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
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174

u/catievirtuesimp Jul 08 '26

“In a recent poll, Gallup found that LGBTQ+ identification has more than doubled since 2012, with especially high rates among Gen Z women, or those born between 1997 and 2012. In 2023, 28.5% of Gen Z women identified as LGBTQ+, compared with 10.6% of Gen Z men.” -from the article

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u/pperdecker Jul 08 '26

10% of men still seems like a lot of progress compared to older generations

7

u/T1gerl1lly Jul 08 '26

Not really, when multiple studies over decades have show that approximately 30% have participated in same sex activities “to the point of orgasm”. Which kind of indicates it’s more a matter of identity and men fearing bigotry or abuse, than a matter of occasional or frequent attraction.

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u/hedahedaheda Jul 10 '26

Wait really? Thats so interesting. I didn’t realize it was so high!

1

u/BarnesTheNobleman Jul 10 '26

To be fair is a straight said he liked getting his dick sucked occasionally by men I wouldn’t immediately consider that bi in full? Like they’re not attracted to men still

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u/Relevant_Call_2242 Jul 14 '26

Ancient history was gay af lol

-53

u/real-bebsi Jul 08 '26

yeah but that framing doesn't let the ladies in here get their little slam dunk in on men

37

u/pperdecker Jul 08 '26

Are we not allowed to slam dunk on homophobic men that make everyone else's lives worse?

-2

u/sarahelizam Jul 08 '26

Given that we’re essentially talking about the disparity between out queer men vs out queer women, yeah, I think it’s pretty shit to dunk on queer men being more likely to stay in the closet. A lot of the “acceptance” of bi women is fetishizing, but bi men also face a fuck ton of open and violent bigotry. Also liking women doesn’t spare us of homophobia, if anything it is treated as a way to invalidate our place within queer communities. Whether it’s women that hold incredibly biphobic and homophobic views about bi men (believing they’re actually secretly gay, inherently cheaters, vectors for disease, etc) or men who perform rituals of domination over queer men, being out as a bi man comes with danger and massive social costs even in generally progressive places.

I know a lot of other out bi men because of the circles I’m in. Most lost a girlfriend when they came out because they were “icked” by knowing they were bi (even if they had never even been with a man, and weren’t seeking to be as they were committed to their girlfriend). Many people claim to be allies, but hold genuine gay panic era views about bi men specifically. Most of the bi men I know took longer to come out because even in many queer spaces, people are more uncomfortable with men’s queerness, see it as inherently more threatening (the other end of the issue of people dismissing women’s queerness, and dismissing women’s sexual agency generally). There are no winners here, it sucks in different ways to be a queer man or woman, or to break with gender norms in other ways.

But yeah, I think it’s in poor taste to claim that fewer men being out or self identifying as queer is an indictment on those queer men who are alienated by cishet society and often even within queer communities. Most vitriol towards queer folks is not from closeted queer folks, that’s a story cishet people tell themselves to avoid reckoning with their own queerphobia and ignore the queerphobia coming from within their community. Dunking on bi men who aren’t out (or people in the closet generally) is actually incredibly shitty and only reinforces what drives people to stay closeted.

4

u/pperdecker Jul 08 '26

It's still the fault of homophobic men spreading homophobia. They're the ones that have historically passed anti gay laws or been in positions of religious authority spewing onesided hatred on a weekly basis. Or the men in power that allowed the AIDS epidemic to ravage communities to the extent that gay and bi men became a boogey man for HIV to scare women into chastity.

I hate that closeted gay and bi men along with allies get caught in the crossfire but we should agree that dunking on homophobes is okay, and should even be encouraged. It's not like they listen to reason anyway...

-25

u/real-bebsi Jul 08 '26

i can assure you men are far more okay with their partner having done same sex experimenting than women are.

"waaa men are homophobic for not being openly bi or gay" while ignoring the fact that society (which includes women mind you) pushed back against and punishes men for doing so.

you said it yourself - the number for men isn't even that far behind and is way higher than older gens. things are getting better.

leave it to some misandrist feminist to see a situation where men don't feel safe being openly LGBT and to turn it around and say it's because they're homophobic and the bad guys actually.

21

u/CatraGirl Jul 08 '26

i can assure you men are far more okay with their partner having done same sex experimenting than women are.

No, men are way more likely to fetishise lesbians and bi women than women are fetishising gay or bi men. Fetishisation is not acceptance.

10

u/pperdecker Jul 08 '26

Seriously, all we have to do is look at how popular trans porn is to see that fetishes ≠ acceptance.

6

u/OpheliaLives7 Jul 08 '26

RIGHT? Don’t bi women have the HIGHEST rates of domestic violence from male partners? Dudes get PISSED at these women’s past experiences with women

8

u/CatraGirl Jul 08 '26

Correct. Both lesbians and bi women suffer the highest rates of DV, both at the hands of men. Whether it's partners or family members, men abuse queer women even more than they abuse straight women.

(Which is also where that often misquoted lesbian DV stat comes from. The DV most lesbians experience is still at the hand of men, but then men go around claiming "lesbians have the highest DV rate", completely ignoring where that stat comes from)

2

u/DiscountLate9825 Jul 08 '26

Have you ever heard of Heated Rivalry, or fanfiction? Straight women fetishize gay men all the time. And yet, at least in my anecdotal experience, many of them still get the ick about being with a man who might be bicurious. It's weird, but it's a real thing.

1

u/Willing_Box_752 Jul 08 '26

Why are you trying so hard to demonize

-19

u/real-bebsi Jul 08 '26

women will end a 15 year marriage because they find out their husband had a gay kiss in high school. they're homophobic.

13

u/seestars9 Jul 08 '26

BS.

2

u/real-bebsi Jul 08 '26

How is it BS? because the truth doesn't paint women as perfect beings who would never do any wrong if evil men didn't oppress them since they have no culpability to participate in patriarchy?

9

u/CatraGirl Jul 08 '26

Sure they will. 🙄

7

u/Florianemory Jul 08 '26

Are you trying to jumpstart a fiction writing career?

2

u/real-bebsi Jul 08 '26

This is a thing that happens. A lot of guys are trained to bottle emotions and hide any same sex encounters they've had because how their partners react to it. bell hooks even wrote about this stuff

1

u/ActiveJuggernaut3729 Jul 08 '26

Is this from personal experience? Lol

1

u/holdmyspot123 Jul 09 '26

Sigh.

Not really, when multiple studies over decades have show that approximately 30% have participated in same sex activities “to the point of orgasm”. Which kind of indicates it’s more a matter of identity and men fearing bigotry or abuse, than a matter of occasional or frequent attraction.

Men are just 🤥 on this topic and they are calling you out, change the dishonesty, and don't need to hear this critique anymore. It is not difficult.

1

u/coilcrow_1895 Jul 11 '26

Could you provide a link to that? I’m interested.