more gay/bi men than gay/bi women?

[dreamcatcher]

So I was reading some of the demographics of lgbt people and for some reason, there are more gay/bi men than women. I found this really strange since I would think there would at least be an equal amount. Anyone have any theories or know of any information that would explains this? Also, these statistics don't entirely reflect the lgbt population since there is still such a stigma against being gay and a lot of people are still in the closet. So it's possible that there is an equal amount of gay men then women. But even so, why would men be more likely to say they are gay/bi than women?

[midwestgirl89]

Where did you find the statistics? I'm jw because I'm really interested to see what the article said. I have noticed that it seems like there are more men on EC than women. That might be untrue though. I don't have any theories that I can think of but I do know that social scientists and etc in the past have ignored female homosexuality and bisexuality. They usually focused solely on male homosexuality/bisexuality. I wonder how the statistics measure who is gay, straight, or bisexual. Do they ask what a person's sexual orientation is or do they ask how many times a person has had same-sex encounters?

---------- Post added 24th Jan 2012 at 07:35 PM ----------

I think you're right, it's hard to know exactly how many LGBT people there are. A lot of people are in the closet and don't want to answer honestly.

[IanGallagher]

I'm pretty sure that's accurate. Kinsey found that in his research, I believe, a long time ago too I heard. The number would have just increased to today. Guys are just less willing to admit to seeing an attractive guy or are more likely to just call it a phase. For example guys jokingly saying "I'd go gay for ---." I just say I'm bi, but may be one of the bi guys who never really acts on it since my chemistry sends me after hot girls when they're around like a blood hound lol.

[Ridiculous]

Well I think the amount of same-sex attraction is about the same for men and women, the difference comes from whether people are willing to label themselves as being attracted to the same sex.

Men in general require more physical interaction than women and are probably also more attracted to physical traits than women. If a man is attracted to men, then a good portion of that is probably physical attraction, so to fulfil this attraction they will have to label themselves as gay or bisexual. To put it in crude terms, if you're attracted to penises then you're going to have to go with men.

Women on the other hand generally put more emphasis on emotional attraction or attraction to personality than men do. In the most part these needs can be fulfilled by either men or women. To meet expectations put on them by society they may limit themselves to men only because they can still get the emotional aspect of the relationship, even if they are more physically attracted to other women.

(Of course there are women who are attracted more to physical traits and men who are attracted more to emotional traits, but these are in general and they explain why there is an apparent difference in rate of homosexuality between sexes. Also some women may only be attracted to personalities of other women, but the difference in numbers can be explained by accounting for the ones that aren't.)


Basically lesbian women are more likely to label themselves as straight. They can be content dating men because they can still get their important emotional aspect of a relationship from a male. Gay men are more likely to come out, as they can't get their important physical aspect of a relationship from dating women.

[J Snow]

Originally Posted by Ridiculous

Well I think the amount of same-sex attraction is about the same for men and women, the difference comes from whether people are willing to label themselves as being attracted to the same sex.

Men in general require more physical interaction than women and are probably also more attracted to physical traits than women. If a man is attracted to men, then a good portion of that is probably physical attraction, so to fulfil this attraction they will have to label themselves as gay or bisexual. To put it in crude terms, if you're attracted to penises then you're going to have to go with men.

Women on the other hand generally put more emphasis on emotional attraction or attraction to personality than men do. In the most part these needs can be fulfilled by either men or women. To meet expectations put on them by society they may limit themselves to men only because they can still get the emotional aspect of the relationship, even if they are more physically attracted to other women.

(Of course there are women who are attracted more to physical traits and men who are attracted more to emotional traits, but these are in general and they explain why there is an apparent difference in rate of homosexuality between sexes. Also some women may only be attracted to personalities of other women, but the difference in numbers can be explained by accounting for the ones that aren't.)


Basically lesbian women are more likely to label themselves as straight. They can be content dating men because they can still get their important emotional aspect of a relationship from a male. Gay men are more likely to come out, as they can't get their important physical aspect of a relationship from dating women.

I agree with this, but I also think it has to do with experimenting being more taboo amongst men. For example, lots of "straight" girls will kiss at bars and stuff to "get attention," but its also possible they are expressing their desire to experiment without having to come out as bi, and never put that identity on themselves. Men don't really have this opportunity as experimenting between two men is much less socially acceptable.

[midwestgirl89]

Originally Posted by Ridiculous

Basically lesbian women are more likely to label themselves as straight. They can be content dating men because they can still get their important emotional aspect of a relationship from a male. Gay men are more likely to come out, as they can't get their important physical aspect of a relationship from dating women.

I do agree with some of what you said except that I think if a person is truly a lesbian she won't be able to have a fulfilling (romantic) emotional relationship with a man. So they wouldn't really be content. Maybe they are just good at pretending. Plus, I think women can"fake it" easier when having sex, whereas it's harder for a man to fake.

[IanGallagher]

Originally Posted by Ridiculous

(Of course there are women who are attracted more to physical traits and men who are attracted more to emotional traits, but these are in general and they explain why there is an apparent difference in rate of homosexuality between sexes. Also some women may only be attracted to personalities of other women, but the difference in numbers can be explained by accounting for the ones that aren't.

I'd be one of the exceptions, dick does nothing for me. A girl - whole body AWESOME! Dude - only the upper body and face does it for me. Dick is a part of it, but eh - not why I'm bi.

[Ridiculous]

Originally Posted by midwestgirl89

I do agree with some of what you said except that I think if a person is truly a lesbian she won't be able to have a fulfilling (romantic) emotional relationship with a man. So they wouldn't really be content. Maybe they are just good at pretending. Plus, I think women can"fake it" easier when having sex, whereas it's harder for a man to fake.

Originally Posted by IanGallagher

I'd be one of the exceptions, dick does nothing for me. A girl - whole body AWESOME! Dude - only the upper body and face does it for me. Dick is a part of it, but eh - not why I'm bi.

Yeah what I wrote won't be the case for the majority of people. It is only a possible explanation for why some lesbians/bisexuals would say they are straight, leading to statistics showing there are more gay men than lesbian women.

[sokk]

Yes.. research has shown that there is more gay men in the world than gay women. Which makes it even weirder that there's so many more lesbians portrayed on tv :S

Like in Norway.. we had a lesbian character in a soap, and in a recent Norwegian produced show, but we have NEVER had a gay character in a Norwegian series. I wonder why there's always more lesbians on tv than gays if gays are more common :S It doesn't seem quite fair. I guess it's about the straight male bias that lesbian girls making out is hot, but guys are not

[dreamcatcher]

Midwest girl: They asked how many people had same sex encounters and the number was between 8-11 percent. These stats are from America only btw, there's more on other countries but that would be too much for me to write! When asked about their orientation, scientists concluded 3.5% of the population was glb. Bisexuals represent the majority at 1.8 percent and gay/lesbians are at about 1.7 percent. Transgenders represent .3 of the population. It's crazy how small our community is! New Research Answers Question: How many LGBT People are there in the United States | Williams Institute

This institution solely focuses on glbt research so theres a lot of good stuff there. It's very hard to find anything comparing homosexuality between men and women though. One interesting thing that I read from there is that bisexuals are the most closeted group among the glbt. There are more bisexual women than lesbians whereas there are more gay men than bisexual men. I'm thinking that may also have to do with why there may appear to be less gay/bi women, because many more bisexuals are closeted.

Ridiculous, what you're saying makes a lot of sense. I never really thought of it that way but I think it probably does play a factor. And I do get what midwest girl was saying. It definitely is a lot harder for a guy to pretend he's turned on by a chick in bed then it is for a girl.

Sokk: That's so strange, you have more lesbians on tv in Norway. I feel like in the US I mostly see gay men on tv. Bisexuals are virtually non existant on tv shows and lesbian couples are a lot less common than gay couples.

[Uniboth]

I believe that men are generally more bold than women...but that's just my bias behavioral science major talk.

So I'll go with this instead...

It's because life pretty much suck growing up as homosexuals, so most of us will generally try our best to not be one - by hiding. Hiding, however, isn't as easy for both genders...

Think of it this way, getting things up for a woman when you're a gay man is a chore - getting it to stay up long enough to satisfy your woman is even harder...and then you have to think about whether or not you can get to letting things lose - it's a lot of pressure that I know I can't fulfill. I know for a fact that any woman who is desperate enough to share a bed with me will know I'm gay. I'm pretty sure if I could get it up anytime I want, I'll choose to stay in the closet and make babies (and probably continue on downward spiral) because, then, I don't have to deal with all the hate... and I want babies - sadly (or nicely), I don't have that choice.

^ can't happen with women. It's a lot easier (physically) to hide as a woman. Women don't have to be turned on to have sex. Due to stereotype, they won't be questioned if they don't want sex. Most importantly, they can easily live the "normal life" and make babies...and all they have to do is live in perpetual depression and sacrifice a few short burst of dopamine they can't get from sex without attraction.

I apologize if I sound like a douche for ignoring our gay-man-in-straight-marriage population. But I've heard most women married to a gay man knows...he just can't hide.

[Maddy]

Originally Posted by midwestgirl89

I have noticed that it seems like there are more men on EC than women.

This doesn't include people who put something custom for 'gender' instead of choosing from the drop-down list, but 3790 ECers have their gender set to 'male' compared to 1426 set as 'female'.

[midwestgirl89]

Originally Posted by Maddy

This doesn't include people who put something custom for 'gender' instead of choosing from the drop-down list, but 3790 ECers have their gender set to 'male' compared to 1426 set as 'female'.

Wow, that's pretty crazy.