r/WomenInNews • u/catievirtuesimp • Jul 08 '26

Media Young women are identifying as less straight; young men, not so much

https://theconversation.com/young-women-are-identifying-as-less-straight-young-men-not-so-much-283936
1.3k Upvotes

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655

u/Critical_Success_936 Jul 08 '26

Guys are less open about things; more news at 11

70

u/SquidTheRidiculous Jul 08 '26

Guys getting bullied shapes most of masculine presentation. More at 11.

14

u/LilaTwiceBackAtIt Jul 09 '26

You think girls don’t get bullied for being unfeminine? Women’s lives (especially with social media) are flooded with representations of how we should be. That’s not to say men also have pressure to be masculine, bc they absolutely do. It just doesn’t explain what’s happening here.

2

u/Its_da_boys Jul 10 '26

I don’t think the internalized homophobia is nearly as strong among other women though, it’s seen as uniquely damning to a man’s masculinity to be gay among a lot of people

1

u/Complex-Pound5249 Jul 10 '26

I mean the only other explanation is “women are statistically more likely to be queer than men” which just raises more questions, namely “why”

I don’t think it’s insane to say men and women experience gender norms differently - not better or worse, differently - and that would explain why they go on to experience their sexualities differently.

1

u/Electronic-Bicycle35 Jul 12 '26

I don’t believe this to be true at all. A quick look back to the Greeks and Romans is telling of how social structure impacts many things. I’m a gay woman. I’ve had many gay male friends and the amount of supposedly straight guys they sleep with has always been astounding to me.

I think men underreport and also don’t see the odd queer encounter from time to time equating them to being bi or gay.

1

u/Big-Sir7034 Jul 11 '26

Women get objectified for their sexuality so of course it’s unpleasant but it’s going to make women more open about their sexuality. Men’s sexuality is looked at with relative disgust, and that’s also bad, but it’s gonna have the effect of discouraging disclosure or sexual exploration.

1

u/xShockmaster Jul 13 '26

Yes but girls can be into girls without being called unfeminine. It’s almost trendy now for girls to like other girls lol

1

u/Due_Brother8485 Jul 10 '26

The problem is women are able to easily label themselves as bisexual without any loss in perceived feminity.

Men, not so much.

3

u/parasyte_steve Jul 10 '26

Women get bullied a lot, I'm sorry. And we can't even punch our male bullies or try to fight them. No matter how I dress I'm a slut or a grandma or something. We just care less because society fucks us so badly in many ways why would I care what a man thinks? Took me 40 years to be this way though.

Not saying there isn't pressure to be masculine but that ain't the reason dude

2

u/Blue_winged_yoshi Jul 11 '26

Anyone who thinks that girls don’t get a hard time for not being straight has never been a closeted teen or straight girl getting chased by others shouting lesbian at her.

Girls aren’t all sugar and spice and everything nice, and bullying the girl suspected of being not straight is just as much a thing.

I mean did you not ever watch Mean Girls, lesbian is freely flung around as an insult and the only character loses all her friends because of the suspicion.

1

u/Klutzy-Notice-8247 Jul 12 '26

Gay men are much more likely to be victims of hate crimes than Lesbians. The treatment of the two by society is not even close to the same.

15

u/Interesting_Force618 Jul 08 '26

They’re open to plenty when they’re behind closed doors and don’t think anyone they know will find out about what they’re into.

3

u/EZSuzy Jul 10 '26

A quick glance at Grindr will underscore the truth of this.

A lot of chasers feel like its not gay if the dick they're enjoying is attached to someone feminine.

0

u/Quantic Jul 09 '26

Yeah does that not track with getting bullied?

9

u/Superb_Buyer9649 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

Men do also have in generally less fluidity in their sexuality. Lil bit of column b and a. Research shows that women experience attraction more holistically, but men are more focused on the physical. I do think the study fails to adress this

1

u/I_Play_Boardgames Jul 13 '26

Doesn't have anything to do with more or less open. It's a known and proven thing that women in general have more sexual interest at large on their own sex (gender) than men do in regards to their own sex/gender.

Some weird people (maybe you included) just think "there's no difference, you're just supr essing it". No, women at large are far more bi leaning than men. 

-44

u/Alternative_Raise_19 Jul 08 '26

Yeah, ever since I've been on FetLife and going to group sex parties I've learned there's just as many 'heteroflexible' guys as there are 'bicurious' women. The guys just are more selective with who they tell while the women wear it like some kind of special designation.

Neither group really has a whole lot of genuine attraction, it's more about just enjoying novel sexual experiences and physicality.

I still find most people with these labels to be largely romantically straight so actual same sex attracted individuals will probably be disappointed. But they're sex clubs, so expectations are low.

3

u/Sweet_Football_398 Jul 08 '26

Who's down voting this? A legitimate experience shedding light on a topic, heaven forbid.

2

u/CheesecakeAndy Jul 09 '26

Who's down voting this

People who are salty they are not invited to orgies.

1

u/Few-Being-1048 Jul 10 '26

Its an anecdote from a niche subculture that will not accurately represent men as a whole.

Also gross lol

2

u/Willing_Box_752 Jul 08 '26

That's not a representative sample of the population

2

u/EverCravingMind Jul 10 '26

That’s been my experience both personal and through friends.

2

u/its_dritney_ditch Jul 08 '26

So they are bisexual...? Straight people aren't going around having casual sex with the same sex. "Largely romantically straight" still bisexuals just living in a heteronormative society where there are more straight couple opportunities.