Are there any statistics about breakdown of sexual orientation by occupation? I was recently chastised for saying that the arts self select for gay men. Is that a trope, or do professions actually self select in any meaningful way with respect to sexual orientation?
Hmm, I certainly would agree with you about the arts, particularly dance and acting, as self-selecting for gay men. And, based on several years of work experience, I would say that the law appears to self select for lesbians. I’ve met more lesbians in the last 20 years working in a law-related field than I have in the other areas and years of my life. But statistics? Sorry, no.
Most of my friends who are computer programmers/software engineers prefer the company of men. Other careers have a smattering mix. But most of my friends are gay, so YMMV.
Male interior designers I would suspect are a majority gay. A large percentage of male hairdressers are gay as well. I only know a couple of women who build archery bows and both of them are gay.
Sounds like confirmation bias.
Yeah, I’m not terribly interested in anecdotes. I was hoping for a survey or study somewhere.
I don’t know about actual occupations, but here are a couple of studies that claim that various cognitive abilities tend to vary not only by sex, but also by sexual orientation:
They are paywalled, unfortunately, but you can see the abstract, references, and “related content” for free.
Due to reaction formation I would wonder if the most stereotypically masculine fields (special forces soldier, lumberjack, mechanic, etc) have a higher % of gay men vs the public at large. That is just an assumption.
As far as fields that probably attract gay men (seeing how only 4% of men are lgbt on average): gay porn, fashion, interior design, theater, hairdresser, etc. I’m assuming those fields have more than 3-4%.
I have no idea about actual statistics. I can’t help.
GBT, maybe, but I expect that the percentage of men who are L is much lower than that.
I see no one is comming up with stats so I will mention another field that I would suspect has a slightly higher percentage of gay men. Accounting and controllers.
Studies exist, but it looks like you have to pay for them. The abstract is free, though.
Is there a higher incidence of gay men in the nerd community?
Since the nerd community is about 90% male, while society at large is only 50% male, I’d have to say yes. 
I have access to the full paper through my job. They compare self reported interest in a given occupation vs self reported sexuality for 53 occupations. The results pretty much fit the stereotype, at least on the male side.
Male Heterosexual occupations: Athlete, Auto Mechanic, High school coach, Police officer, Electrician
Male Homosexual occupations: Actor, Artist, Beautician, Dress designer, Nurse, Novelist
Female Heterosexual occupations: Accountant, Beautician, Head of corporation,
Female Heterosexual occupations: Auto mechanic, High School Coach, Novelist, Wildlife Photographer.
It was my observation, a while ago, that “mechanical” careers tend to attract more men - engineer, pilot, mechanic, etc. Careers that involve interactions and care tend to attract women - doctor, nurse, teacher, child care. Of course, every generalization lacks precision… but the explanation is that women tend to be more oriented to empathy and care, while men are more oriented to special, mechanical tasks.
Whether this is simply sexist woo or roughly correct, I don’t know. It may be more cultural than innate. It certainly seems to apply in hobbies. (I went to a horse show once - because a girl I know was involved- and probably 90% of the riders were female. If you go to a motocross race or auto racetrack, the opposite applies).
I guess the other question is - if true - does this generalization apply in some way to gay mindset? To what extent is sexual preference tied to other sex-specific characteristics?
Of course, the other argument is that artistic type may tend more likely to be gay because gay people, like straight artists, “think outside the box”; they feel they don’t belong to normal society, reject conformism and “do their own thing”. Someone who recognizes their thoughts and feelings don’ measure up to social norms already has a head start in free expression.
I guess the other question is - if true - does this generalization apply in some way to gay mindset? To what extent is sexual preference tied to other sex-specific characteristics?
Of course, the other argument is that artistic type may tend more likely to be gay because gay people, like straight artists, “think outside the box”; they feel they don’t belong to normal society, reject conformism and “do their own thing”. Someone who recognizes their thoughts and feelings don’ measure up to social norms already has a head start in free expression.
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Thats a good observation and when I reflect on it I can think of many examples of straight men in female occupations who share that same mindset.
This is a meaningless refutation. You could use it to dismiss any observation you don’t wish to acknowledge.
I imagine that it’s not so much that gay people gravitate toward certain professions as much as straight people shy away due to gender role perceptions. I mean, there may be lots of straight men out there who want to be hair dressers or floral designers, but don’t because they’re worried about how they’ll be perceived. Gay men who want to do those things aren’t nearly so stigmatized in that sense- they can do pretty much any “straight” profession, and then do the stereotypically “girly” ones as well, and lesbians are the same way, but flipped for gender.
The above-noted study looks like it refutes this theory, though. It is based on self-reported “interest”.