None of the above is something else! (And it's growing.)

I see that the federal government (in the form of the Centers for Disease Control) has issued the results of a study of the sexual behavior of Americans. While there's a lot of interesting stuff there, I was intrigued and encouraged by responses to questions asking people to classify their "sexual orientation":

Sexual orientation

  • In response to a question that asked, “Do you think of yourself as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or something else?” 90 percent of men 18-44 years of age responded that they think of themselves as heterosexual, 2.3 percent of men answered homosexual, 1.8 percent bisexual, 3.9 percent “something else,” and 1.8 percent did not answer the question (figure 8). Percents for women were similar. These findings are similar to data collected in 1992 by Laumann et al.
  • What this means is that the "something else" category is America's largest sexual minority.

    "Did not answer" is in a tie with bisexual. I'm not sure what I'd read into this decline-to-state category, but I like it.

    The gay/straight dichotomy (which makes even less sense than forcing racially mixed people to choose a race) is not as popular as I'd thought.

    I don't see why federal bureaucrats have to ask people these questions, but the answers renew my faith. More and more people are declaring themselves free from submission to oppressive labels.

    posted by Eric on 09.16.05 at 11:41 AM





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    Comments

    I don't think government should be asking people their race, their religion, their sexual orientation, or their Left-Right self-location. And probably not their blood type either..

    As to my sexual orientation, I absolutely refuse to be called "straight", I'm exactly the opposite. If I were straight, I'd be a man's man. The Encircling vs. the Linear. The Eternal Polarity....

    I also find it difficult to classify myself as heterosexual, as I have less in common with a heterosexual (androsexual) woman than with a homosexual (gynosexual) woman. I'm gynosexual. I know, I know, I'm on the Sinuous Path of Sin that leads to the Encircling Captivity.

    There is also the dimension of promiscuous vs. monogamous, and also that of sadist vs. masochist or dominating/captivating vs. captive.

    As I've often remarked, 'twould be extremely interesting to find out whether 'tis true that, as is often observed, women of the Right are sexier than women of the Left. I've seen sexy women on both sides of such a 1-dimensional spectrum. I get the definite impression that blondes tend to be on the Right while the Left has more brunettes. I wonder how pulchritude would correlate with positions on a 2-dimensional or a 3-dimensional spectrum. I'd love to do a study to find out. Using Murray S. Davis's spectrum: I'd love to be for us Gnostics what Alfred Kinsey was for the Naturalists and Judith Reisman* is for the Jehovanists.

    (*I love that sexy Jewish name even though I oppose what she advocates.)

    Holy Dawn is the captive Goddess of her holy Negro wife Norma. Wicked Wanda now has 69 women.

    But -- uh, oh! -- Wanda may have met more than her match in evil genius: Corona (Mrs. General Oliver Willmoore Kendall)....

    Jesus, Steven. What've you been smoking?

    And can you spare an ounce?

    Sigivald   ·  September 16, 2005 06:29 PM

    Salvador Dali said, "I do not take drugs. I am drugs."

    I am very proud that Steven keeps me similarly supplied.

    Eric Scheie   ·  September 16, 2005 09:15 PM

    Dear Eric:

    Thank you!

    No, I don't take dope.

    Once there was a man
    And the man had a son.
    But the son had a fit!
    The man had a fit when he saw his son's fit.

    That fit isn't fit for anything fit,
    Said the father to the son.
    Don't take dope,
    Said the father to the son,
    No hope with dope.
    It isn't square.
    It will lead to long hair.

    The son had a fit when the father took away his fit.
    The father and the son had a fight over the fit.
    The son killed his father.

    That fit isn't fit for anything fit,
    Said the father to the son.
    Don't take dope,
    Said the father to the son.
    No hope with dope.
    It isn't square.
    It will lead to long hair....

    ....and the electric chair.

    Oh, for your stats, SMA—

    Brunette. On the right. :)

    B. Durbin   ·  September 17, 2005 01:41 AM

    B. Durbin:

    Good! Thank you!

    "Do you think of yourself as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or something else?"

    Seems like the sensible answer ought to be "Yes."

    CGHill   ·  September 17, 2005 10:40 PM

    This is all very hip and trans-label, but it's bullshit. I'm gay. Simple. Women do nada for me. Men make me breathless. Doesn't mean we cant all be friends --some of my best friends are straight-- but lets not get all gooey about this.

    EssEm   ·  September 18, 2005 03:05 AM

    I'm female but I must be gay because I loving having sex with men.

    syn   ·  September 18, 2005 08:06 AM

    That's exactly what Mrs. Bricker said! "I'm gay, too. I love men -- and I'm happy!" Therefore, she is obviously straight, attracted to the linear angularity of the male.

    A man such as myself or a woman (Sapphist) who is drawn instead to the encircling curvaceousness of the female must be sinuous instead. Hmmm....

    as long as you're collecting info, Steven

    I'm a brunette.

    Mom of 4 daughters, all varying degrees of non-leftists... 1 brunette 3 blondes

    Darleen   ·  September 18, 2005 08:46 PM

    Darleen:

    Thank you!

    I'm not sure I'm worthy of this grand task. I said we need a Kinsey for Gnostics, but that would have to be a beautiful woman like Darleen, not a schlub like me. Also, we need a gynosexual woman to write "Leabianism: The Unknown Ideal". "The Virtue of Sexiness", too.



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