Do males or females come out earlier in life? What age brakets do you think females come out(for the most part)? Which age brackets do you think males come out (mostly)? Partake in the poll and post your opinions! Please vote once for females and once for males (so the results aren't skewed).
I think it's pretty hard to say. Looking around EC there are some people who come out when they're only 13, others who come out when they've been married and had children already and of course there are the people who never come out at all. For the purpose of the poll, I think that in Europe, Australia and the Americas, most people come out between 18 and 26 when most people will become more independent and go off to uni or move out. Looking at the poll in a less eurocentric manner, I think that when taking the rest of the world into account (Africa and Asia making up >75% of the world population, where most of the punitive homosexuality laws are), it's fair to say that the average gay person never comes out at all…
With a generalized point of view, 12-17 for both genders (with an emphasis on the 17 part). That is from what I have seen anyway in my area of the USA.
That last one is a really chilling thought :eek: Looking at just gay guys I know, most of them came out just at the end of highschool and during college (or just after that), so I'd put it at 18-26 For women, I'd guess it's much the same, but personally I hear of more women than men coming out later in life, so that might skew the results. That's just from my limited sample of 8 or 9 gay people I know personally, and the stories I hear them tell. I'm having the impression that the average age is trending to be younger as it becomes more and more accepted, though.
It seems like its a lot easier (although still hard) to come out in high school these days. I grew up in a fairly populous and socially moderate area but even still in high school I had very little exposure to homosexuality. I very rarely saw it on the media and nobody ever talked about it. It wasn't until I was 19 that I first met a gay person. Nowadays it seems to be all over the media, schools have LGBT groups and more people are coming out so it is talked about more and more people know someone who is gay.
there is no way to reliably answer this without having done or having access to an in-depth study. It would be unscientific to resort to conjecture and unscientific to rely on a vote based upon conjecture... However, this poll could be useful in gauging public attitudes
oops, for some reason, when I clicked vote for females, it clicked two, and I didnt catch it before it had sent. I said 12-17 for females, because I do find that females are more open to discussing their feelings and attractions than society allows for males, though that is changing. but the computer also clicked 18-26. for males, i put 18-26. I think that while both genders are coming out at younger ages, there still is a stigma that might keep alot of guys in during highschool. college is a bit more freeing, and the social structure is more organic that it might facilitate more men to come out.
This is totally my conjecture, but I would say males come out first. We're conditioned by society to not want to have any contact with our own gender. It's cool for men to be friends with men, but once you start wanting to hold one, to be close to one, to want to always be touching one, you're forced to realize that you might be attracted to them. Subsequently since a man may realize it fairly quickly, they may come out first. With women, women are allowed to be touchy with other women so the fact that a woman is gay might take a little bit longer because society allows women to be touchy with each other, kiss on the cheek, etc. Thus, a woman has a greater chance to mistake her gay feelings for just being friendly. Disclaimer: My observations are most definitely generalizations if you couldn't tell. Of course there are women who know right away and men who are oblivious to the fact that they're attracted to men in spite of their desires to do all things sexual with one.
most of the gay people I know are under 18, but that's because most of the people I know are. It's hard to say really.
mmm...tough question. I guess each person is different and even if it there was an "official" statistic then it probably wouldn't actually reflect the truth, because of the nature of the question. I guess in general, society is more accepting of two girls walking down the street holding hands compared to two guys. So I suppose girls would come out earlier. But in my actual experiences I know many more boys that have come out when they've started uni (18), than girls.
I think silas99 makes a good point about society being more accepting of girls sometimes than guys. But Filip mentions more women coming out later in life... I wonder if that could have to do with how women are traditionally encouraged to be 'less sexual' and therefore repress it longer? Just a thought. (I'm putting 12-17 for both, by the way, but I do have to mention something: my gay friends close in age and myself all came out around 13 or 14, but my parents weren't out until their 30's, so the year the person was born in also has to come into play)
I agree with Silas88 and Phoenix. I think because women are more touchy feely with one another it's harder to descern if you're attracted to them or just really good friends so women would more likely come out later. Whereas guys probably come out a bit earlier because they know they are different in a more clearer sense at an earlier age?
