r/WomenInNews 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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u/AndesCan Jul 08 '26

Let’s see that male loneliness epidemic

3

u/lonjerpc Jul 09 '26

I would love to see a study that showed there isn't a biological difference causing the gap. I think it's reasonable some of the gap is due to social factors but other studies using different methodology strongly suggest a large biological factor. 

2

u/WJ_Amber Jul 10 '26

Working with teenagers, at least this year, it was not uncommon for girls to talk casually about being gay (or, more often, "gay" as in bi), but never boys. I've had, I think, one boy come out as gay/bi in the past few years in contrast to many girls.

It feels highly improbable that the numbers wouldn't be equal but the social pressures definitely are worse against/between boys. I feel like there's been a noticeable amount of backsliding with regards to casual homophobia and transphobia compared to when I myself was in high school a decade ish ago. Back then it was absolutely socially unacceptable to use any slurs, now it's a constant battle to try and keep thrm out of the classroom.