Beginning of a Myth — 1948
- Dr. Alfred Kinsey claims “37% of all men” had engaged in homosexuality; “10% were more or less homosexual”
- Gay activists and academicians treat 10% figure as fact; endlessly repeat it
The Problem
- Kinsey’s sampling method was woefully defective; heavily overloaded with prisoners, gay bars, and prostitutes; completely non-random
- Distorted picture of American sexual habits; severely overestimated the prevalence of homosexuality
Best Evidence Today
- < 2% of adults are currently ‘homosexual’ in large-scale probability surveys
- Sexual preference/orientation is not ‘fixed’ or ‘frozen,’ even in adulthood; some try or abandon many kinds of sex, including homosexuality
1996, US Centers for Disease Control
- National Household Survey of Drug Abuse, 12,381 non-institutionalized adults, aged 18-59
- 1.3% of men, 1.1% of women participated in homosexual activity during the past year
2004, Statistics Canada
- 121,300 adults
- “1.0% of Canadians aged 18 to 59 considered themselves homosexual, and 0.7% considered themselves bisexual”
2010, British Office of National Statistics
- 238,000 adults aged 16+
- Response rate close to 96%
- 1.6% of men, 1.3% of women said they were homosexual or bisexual
- Anderson JE, Wilson RW, Barker P, Doll L, Jones TS, & Holtgrave D (1999) Prevalence of sexual and drug-related HIV risk behaviors in the U.S. adult population: results of the 1996 national household survey on drug abuse. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes 21:148-156. [CDC report]
- Statistics Canada (2004) The Daily, June 15, Canadian Community Health Survey. [Canadian data]
- Joloza T, Evans J, O’Brien R (2010) Measuring sexual identity: an evaluation report. Sept, Office for National Statistics [British data]
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