Data was smoothed and averaged in Excel, then graphed using Datawrapper.
Hefty_Badger9759 on
Is it an increase, or is it more acceptable to answer “yes” these days?
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.
Budget-Option6301 on
I’m honestly surprised it’s not higher. Also probably depends how sex is defined. Are we talking only penetration?
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
toastedcheese on
Don’t show this to Alex Jones
Behemothheek on
12% is way higher than I expected
ikonet on
Since this is Reddit is this a good time for a rookie numbers meme?
Raidmax460 on
What’s the criteria for being considered gay sex? Asking for a friend.
JohnLocksTheKey on
Classic case of: “You’re not measuring what you think you’re measuring”
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.
tritisan on
It’d be cool to see this overlaid with women’s responses. My guess is it would be at least twice as high than men’s.
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.
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.
DrunkNonDrugz on
We’re at least double the gay now.
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.
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
HippoRun23 on
I wonder what the chart would look like if we lowered the age. Younger kids do experimental stuff with each other.
funkycookies on
And these are just the participants who answered honestly
ppinguino on
I bet it’s way higher in England.
icebergslim3000 on
Is it an increase or just more people willing to admit yes.
Jackdaw99 on
I’m surprised. (Not shocked, for the record, and not dismayed.) Especially since about 10% of that age group have never had sex at all. And since only 2% of American men identify as gay, and another 4% as bisexual. That suggests either a lot of curiosity, or a lot of self-delusion.
I wonder, just by the way, what counts here as “having sex” (I wonder this about a lot of surveys on sex). Assuming anal intercourse is relatively uncommon, are we including oral sex, both as giver and recipient? Mutual masturbation? Etc.
Glittering-Draw-6223 on
“young men who ADMITTED to having sex with men”
Lumpy_Dentist_5421 on
Ask RFK – taking Tylenol as a suppository is to blame, all day long
CommanderPaprika on
What if you have relationships with women, but sex with men?
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.
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.
Share of young men who admit having sex with other men*
Honmer on
wooooo! lets get it to 100 💯🔥🔥🔥🔥
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.
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
throwitfarawayfromm3 on
I would guess it’s more to do with social acceptibility and willingness to talk about it, rather than an actual increase.
donny02 on
Norm once again ahead of his time
Super-Chieftain5 on
An analogue is the graph of left-handed people over time. It’s become more culturally acceptable over time.
45 Comments
Data taken from the General Social Survey, results reported on UC Berkeley’s SDA webpage, [https://sda.berkeley.edu/sdaweb/analysis/?dataset=gss24rel1](https://sda.berkeley.edu/sdaweb/analysis/?dataset=gss24rel1)
Data was smoothed and averaged in Excel, then graphed using Datawrapper.
Is it an increase, or is it more acceptable to answer “yes” these days?
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.
I’m honestly surprised it’s not higher. Also probably depends how sex is defined. Are we talking only penetration?
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
Don’t show this to Alex Jones
12% is way higher than I expected
Since this is Reddit is this a good time for a rookie numbers meme?
What’s the criteria for being considered gay sex? Asking for a friend.
Classic case of: “You’re not measuring what you think you’re measuring”
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.
It’d be cool to see this overlaid with women’s responses. My guess is it would be at least twice as high than men’s.
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.
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.
We’re at least double the gay now.
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.
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
I wonder what the chart would look like if we lowered the age. Younger kids do experimental stuff with each other.
And these are just the participants who answered honestly
I bet it’s way higher in England.
Is it an increase or just more people willing to admit yes.
I’m surprised. (Not shocked, for the record, and not dismayed.) Especially since about 10% of that age group have never had sex at all. And since only 2% of American men identify as gay, and another 4% as bisexual. That suggests either a lot of curiosity, or a lot of self-delusion.
I wonder, just by the way, what counts here as “having sex” (I wonder this about a lot of surveys on sex). Assuming anal intercourse is relatively uncommon, are we including oral sex, both as giver and recipient? Mutual masturbation? Etc.
“young men who ADMITTED to having sex with men”
Ask RFK – taking Tylenol as a suppository is to blame, all day long
What if you have relationships with women, but sex with men?
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.
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.
I’d bet Grindr is a huge influence on that.
I don’t know why this graph is concerning
Not the only thing on the rise 😏
[I’ll try anything once.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj5bVc2kyVs)
Share of young men who admit having sex with other men*
wooooo! lets get it to 100 💯🔥🔥🔥🔥
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.
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
I would guess it’s more to do with social acceptibility and willingness to talk about it, rather than an actual increase.
Norm once again ahead of his time
An analogue is the graph of left-handed people over time. It’s become more culturally acceptable over time.
Grindr was founded in 2009…
https://preview.redd.it/eqzyhaydyn0g1.png?width=687&format=png&auto=webp&s=8e9fe7086a64b1b21bfa0d808d3700eff81986b7
surprisingly it matches perfectly with this statistic and ‘under 30’ is strictly Gen Z
[https://news.gallup.com/poll/332522/percentage-americans-lgbt.aspx](https://news.gallup.com/poll/332522/percentage-americans-lgbt.aspx)
All things on track to replacing humans with robots.
Kalshi better let me bet on this
I’m curious how threesomes are counted here. I know plenty of guys who are not gay but have had mmf threesomes. Technically that is sex with a man.
Homies help homies. Always.
I’m surprised it’s rising with the fact that a lot less young people are having sex in general