# What's the straightest country?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 3, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061 "2011-09-03T15:09:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/21 "2011-09-04T12:49:49Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#):
>
> …(though it may report prevalence of different-sex couples living together, which might be a helpful metric - again though only in countries that tolerate alternatives to it).
I’m not sure that would help as much as some people think. If they were still alive, Abraham Lincoln and his bosom friend Joshua Speed would probably shake their heads at your survey methodology.
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/22 "2011-09-04T13:37:28Z")
I’m curious about this anti-gay bias in Jamaica. I’ve never heard of Jamaica being particularly anti-gay before coming to this thread.
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### Author:  [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/23 "2011-09-04T13:53:52Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> I’m curious about this anti-gay bias in Jamaica. I’ve never heard of Jamaica being particularly anti-gay before coming to this thread.
Jamaica is infamous for anti-gay attitudes and backs them up with violence. There’s are specific warnings for gay travellers to Jamaica on the US State Department’s web site, for instance. I’d give you a link, but I’m using my iPhone.
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/24 "2011-09-04T13:57:17Z")
> [@medicated](#):
>
> Jamaica is infamous for anti-gay attitudes and backs them up with violence. There’s are specific warnings for gay travellers to Jamaica on the US State Department’s web site, for instance. I’d give you a link, but I’m using my iPhone.
Well I’ll be damned. Color me surprised.
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/25 "2011-09-04T15:46:15Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> Well I’ll be damned. Color me surprised.
Yup, I was surprised when I first learned about this a year or so ago. Apparently anti-homosexuality is a large part of reggae/dancehall music culture, too. Just Google “homophobia reggae” and prepare to be amazed.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/26 "2011-09-04T18:07:35Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#):
>
> Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Iran and Uganda?
>
> Like you said, it’s basically impossible to gather accurate data. I’m sure the countries I mentioned have the highest rates of supposed-heterosexuals, though.
Pakistan? I nearly got a heart attack from laughing so much.
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/27 "2011-09-04T19:40:14Z")
> [@AK84](#):
>
> Pakistan? I nearly got a heart attack from laughing so much.
You still live there? /rimshot
But seriously I was basing it on [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Pakistan).
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/28 "2011-09-05T03:39:58Z")
Yup, I have read that; its mostly bullshit.
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/29 "2011-09-05T03:49:25Z")
> [@AK84](#):
>
> Yup, I have read that; its mostly bullshit.
Am I confused, or are you? You do know he was asserting that Pakistan was among one of the **straightest** countries, right? Are you disagreeing with that?
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/30 "2011-09-05T03:55:43Z")
^
Yes.
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2011, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/31 "2011-09-05T09:06:26Z")
> [@AK84](#):
>
> Yup, I have read that; its mostly bullshit.
By all means enlighten me. This is the board for fighting ignorance, isn’t it?
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### Author:  [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2011, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/32 "2011-09-05T09:52:41Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Didn’t Ahmadenijad say there were no homosexuals in Iran? That settles it!
wasn’t it “there are no Gays in Iran. There are homesexuals, but they are not happy”
or was that Sovjet Rusia?
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/33 "2011-09-05T12:39:48Z")
> [@willthekittensurvive](#):
>
> wasn’t it “there are no Gays in Iran. There are homesexuals, but they are not happy”
>
> or was that Sovjet Rusia?
“We have no gay people in Russia — there are homosexuals but they are not allowed to be gay about it. The punishment is seven years locked in prison with other men and there is a three-year waiting list for that.”
> **[Yakov Smirnoff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakov_Smirnoff)**
>
> Yakov Naumovich Pokhis (Russian: Яков Наумович Похис; born 24 January 1951), better known as Yakov Smirnoff (Russian: Яков Смирнов; /ˈsmɪərnɒf/), is a Soviet-American comedian, actor and writer. He began his career as a stand-up comedian in the Soviet Union, then immigrated to the United States in 1977 in order to pursue an American show business career, not yet knowing any English.
> He reached his biggest success in the mid-to-late 1980s, appearing in several films which include Moscow on the ...
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### Author:  [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straightest-country/595061/34 "2011-09-05T13:11:59Z")
Strict sexual orientation is really a modern construct, and in some places I imagine it is still not widely in existence.
The simple truth is sex is widely pursued for the sake of physical pleasure. While in Western society almost no straight men would admit this, the fact is from a physical perspective sex with another man involves stimulation of the genitals and obviously people are getting pleasure out of it.
In many non-Christian societies thus it is seen as entirely normal that adults would pursue pleasurable activities whenever they could. Even adults who were married, had kids, and may have found women more attractive than men, there was no reason not to have sex with a man occasionally if the opportunity arose. In many societies it even made sense, because it allowed you to have sex with different partners and not worry about the ramifications of unwanted pregnancy (cuckolding someone has lead to violent situations in virtually every society in history.)
Likewise men who found other men more attractive and preferable to women, they weren’t going to not get married and not have kids. That was seen as a societal responsibility almost across the entire world until the early 20th century. Likewise, the physical act of sex is going to be pleasurable for the man even if he isn’t super attracted to the woman, at a certain level attraction is important but again, the physical sensation will be pleasurable whether you’re attracted or not.
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