A third of young Americans aren’t ‘100% straight’
A survey has found that a third of young Americans wouldn’t describe themselves as ‘exclusively heterosexual’.
A YouGov survey earlier this month found that just 46% of young people in the UK would rank themselves as ‘exclusively’ heterosexual – compared to 49% who picked something else.
Today, a repeat of the survey carried out by YouGov in the United States has found that a third of under-30s are more likely to identify as straight.
On a scale of 0 (exclusively heterosexual) to 6 (exclusively homosexual), the poll found that while 80% of Americans rank themselves as exclusively straight, just 66% of young people do.
Interestingly, less under-30s also identify as exclusively gay – 2% compared to 4% for the general population – with 29% instead putting themselves somewhere between 1 (predominantly straight, only incidentally gay) and 5 (predominantly gay, only incidentally straight).
When asked more simply: “Have you ever had a sexual experience with a member of the same sex?”, 18% of Americans say yes and 82% say no. Among those who describe themselves as heterosexual, 12% have had a gay sexual experience.
20% of under-30s have had a sexual experience with a member of the same sex, and 25% of 30-44 year-olds.
Meanwhile, 12% of Republicans say they have had a sexual experience with a member of the same sex – despite the party’s homophobic stance.
