# What percentage of the population do you think is homosexual or bisexual? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 1, 2001, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178 "2001-06-01T06:23:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/21 "2001-06-02T21:21:06Z")
I think the disgust in question is our natural disgust with sex. Think about it, if humans didn’t reproduce that way and have an instinctual urge to do so, would you find the idea of bumping uglies with someone at all appealing? It’s exactly the kind of activity that we otherwise discourage people from doing with each other, touching ‘dirty’ parts of the body and rooting around in orifices. I can see how someone would find a sex act disgusting if it was one they didn’t want to do. ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/22 "2001-06-02T23:33:39Z")
**Badtz Maru** you say it is our “natural disgust with sex” but then you go on to say that that natural disgust is created by stuff we discourage. My point was that it is not something you are born with. Naturally someone is probably going to see sex acts they don’t want to do as disgusting, but it is not something you are born with. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2001, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/23 "2001-06-03T02:35:37Z")
4% of men; 2% of women. I also think most bisexuals are gay people who are kidding themselves. I also don’t believe in the continuum theory. I think kids fixate at some point in their childhood (like birds imprinting, or puppies deciding humans are part of their pack) on either men, or women. You can cover that over with a lot of social conditioning, but the basic orientation is either/or. Sexual _behavior_, sure, that fits into a continuum. People are curious, drunk, in prison, whatever. But the basic orientation is set, and doesn’t change. IMO. YMMV. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2001, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/24 "2001-06-03T03:18:23Z")
I don’t think it’s possible to come up with a good number unless the terms are well defined. Unfortunately, that may be the hardest part of the exercise. If you define bisexual as “not exclusively attracted to only one sex”, then I’d say that the majority of the population is bisexual. Quite a few people who are primarily heterosexual would be willing to have sex with a member of the same sex under the right circumstances, and many more must have had fleeting fantasies about engaging in some homosexual act. However, most of these people would never get involved in a real romantic relationship with a member of the same sex. That said, I’d guess that the majority of the population falls between 1 and 2 on the Kinsey scale, with the percentage in the 3+ range being close to the famous 10% figure. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2001, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/25 "2001-06-03T03:51:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shodan \* > I also think most bisexuals are gay people who are kidding themselves Um… yeaaah. I’m happily married, 10 years and counting. I’m strongly attracted to men. (at the present, my medication makes me rather asexual, but let’s leave that aside) I have a list of about 10 guys I’d jump into bed with in a heartbeat (celeb types… yeah I’m lame) and I have had lots of great sex with men. I’ve kissed a woman before, and have a fairly strong attraction to women. I have a lot of female fantasies, and I know with 100% confidence that the right woman, the right time, and I’d go for it. So now you are saying that I’m really gay and just fooling myself? Hyeah! as if. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2001, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/26 "2001-06-03T03:53:47Z")
oh, to add a point: I am also strongly drawn to the “group marriage” concept where 3-5 or so (larger than that is outside my personal preference) people commit to each other for life and live together as a family. Specific gender makeup is fairly irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2001, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/27 "2001-06-03T04:26:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robinh \* > \*\*_Hey, an opportunity to throw out my own little theory about sexuality…_ > > I sort of agree with **Spoofe** , but with some difference of opinion. > > My pet theory (based on absolutely nothing other than my inner meanderings) is that sexuality flows along a continuum. Some people, at one end of the spectrum, are attracted only to their own sex, while others, at the other end, are attracted only to their opposite. The rest of us are spread out fairly evenly between those two points. > > I believe that much of what we feel about our sexuality is the effect of socialization. For most of us, who feel a stronger attraction one way or the other, it is easy to accept the social structures and fit into one group or the other. > > \*\* That’s what I think, too. And I don’t think we’ll know what percentage of the population fits where on the continuum until we develop a society in which everyone is completely free to be whatever they really are, and everyone grows up knowing this. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2001, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/28 "2001-06-03T21:19:00Z")
Somewhere between 5 and 20 percent. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shodan \* > I also think most bisexuals are gay people who are kidding themselves. Riiiiiiight. So then I’m gay and “attracted” to women to conform to a social norm? Without getting into . . . well, let’s just leave it at this: I’m more attracted to women than I am to men. I’m attracted to both. > [@](#): > > I think kids fixate at some point in their childhood (like birds imprinting, or puppies deciding humans are part of their pack) on either men, or women. Not in my case. > [@](#): > > _Posted by Sterra_ > I think the idea of something naturally disgusting is not possible. It is more akin to phobia of something. I’m naturally disgusted by the taste of liver. Am I afraid of the stuff? No . . . no traumatic experiences handling liver, no memories of dire actions following liver consumption. I just am disgusted by the taste. ---
**Author:** ![Amedeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Amedeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amedeus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/29 "2001-06-04T00:19:23Z")
To clarify; Bisexual in nature. I can calmly say that I am not attracted to guys, and personally find the thought of sex with a guy… well, disgusting. But that could just be social conditioning. I would not toss it out for the fear of saing innately I’m bisexual, I don’t like to hide behind bias. It gives the impression of delusion. ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/30 "2001-06-04T02:09:13Z")
**iampunha** notice the part where I said “idea” certainly you will find certain things taste disgusting naturally. And when I meant learned I did not mean through tramua, I meant through society. Myself I think that the number of gays and bisexuals are not constant to an extent. I think that gays are born for a reason and as a response to something, if that something grows, so will the amount of gays and bi. ---
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/31 "2001-06-04T02:25:47Z")
I go for the spectrum theory of sexuality myself, with it being something of a standard bell curve. Most somewhere in the middle, with it thinning out towards the extremes (TOTALLY heterosexual and TOTALLY homosexual…maybe 5-10% each) I think the only reason it seems otherwise is that, given the social stigma & conditioned revulsion involved with -any- same-sex, the only people really willing to put up with it are those so far out towards the homosexual extreme that they have to. Everyone else is generally better off just going along with their heterosexual side of the spectrum and is content with that. Don’t underestimate the power of social conditioning. Even I spouted the standard gaybashing crap in my younger days. But when it came to me? Of -course- I’m not gay, I’m just not very sexual at all. Har har har. I lie somewhere in the 9/10ths part of the spectrum, so I could try to fool myself that that weak bit of heterosexuality was really all there was to me…but that delusion didn’t last terribly long once I grew up enough to start questioning what society-at-large “knows”. ---
**Author:** ![Azura\_Borealis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ab992/32.png) [@Azura\_Borealis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azura_Borealis)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/32 "2001-06-04T08:24:12Z")
Maybe someone should do a Rainbow Census2000 … if you want an accurate percentile. I have known alot of Gay Men/Lesbian Women/Bisexual of Both Gender, But the numbers varied DRASTICALLY by location. And in some places have known virtually ZERO. I do agree that a vast majority of hetero people have a bisexual tendency, or will at least have the curiosity at one point in their life. Whether or not they actually follow thru and persue it. You may not be aroused by the thought now, but you can’t really say never until you’re dead and have never had the thoughts. I used to be completely revolted by the idea of touching another woman, and said “Never” quite a many time. But then maybe that was my way of dealing with the fear of being rejected or persecuted for admitting I had bisexual thoughts. who knows. But at least within the variety of social groups I have been in, it seems to be quite a normal thing. Judging by the rate of population in the world i’d settle on a pretty low number as a Gay percentile. But then again -There are those people who would never admit it for fear of some sort, so i doubt you’d ever find an accurate number. And i certainly could never accurately guess. I don’t think they really need to be staked with a statistics flag though. Unless you might be calculating a percentage of possible mating partners on the planet. Or defining Straight Man to Woman ratio’s. 🙂 In that case, I’d like to know the Man/Woman ratio so i can calculate my chances of finding a mate before i turn 90. Actually - forget what i just said, im delerious and have had far too much Mt Dew this evening. 😃 heh. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/33 "2001-06-06T23:39:49Z")
Has anybody here ever heard of the Kinsey scale? Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/34 "2001-06-07T02:57:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Esprix \* > \*\*Has anybody here ever heard of the Kinsey scale? > \*\* Heard of it? Heck, I gave a now-famous lunchtime lecture on it, complete with a chart drawn on a napkin. It was so popular that I had to do it again at dinner for everyone who missed it. I’ve still got the napkin, too. After I had explained the whole thing, one girl asked me if I made the Kinsey Scale up myself. Yes, yes I did. I was just too modest to call it the Lamia Scale. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2001, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/35 "2001-06-07T04:35:50Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Sam Stone_ > **I believe the 10% number came from the original Kinsey studies, which turned out to be flawed. Across the population, I think the more accepted number now is about 2-3%.** While I realize this isn’t GD, care to give a cite regarding the flaws in the Kinsey report and maybe one that claims that 2-3% is the more accepted number? (Is it considered acceptable to challenge statements in IMHO?) The Kinsey scale? Esprix and Lamia, why weren’t you two over [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=72874)? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/53a042/32.png) [@Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vinnie_Virginslayer)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2001, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/36 "2001-06-07T12:52:18Z")
Well, I don’t know the answer to the original question, but speaking of percentages, I think Woody Allen put it the best: “Being bisexual doubles your chances of getting a date on a Saturday night.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178/37 "2001-06-07T14:20:53Z")
"“Being bisexual doubles your chances of getting a date on a Saturday night.” Being bisexual doubles your disappointment of NOT getting a date on a Saturday night. Everyone is bisexual to some point. Maybe not physically as much as emotionally. Guys are often emotionally bisexual without thinking about it. You know, hang out together, share talks about things, have beer, watch football, pat each other on the fanny. Thus, everyone would also be homosexual to some point too. They don’t call us ‘homo erectus’ for nuthin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-population-do-you-think-is-homosexual-or-bisexual/67178.md?page=1)