Ok, but the work was originally published in the New Yorker, so it has been at least partially vetted for journalistic accuracy. As for the guy’s appearing on right-wing talk shows: let’s face it, the fundamentalists are probably far more interested in Kinsey’s sex life than anyone else is. And after Jones made his initial splash, he has to earn his living somehow. And I haven’t come across any explicit disavowels of the substance of his gossipy assertions.
Uncle. Sounds like their 1% / 4%(?) figures are more like a lower bound. This is where a good literature review could help sort out the different methodological biases.
Take a course in statistics and you’ll find that a 1000 person sample can be surprisingly accurate: Kinsey’s sample of 3000+ seems fine to me. It is the nonrepresentativeness which is my concern.
One more thing you might explore: "Based on the scale, I interpreted it to mean that 10% were more homosexual than heterosexual, thus predominant. " Right. But Kinsey’s site also said that you can’t measure homosexuality, only behavior. I interpret the various statements in his website as suggesting that 10% of his male sample experienced a 3+ year period in their lives (or could be expected to experience such a period) where they were more homosexual than heterosexual. If I’m correct -and I might not be- then IMHO it might be misleading to characterize 10% of the American male population as currently homosexual/bisexual.
But I admit this is a confusing area. My understanding is that in certain cultures there are a fair number of self-identified heterosexual males (i.e. they don’t consider themselves queer) who nonetheless engage in anal sex with other men -always as a penetrator. Furthermore, bisexuals have been known to report that their Kinsey rating has tended to vary over the course of their life. What exactly is going on here is unclear to me.
10% is an easy figure. (Hey, gays outnumber Jews in America!) It gives the gay community easy statistics (1 in 10) and handy cheers such as “10 percent is not enough, recruit recruit recruit!”
Seriously, though? The percentage of the population who is queer is an impossible statistic. Who do we count? Who do we assume will admit it and won’t? There’s simply too many variables.
I’ll have to do some more research on Jones to put this one to rest. I’ll see if I can find any additional source of evidence to back up his claims. In his interviews, he’s quite eloquent and downplays the whole thing. His book just didn’t seem to fit in the same mold.
I’ll agree that interpreting the numbers will be a nightmare. I am very concerned with how they are being used; hence the desire to further my research.
I appreciate the conversation we’ve had regarding this. Even though you happen to be less interested in the subject matter than I, you have provided me with a different look at the issue. Thanks to you, my girlfriend is going to be ribbing me about spending all my spare time reading about sex.
Unless someone else has further input, I’ll let this thread die a slow death. Once I’ve made my first few million for funding, I’ll come look you up to be on the committee that decides how to get a representative sample.
