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    [OC] Share of young American men who've had sex with another man
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    [OC] Share of young American men who’ve had sex with another man

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    46 Comments

    3. Loki-L on

      It is not young men who have had sex with a male partner, but those who will say they did in a survey.

      There probably were a lot more who wouldn’t admit it in the past.

      It might also help to put in the share of those who say they had a female sex partner for comparison.

    4. Pistonenvy2 on

      i love everyone saying “yeah well all this shows is that they are more comfortable answering the question, it doesnt actually mean the rate has increased.”

      thats what data is for. you cant draw huge conclusions from a single census lol

    10. Meteowritten on

      Genuinely didn’t expect 12%. I would’ve guessed like 4 or 5%.

      Not sure if I’m underestimating how many people are gay, or how many people experiment or something.

    11. BobbyP27 on

      A lot of people are suggesting it is more likely a change in honesty rather than underlying activity, but I am not convinced by that. Since 2000, it has become far far less consequential to be found out engaging in same-sex activity, and the advent of hookup apps makes it far easier to actually get in a position to hook up in a discreet and relatively low risk way.

    12. turbulentcore on

      Maybe some correlation with the AIDs epidimic (teh decimation of our population) the way it was treated and how it is treated now. Along with more socially acceptable.

    14. LupusDeusMagnus on

      Does it matter what kind of sexual acts are in here? Because I know stories from old times that are wildly sexual but all participants would not perceive it as being having sex.

    15. eilif_myrhe on

      Young man, there’s no need to feel down
      I said: Young man, pick yourself off the ground
      I said: Young man, ’cause you’re in a new town
      There’s no need to be unhappy

    18. cmnall on

      Could also be random responding—young people just skip thru surveys and answer whatever. About the same percentage answer on surveys that they are certified to operate an SSGN submarine.

    19. KevinDean4599 on

      Seems right. There are tons of men who dip their toes in the gay pool and you would never know. Tons have wives or girlfriends.

    23. Far-Zookeepergame-64 on

      Hard to really know what is reality. Some still feel shame and won’t report as ‘yes’. Some will say ‘yes’ just to mess with the data. Ask the same question to as many Russians or Nigerians and you will get drastically lower numbers, and not because their numbers are actually fewer.

    24. Solomonopolistadt on

      I’d be interested to see how the advent of the internet, social media, and dating apps affects the percentage of young men who have had straight sex

    25. throwitfarawayfromm3 on

      I would guess it’s more to do with social acceptibility and willingness to talk about it, rather than an actual increase.

    26. Super-Chieftain5 on

      An analogue is the graph of left-handed people over time. It’s become more culturally acceptable over time.

    31. phoneplatypus on

      I’m surprised it’s rising with the fact that a lot less young people are having sex in general

    32. pulyx on

      I have in my head (like a crazy person), from observing life for 40 years that 15% of all humanity aren’t heterosexual. Across the board. Everywhere on the planet. Trans people come in about 0.05. Which shouldn’t bother absolutely fucking anyone.

      The faster people learn to accept this figure as is, because there is no changing it without being a cruelty of unimaginable proportions, the better we’ll be as a species.

      If you find yourself in a room full of 100, keep in mind at least 15 of them aren’t straight. Just deal with it. If you don’t have nice things to say shut the fuck up. If you can’t handle their presence go fucking live in the woods or under a rock. It’s going to be 15% everywhere. You might even be part of that 15%.

    33. All_Usernames_Tooken on

      Fellas, is it more gay to fuck a dude in the ass or get fucked in the ass?

      Also, many would say oral and hand jobs don’t count as anything.

      Lastly, everything is fine as long as socks stay on.

    37. BanjaraBerliner on

      I support those 12%. Reducing competition for straight men.

      What does the data look like for the opposite sex?

    41. crimeo on

      * 1) Tons of people would be afraid to answer more in the earlier years

      * 2) They worded it as “man” a gender term, not “male”, the sex that you are probably thinking it means. Which will cause complete chaos in modern answers

    44. redzin on

      I think this is like how left-handedness became more common when it became acceptable to be left handed.

      This is also why there’s more people self-reporting as trans and non-binary now.

    45. postconsumerwat on

      Yeah men seem gay… plus women tend to be grossed out by our horrible culture so I have often lamented at how stifling our cultures lack of sensuality is… life is weird