Less Than 50% of Teens Identify as Straight, Says New Study | Out Magazine



This really shows how the "fear" of being gay or bi has lessened with the new generation. I have always felt that sexuality is a sliding scale with very few people 100% one way or the other - but now that seems to be taken as a given.

We were told that about 3% of the population is gay. Just from my "straight" friends growing up it was always clear to me that more than 3% were willing to fool around. It seems that the new generation is not scared of some experimentation or just a summer fling.

Also interesting the number willing to admit that in the age group of 13 - 20 year olds. They did some "anonymous surveys" in junior high, high school and in college psych classes - but most of the stuff I would have been scared to admit back then even in an anonymous survey!

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On one hand the societal stigma associated with being gay has largely disappeared in many of the first world countries, to mention the few...

On the other hand, legal ban on discrimination, marriage equality, etc., have all contributed to the notion that you do not have to be gay forever, fit into any of the stereotypes (in order to be accepted), and yet have sex with other men if you choose to do so. The prevailing concept of masculinity has changed. The previously uncontested notion that if you went 'gay' once or for several times, you CANNOT be str8 anymore is continuously losing ground.

At least one other major change has probably influenced this new attitude. The latest financial global meltdown has dealt a very serious blow to the traditional structures that seem to be unable to offer stability and security in exchange for the adherence to their values. The 'golden boy' syndrome is largely the matter of the past.

The fact is that relatively very few people these days will refuse to be your friends just because you are openly gay, or because someone is spreading the gossip that you may be gay. Very few companies will fire you for being gay. And, yes, at many places you can have a happy and fulfilled life being anywhere between openly gay to being DL.

There seems to be a growing acceptance of situational homosexuality, too. A few guys do not make it much of a secret that they did have sex with other men when the circumstances offered no other practical alternative. Such guys still perceive themselves as mostly str8 but are open-minded and will cut the chase short if in mood to do so, or if believing that this is the best they can do under the given circumstances.

KD

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My own $0.02: People are flexible in what they actually do, are now, always have been.

The difference now is the stigma is less. People (overall) are more willing to open and have much less damaging and unneeded shame about sexuality.

Out Magazine picked this up from Broadly: Teens These Days Are Queer AF, New Study Says, who interviewed the "Director of Trend Forecasting" from J. Walter Thompson's Innovation Group. It's interesting in many ways that an advertising agency - figuring out how best to sell us things - is the one to go to for identifying societal change.

Broadly interviewed additional people, Hollywood types and an agender writer/speaker. J. Walter Thompson was to release the full results at SXSW in Austin. I'll be looking for it.

Thanks, john3, for posting this.

~ Bob

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This is probably a cultural trait to some extent.

At least a couple of my college buddies who were pretty much involved with our frequent gay underground activities at college openly admitted that they were going to get married and have children, and all, simply because they did not want to live their lives in fear, or be seen as freaks of some kind.

You may see them as weaker guys, more prone to conformism and compliance, too. Big part of the attraction for them was the idea that they would never leave the mainstream if they married, had children, and that somehow, the society would take care of them. They were going to land some sort of an good, ole AT&T job, hang on it, while enjoying their leisurely lives

Hardly anything of that planning on the side or personal benefits materialized... But that's another story.

KD

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It is funny how "situational homosexuality" has always existed - often the subject of jokes - but based in reality. For men at sea it has always been a topic. There is even a book called "Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition" that Johnny Depp says he read when preparing for "Pirates of the Caribbean".

You speak to people who went to traditional all boys boarding schools and many of them will admit it happened (often saying "many of the other boys did it") - but none of them thought of it as a lifestyle choice.


I knew MANY guys like that - who said they would "outgrow" it or when they had opportunities with girls they would stop. And many of them did.

Had one buddy that all summer we blew each other almost every day - when school started he got a girlfriend who put out and although we remained friends it was never spoken of again.

But I wonder how many of them still think about it. One friend who is married with children has told me that if he was growing up today rather than when we were kids he would probably be gay - but at that time and with his family he did not feel that was an option.

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I may be hairsplitting here but I fully agree with you that situational homosexuality has always existed. Yet, it used to be rather limited to specific environments: the high sea, military, prisons, boarding schools, etc.. If there were no available women around the guys had little other option but to help each other out. I doubt that this has changed very much at all.

Relative novelty is that you now encounter increasing levels of situational homosexuality in far less constraining environments.

I have been a corporate road warrior for a few years now. And I have picked up dudes at the hotel bars, pools, saunas, etc., in major cities, usually at very good locations that would allow a determined str8 dude to seek female company.

Obviously, a few of the guys I have hooked up may have been your usual str8 acting gay or bi man. Yet, a few have been apparently pretty str8 in terms of their lifestyle, and would have probably preferred a female company. The practical aspect of life, the diminishing stigma, etc., probably influenced their actions, and they choose to have sex with a man who was readily available rather than go on a risky wild goose chase that may have landed them a female companion or not. Such guys invariably asked for absolute discretion, too. At least 3 or 4 of them admitted that they had had similar experience in the past and that doing it now and then did not change their self-perception of being str8.


No doubt that some men really 'outgrew' their HS/college gay phase. Once they got steady girlfriends and wives later on, their sexual needs were taken care of, and they saw no need to go back to m2m sex. Fun as having sex with them in the past used to be, you can see their point.

A few guys I knew however, admitted that they were going to force themselves into being str8 because of the stigma attached, their desire to have children, and generally belong to the mainstay of the society. I could see their point, too. At that time and age being gay (openly or not) was really an uphill struggle, and not everybody wanted to take that path. I hope that the results of the gaylib these days allow men who really feel that they enjoy sex with other men choose the path that feels more natural to them.

KD

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