More studies on the number of people experiencing SSA

Recent studies have found significantly lower numbers, usually ranging between 1-4%. Here is a sampling of these newer studies:

• A study of 5,514 Canadian college and university students under the age of 25 found 1% who were homosexual and 1% who were bisexual. (King et al., 1988).
• A study of 8,337 British men found that 6.1% had had "any homosexual experience" and 3.6% had "1+ homosexual partner ever." (Johnson et al., 1992).
• A French study of 20,055 people found that 4.1% of the men and 2.6% of the women had at least one occurrence of intercourse with person of the same sex during their lifetime. (ANRS, 1992).
• A Danish random survey found that 2.7% of the 1,373 men who responded to their questionnaire had homosexual experience (intercourse). (Melbye, 1992).
• The National Health Interview Survey does household interviews of the civilian non-institutionalized population. The results of three of these surveys, done in 1990-1991 and based on over 9,000 responses each time, found between 2-3% of the people responding said yes to a set of statements which included "You are a man who has had sex with another man at some time since 1977, even one time." (Dawson, Hardy, 1990-1992)
• In a random survey of 6,300 Norwegians, 3.5% of the men and 3% of the women reported that they had had a homosexual experience sometime in their life. (Sundet et al., 1988).

Of course, even the best designed studies will not provide a 100% accurate figure. The results of the above studies, which consisted of random surveys of the general population, are influenced by a number of factors, including the social acceptance of saying "yes" and the wording of questions. How many people hid the fact that they were homosexual? How many people said "yes" to a broadly worded question about homosexual contact when, in their case, it happened in the context of being sexually abused as a child or a teen? How many men said "yes" to having had homosexual intercourse, when this occurred in prison only because of the absence of the opposite sex? And how many men and women who are attracted only to the same sex said "no" to homosexual behavior because they have not been sexually active, or because they do not use a label like "homosexual"? (For more information on survey questions, see an article by Diamond (1993)). Because we do not have answers to all these questions, the true figure is likely somewhat higher than the 1-4% which these studies have found.

Nonetheless, the serious problems with Kinsey's work combined with these new studies give us clear reason to stop using the 10% figure.

In practical terms, whether the group to which someone belongs numbers 1%, 10%, or 100% of the total population, should not influence our treatment of that person. All persons deserve to be treated with respect and kindness, regardless of sexual orientation or anything else. At the same time, it is important to use data from current studies rather than from outdated and poorly constructed ones.

References:

ANRS: Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le Sida investigators (1992). AIDS and sexual behavior in France. Nature, 360(3), Dec. 3, 1992, 407-409.
Billy, J.O.G. et al. (1993). The sexual behavior of men in the United States. Family Planning Perspectives, 25(2), 52-59.
Billy, J.O.G. et al. (1993). Reply to Stokes & McKirnan (1993). Family Planning Perspectives, 25(2), 185-186.
Cole, W. & Gorman, C. (1993). The shrinking ten percent. Time, April 26, 33-35.
Dawson, D. & Hardy, A.M. (1990-1992). National Centre for Health Statistics, Centres for Disease Control, Advance Data, 204, 1990-1992.
Diamond, Milton (1993). Homosexuality and bisexuality in different populations. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 22(4), 291-310. Discusses the design of studies which attempt to measure sexual orientation.
Johnson, A.M. et al. (1992). Sexual lifestyles and HIV risk. Nature, 360(3), Dec. 3, 1992, 410-412.
King et al. (1988). Canada, Youth and AIDS Study. Kingston, ON: Queen's University.
Kinsey, A.C., Pomeroy, W.B. & Martin, C.E. (1948). Sexual behavior in the human male. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders.
Melbye, M. & Biggar, R.J. (1992). Interactions between persons at risk for AIDS and the general population in Denmark. American Journal of Epidemiology, 135(6), 593-602.
Muir, J.G. (1993). Homosexuals and the 10% fallacy. The Wall Street Journal, March 31, 1993, A-14.
Reisman, J.A. & Eichel, E.W. (1990). Kinsey, Sex and Fraud: the indoctrination of a people, an investigation into the human sexuality research of Alfred C. Kinsey (Lafayette, LA: Huntington House, 1990).
Reisman, J.A. (1996). Kinsey and the homosexual revolution. The Journal of Human Sexuality on the web (off-site link) and on paper by Lewis and Stanley, 21-28. [Judge this journal by its contents, not by the fact that it is a non-peer-reviewed, one-time publication]. Return to text.
Seidman, S.N. & Reider, R.O. (1994). A review of sexual behavior in the United States. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151(3), 330-341.
Sonenstein, F.L. et al. (1989). Sexual activity, condom use and AIDS awareness among adolescent males. Family Planning Perspectives, 21(4), 152-158.
Stokes, J.P. & McKirnan, D.J. (1993). Reply to The sexual behavior of men in the United States (Billy et al, 1993). Family Planning Perspectives, 25(4), 184-185.
Sundet, J.M., et al. Prevalence of risk-prone sexual behaviour in the general population of Norway. In Global Impact of AIDS, edited by Alan F. Fleming et al. (New York: Alan R. Liss, 1988), 53-60.
Wildavsky, R. (1997). Sex, lies and the Kinsey reports. Reader's Digest, April 1997.