the majority of the results.

However, there are other possibilities. Take for example the homosexuals who are constantly ridiculed throughout society and implanted with the idea that "you must have sex with the opposite gender." Perhaps it's possible that these students, in a panic about their perceived sexuality, feels the urge to partake in sexual activity with the opposite sex in order to convince themselves that they are heterosexual. Firstly, is the number of participating students going to be a particularly large figure? And secondly, if they're so socially influenced to have sex with the opposite sex (and apparently get someone/themselves pregnant), then is it likely that these students would partake in such a survey, or is it more likely that they would lie about their sexuality?

I suppose we'll never know. One thing for sure though, is that surveys about homosexuality will never be able to depict true and accurate results if the issues of inequality remain. It's too easy for a student under pressure to simply say "no, I'm not gay."

Lastly, I'd like to disagree with Chip. I understand your views are "gut instinct" and that you have no way of proving your statements. However, I'll have to admit that my views too (on the issue of a "non-representative sample of gays in EC") are merely what I believe. I believe that many of the gay people we know, as Martin suggests, are out and comfortable with their sexuality at least to some extent. There is quite a bit of room in the percentage of the population for those who are not out and choose to keep it to themselves. It can also be noted that several gays who are "out" can very often fit into the same general stereotypes (flashy, dresses-well, "girly"(?), artsy). Of course, I by no means intend to imply this is true for all gays; I believe we're all in understanding of this. However, the fact of the matter is, these stereotypes exist for a reason. They wouldn't exist if they weren't (in the outsider's perspective - gay or straight) at least somewhat true. I believe that for whatever reason, these stereotypes became common to the public and in a way even "influenced" other homosexuals into trying to "fit" these stereotypes because they're gay, and that's what society told them they have to be.

In EC however, I believe there are many people who look at these and think "well this definitely isn't me." But I also believe that there are a great deal of homosexuals in our environments who think the same way, not just in EC. It's possible that there are a great deal of closeted homosexuals who believe that the stereotypes are a joke (because they are) and don't like to associate with the "gay society." Unfortunately, we can never know because, well, they're closeted.

 

And of course there is the question: What's the definition of "sexual intercourse"? For opposite sex, it's pretty obvious. But what about between two same-sex people? Just being intimate? What if you asked that of straight youth. I don't buy the data at all.

 

Oh my....OH MY...
WE ARE SEXUAL PERVERTS!!!

 

Haha, true true. I didn't think about those who don't post. And it's also possible that the majority who do post are looking for help and advice or giving help and advice, where I'm sure there are several gay people in general who wouldn't fit these categories (perhaps those who are happy with who they are or see no need in helping others as it's not an issue to them, etc). Yeah, I guess thinking about it further, EC probably does have a more "intelligent, well spoken, and less promiscuous" figure. I still feel like something's missing though. I don't know what.

 

You know what, even if my rant is short I have to say this.

I am not necessarily surprised at these findings. True or not, the fact is gay men (and women) more often than not have sex sometimes more than straight. Why might you ask, because it's the damn world telling us we're sinning we're in the wrong whatever. Gay people have a lot more sex in my opinion because we're trying to push that boundary. We seem to want to say "you don't want to accept me, fine, I'll go and do what isn't accepted (promiscuity)". I know there will be several who disagree with me...but that's just my rationality...and I hate it...I think this is also a case of hating myself as well...just because I let myself be slightly promiscuous. Luckily I've been okay with my health, and don't plan to continue, but I feel in my case it was that I was getting back at those who said gays are promiscuous...and sadly became that way. ...

I don't really know where I'm going right now...I'm just kinda blabbing so to those who just went "huh" sorry....

 

Huh?

just kidding xD

But see, I guess this is where I slightly disagree again. (geez I'm hard to agree with today lol). I think society sees gays as promiscuous because the homosexuals society is observing are the ones who are out and let people know it. I do think there are quite a number of closeted ones who do not partake in "promiscuous acts" - or at least not as much as surveys are grossly over-dramatizing.

I do agree though that there are probably quite a number who do have sex because they figure if they're sinning they might as well keep doing it. As for you though, you shouldn't beat yourself up for promiscuity. Just because some gays do it for those reasons mentioned above sided with the fact that you disapprove of this, doesn't necessarily mean you should shut out anything that resembles promiscuity. That would be like straying from a stereotype just to prove that you don't fit it (and who's to say you're doing it for the same reasons anyway?) You should just be yourself. If you happen to fit some stereotypes and completely oppose other stereotypes, who cares as long as you're being you? That and sex isn't a bad thing. The world can be too prude sometimes. :icon_bigg

 

The sample size is way too small. This study cannot be accurate.

 

Want to know my gay adolescent behavior? I experimented with neighborhood boys up until about high school.

 

My hypothesis about why a large subset of gay youth seems to have more sex, riskier sex and earlier sex, is that there still is an enormous lack of support for young gay people to deal with sex.

Straight kids easily find peers, parents, councilors etc. to talk about sex. Sex ed in schools is geared towards them. straight sex is a topic in schoolyard discussions as soon as kids find out about it, and straight relationships and sex are portrayed in most media.

This support (even though id doesn't explicitely feel like support) can be stabilising. For a straight kid, it's natural to talk to your friends about relationships and sex. If you have an opposite-sex partner, it's natural to bring him/her home, and get the standard lecture by parents to be careful. Media portrays sex as something that happens after trust has been established... you're forced to think about what you're doing.

What alternative do most gay teens have? Secretly fumbling in the dark. What role-models do they have? No one. Are they just as hormone-crazed as the rest? Hell yes!
So, teenagers, alone, without oversight, well-meaning guidance or peer support... I don't think I need to draw a picture here. Lots of sex, possibly unsafe, ensues. Relationships break a lot more because both partners have to deal with it alone, and can't run to their friends. I don't know how the increased pregnancies fit in here, however.

This is just a gut feeling, though...

Also, it's terribly hard to get good data on sexual behaviour. a lot of people will give you the answer they think is statistically average, because they don't want to seem frigid or sexually stunted on the one hand, or rampant sluts on the other hand. So, if it's "common wisdom" that someone in a certain group has X amounts of sex, then the answers will skew to that direction because people are worrying more about their image than about giving good and relevant data.



As for why EC is an outlier? I think that it's not necessarily just EC. It goes for a lot of forums probably. People who post on forums are generally people who take time to formulate their situation, carefully word their question, and have the patience to wait hours or days for a reply. So probably that selects against those people who act on impulse. If they need help, they'd probably call a hotline or search a chatroom, rather than read pages of stories and write pages of their own.

And, as Martin says, there's of course the added effect that people on here usually come here because they're dealing with a lot of issues, which naturally leaves less room for having no-strings-attached sex.

 

Filip, what you said is EXACTLY what I was trying to get across in my rant. It's completely true. I mean in sex ed back in Grade 9 (though I heard it before then as we did have sex ed in like grade 6, 7 & 8) was always about reproduction, safe sex, etc but it was ALWAYS geared to straight people. I don't think I heard ANYTHING about homosexual safe sex, or sex ed for homosexuals. I mean this was back in 2002 but you'd figure they'd have SOMETHING in place for those questioning themselves, etc. To me I just found that the only "support" I had really was older gay men who just wanted sex with me >_> and I wound up losing my own virginity to one because of my own stupidity. (one guy actually tricked me into believing that when I got to the city my university is in, no guy would want a virgin >_> of course reason I believed him was I didn't really have any other support to go to or anyone to tell me that I was worth just as much as a virgin to a boyfriend as I was if I wasn't a virgin). So yeah Filip, I think you hit the nail on the head.

 

I live in Massachusetts and maybe I'm out of the "gay loop" but the straight people in my high school are quite busy. I feel like the statistics are a bit off

This. Someone explain this. Girl+girl=no baby and boy+boy=no baby so........

 

Gay boy+girl=baby, if he was in the closet/in denial.
Boy+lesbian=baby, if she was in the closet/in denial.
Also, bisexuality and pansexuality are sexual minorities.

 

Your aware wiki can be edited by anyone right?

I lol at people who quote wiki with the intentions anything there is factual.

 

I get that but I still feel like this situation happens a lot less than is reported in that survey thingy. And you're right, I didn't include other sexual minorities (sorry )but even in my head, including all minorities, I just find it hard to believe that statistic. However as saguy84 pointed out its a wikipedia article so..... yea.

 

This is surprising..

Some of the people they included in this study were "anyone who experienced same-sex intimacy" or whatever, which could include straight people who are just really crazy, which could explain why they have more sex or whatever. It could also explain the pregnancy rates and stuff.

But honestly out of 100 people 96 are straight and 4 are queer. 50% of the queer ones may have gotten with the same gender meanwhile maybe 5% of the straight ones are insane enough to have gotten with the same gender. So that's 2 queer and 4 or 5 straight. See what I'm getting at?

idk i just think that portion of the people interviewed could have polluted the accuracy of the study.