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Graphic artist, Toby Ng, asserts that 10% of the world is homosexual in his work "The World of 100". I can't see where he claims this data to be from. This seems high to me and low to my sister-in-law, so I guess that more or less reflects personal experience.

Can this be true? Does it depend on how inclusively you define it?

Django Reinhardt
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Tomm
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    The 10% figure most likely comes from The Kinsey Reports - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_Reports – Tom77 Nov 11 '11 at 13:30
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    This question is impossible to answer properly since it doesn't clearly define "homosexual". According to Kinsey and pretty much all the subsequent studies, homo/hetero sexuality is a spectrum, not a binary yes/no. So the answer is what you alluded to: "It depend on how inclusive you define it" – user5341 Nov 11 '11 at 14:23
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    Of all the stupid groupings on his site you go with the homosexual one? – Chad Nov 11 '11 at 14:38
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    @DVK You *can* still delimit areas in the spectrum such the question is answerable to all intents and purposes. I’m not sure how one would go about doing this, otherwise I would edit the question, but I feel that something along the following lines would satisfy most people … “people who are predominantly sexually attracted to people of the same sex (as determined by phenotypic traits).” This is still not 100% watertight but it’s a working definition. And, by the way, I think the question is rather interesting, and I’d be interested in an answer that spans the whole Kinsey scale. – Konrad Rudolph Nov 11 '11 at 16:15
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    @Chad I don’t understand … – Konrad Rudolph Nov 11 '11 at 16:24
  • @KonradRudolph - well it claims 1 in 100 has aids, that 80% of the world does not fear war or crime, 68% breathe clean air, the top 6% of the rich in the world are all in the US, and 52% of the world lives in freedom. It just seems that of the things to be skeptical of whether 1 in 10 is gay seems kinda trivial – Chad Nov 11 '11 at 17:51
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    @Konrad - leaving aside the vagueness of definition (even your clarification attempt in a comment is vague - what's "predominantly"? Do you count bisexuals?), a second problem is you can't get reliable data "for the world". The only way to obtain such data is through surveys, and would you **really** trust a survey on a homosexual tendencies in Iran (where it's punishable by stoning), other Islamic countries (where there are assorted negative consequences), or, heck, Russia (where up till very recently you went to jail for being gay)? – user5341 Nov 11 '11 at 18:30
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    @DVK Since we know that homosexuality (or same-sex attraction) of any degree is not a product of culture or upbringing, we can extrapolate numbers for all humans from a sufficiently large sample of people who have nothing to fear from taking such a survey. Of course, there may be actual regional variations, but those variations, while interesting, would be unlikely to change the overall result given the population size. – dtanders Nov 11 '11 at 20:23
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    @dtanders: "We know that homosexuality is not a product of culture or upbringing" Have a source? Many would disagree with you. Furthermore, even this suffers from a lack of definition. Consider the "homosexuality" discussed [here](http://history.stackexchange.com/questions/375/when-did-homosexuality-become-unacceptable-in-europe)... is this homosexuality according to your definition? If so, then a "sufficiently large sample" of people in ancient Greece would indicate that a very high percentage of the world population is homosexual--and this was very clearly "a product of culture." – Flimzy Nov 11 '11 at 20:43
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    @DVK - Well in high school it was anything > 0... In college it was >= 2... But evidently in the Gay community its > 5 at least if you want to play in the Gay World series... so that has to clear it up immensly – Chad Nov 11 '11 at 21:17
  • @Flimzy I don't think the definition is all that important because there is a generally accepted definition and I see no reason to tamper with it. Also, you basically have to rely on people to evaluate their own feelings. Historical accounts are neither statistically significant surveys nor particularly reliable. As for the cause of homosexuality, I's too complicated a discussion for the comments section, but the Skeptics question on the matter certainly needs a source that's less than 15 years old, so I'll try to remember to work on an answer over the weekend. – dtanders Nov 11 '11 at 21:51
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    @dtanders: As all of the comments here have demonstrated, there clearly is _not_ a "generally accepted definition." – Flimzy Nov 11 '11 at 22:34
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    "heck, Russia (where up till very recently you went to jail for being gay)" Not sure why you are picking on Russia here. There are some places in the [USA](http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/lawrence-texas-homosexual-conduct-statute) where it is still illegal, and arrests were made as late as 2003. Parts of Australia (Tasmania) had homosexuality still illegal until 1997. Russia making [homosexuality legal in 1993](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Russia) almost seems progressive in comparison. – Oddthinking Nov 12 '11 at 00:18
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    @Oddthinking - because (1) I don't know anything about Tasmania; and (2) In Russia, it was a mass thing. As in thouthands in jail - and I don't mean a slap on the wrist misdemeanour 10 days of arrest. It was "up to 5 years". MotherJones very conviniently omits whether anyone actually went to jail recently for that law, how many, and for how long. – user5341 Nov 12 '11 at 02:38
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    @Oddthinking - as far as Russia seeming progressive compared to Texas - may have something to do with the fact that you know as much about Russia as I do about Tasmania, or at least very little. Same MotherJones article said "63 percent of eligible voters supported at least some form of legal recognition for gay couples [in TX]". Care to wager what the level of support is in Russia (hint: sucker's bet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_same-sex_unions_in_Russia )? Also, compare Dallas Gay Pride parades to this: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/05/31/230989/moscow-gay-pride – user5341 Nov 12 '11 at 02:45
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    @DVK, point taken. – Oddthinking Nov 12 '11 at 03:26
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    @DVK makes some excellent points. **But** I think these points should complement a good answer. **I don’t see any reason to close the question**; in fact, I’m probably even more intrigued in an answer than before. That answers have varying degrees of certainty and validity should never discourage a skeptics answer. Ideally, *give a value* to the uncertainty. Again, just because the answer won’t be “it’s 42” doesn’t make this a bad question. Don’t be afraid of fuzzy answers with uncertainty attached to it. This is altogether scientific. – Konrad Rudolph Nov 12 '11 at 18:00
  • @Konrad - you can't scientifically measure something like this. It's a lot less measurable than political stuff (at least those have polls that can be done in a scientific way), and those things are considered offtopic - I've seen plenty of questions that could be easily answered by a poll yet closed. In this case we know the poll can't even be trusted, so the answer is a very certain "we don't know". – user5341 Nov 12 '11 at 22:35
  • The Kinsey reports were able to do it in the 50's when it was far less tolarated. I woul suspect the number is much higher now than it was then but I do not know. It could be that I live in the of of the bluest of the blue states and so it is more accepted around here so my experience is skewed. But I would expect there are some numbers around somewhere. – Chad Nov 12 '11 at 23:58
  • @DVK “you can't scientifically measure something like this” – says who? Why? This is a very far-fetched claim. See Kinsey report. Furthermore, it becomes more and more clear that homosexuality has a large genetic component, which can be investigated. At any rate, the claim “10% are homosexuals” still stands, and it can at least be knocked down by examining the sources (if they exist) skeptically. Wasn’t this what this site was about? – Konrad Rudolph Nov 13 '11 at 10:35
  • @Konrad - I agree re: examining the sources. The problem is that AFAIK the only source for that claim i Kinsey - and his reports don't really encompass "The world". – user5341 Nov 13 '11 at 11:07
  • http://allpsych.com/dictionary/dictionary2.html – dtanders Nov 15 '11 at 19:06
  • @KonradRudolph you assume the Kinsey report to be accurate when you claim it's an indication accurate measurements are possible. Others don't make that assumption, and IMO they are correct as both the definition of homosexuality and the willingness of people to admit to it to strangers are too variable to account for. – jwenting Jan 11 '12 at 11:22
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    @jwenting No, I don’t assume that it’s the least bit accurate. But it’s a good first try on which you can either build, or which can be corrected / refuted. “too variable to account for” is just weaselling out of the question. Most scientific problems are much harder than that. Just because there’s no clear black/white distinction between two categories doesn’t mean that a problem can’t be addressed empirically – and precisely! – Konrad Rudolph Jan 11 '12 at 13:36
  • Many of you are also forgetting that gender genocide has produced large deficiencies in many cultures and areas of the world. This could likely direct many individuals into a same gender relationship for lack of numbers. Everyone want to have companionship and relationship and to be loved. –  Oct 16 '12 at 22:51
  • @DVK: "assorted negative consequences" is interesting choice of euphemism for death penalty :-P – vartec Oct 17 '12 at 15:32

1 Answers1

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The 10% figure comes from (*drumroll*) Alfred Kinsey... Or rather, it originated in his book, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.

Does this mean that 10% of the population is homosexual? No, it means that, of the 5300 white males polled by Kinsey and his peers, 10% answered that they were predominately homosexual. That's all.

Different polls and different sources have their own figures. For example, a 1993 Janus Report estimated that 9% of men, and 5% of women, had more than "occasional" homosexual relationships. While The Family Research Report says "around 2-3% of men, and 2% of women, are homosexual or bisexual." And The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force estimates 3-8% of both sexes.

One of the biggest issues comes from agreeing on a definition. As someone pointed out in the comments, it's hard to establish exactly what "homosexual" actually means. For example, if a man lives and dies, and had one homosexual experienced during his lifetime: Was he gay, bisexual or straight? Whatever category you'd place that man into, Kinsey's reports indicate that roughly 37% of men would fall into it. So it all depends how you classify sexuality.

And to make matters even more confusing, some (like the Canadia based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) suggest "sexual orientation may be fluid and change over time". So even if someone identifies with being straight at one point in their lives, at another point they may naturally find themselves identifying with homosexuality.

In short: There's no definite, conclusive answer.

Sources:

Django Reinhardt
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    given the low figures reported by the NGLTF (which has of course every incentive to want high numbers, it would mean more fuel for their cause) I'd give those credit for probably being reasonably accurate. If the actual figure'd been higher, they'd have claimed a higher number :) (plus it matches with the baseline of the other studies you cite, giving it credibility). – jwenting Jan 11 '12 at 11:26
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    It's probably worth noting that it's said that your sexuality can change throughout your life, which renders the figures even more meaningless. – Django Reinhardt Jan 11 '12 at 17:44
  • that's true. And not just that. One Dutch study (url sits on a dead harddisk, sadly) a few years ago reported that 3-5% of people (slightly more men than women if I remember correct) are transsexual (not all to the point of wanting gender change treatment). Those are often classed with homosexuals as a group, but most of them aren't (many Ts are not sexually active at all, others have their sexual relation with their physical sex which is different from how they consider themselves to be). – jwenting Oct 17 '12 at 03:39
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    Shorter answer: "Human sexuality is almost infinitely complex, so assume *any* kind of hard numbers are essentially meaningless." – Shadur Jun 14 '14 at 09:53
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    The Dutch study is Lisette Kuyper- "Transgenders in Nederland: prevalentie en attitudes" (Transgenders in the Netherlands: prevalence and attitudes). – Elise van Looij Jul 27 '17 at 08:27