More Straight Men Admitting to Having Gay Sex

                                                            

According to the latest national survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more Americans are identifying as bisexual than ever before.

Not only that, but more heterosexual men are admitting to having had gay sex.

Researchers interviewed more than 9,000 men and women ages 18 to 44 years between 2011 and 2013. Respondents were asked about the types of sexual experiences they’ve had, whether they’re attracted to the same or opposite sex, and how they label their sexual orientations.

Here’s what they learned: 1.9 percent of men said they were homosexual, which is on par with the CDC’s last survey conducted between 2006-2010. Meanwhile, 2 percent of men said they identified as bisexual, up from 1.2 percent in the last survey.

And this is where it gets interesting. Because 6.2 percent of men said they had engaged in either oral or anal sex with another man.

A bit of basic math: If 1.9 percent of men said they were gay and 2 percent said they were bisexual — but 6.2 percent said they had engaged in same-sex sexual activity — that means 2.3 percent of men engaging in same-sex sexual activity are straight. Or at least straight-identifying.

                                                                

 

US Government Survey:

Objective—This report provides national estimates of sexual behavior, sexual attraction, and sexual orientation among women and men aged 18–44 in the United States, based on the 2011–2013 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).

Methods—Data for the 2011–2013 NSFG were collected through in-person interviews with 10,416 women and men aged 15–44 in the household population in the United States. In this report, data are shown only for 9,175 adults aged 18–44. The data presented in this report were primarily collected using audio computer-assisted self-interviewing, in which the respondent enters his or her answers into the computer without telling them to an interviewer. The overall response rate for the 2011–2013 NSFG was 72.8%.

Results—Regarding opposite-sex sexual behavior, 94.2% of women and 92.0% of men aged 18–44 had ever had vaginal intercourse; 86.2% of women and 87.4%

of men had ever had oral sex; and 35.9% of women and 42.3% of men had ever had anal sex. Almost three times as many women (17.4%) reported any same-sex contact in their lifetime compared with men (6.2%) aged 18–44. Feelings of attraction “only to the opposite sex” were more common for men (92.1%) compared with women (81.0%) aged 18–44. Among those aged 18–44, 92.3% of women and 95.1% of men said they were “heterosexual or straight”; 1.3% of women and 1.9% of men said

they were “homosexual, gay, or lesbian”; 5.5% of women and 2.0% of men said they were bisexual; and 0.9% of women and 1.0% of men said “don’t know” or “refused” (i.e., “did not report”) on sexual orientation. Sexual attraction and sexual orientation correlate closely but not completely with reports of sexual behavior. Sexual behavior, sexual attraction, and sexual orientation vary by age, marital or cohabiting status, education, and race and Hispanic origin.

                                                                     

*This report is based on the 2011–2013 NSFG. NSFG is a nationally representative survey of the U.S. household population, with face-to-face interviews conducted with women

and men aged 15–44. NSFG is jointly planned and funded by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)

and several other programs of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.