Only 8% of HS students identify as bisexual or gay, does this seem right to you?

[Anonymous]

https://qz.com/1014142/a-teen-health-survey-crucial-to-us-public-policy-is-finally-asking-kids-about-their-sexual-orientation/

The above link is an article regarding a survey that the CDC did in 2016, where they tried to determine the % of HS students who are gay or bisexual. They first asked what they consider their orientation to be, then asked the gender of the person they were dating. The survey determined that 8% of HS students are bisexual or gay. For those of you with kids in HS, does this seem right to you? I can believe this might be true just of males, but it seems now that very few HS females identify as straight. I'm wondering if things have changed that much since 2016, or if the 8% is inaccurate.

[Anonymous]

But dcum says all the girls identify as lgbt to be cool, except possibly their daughter. Shouldn’t it be closer to 50%?

[Anonymous]

Yes, the number has always been between 5-10% of the human population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://qz.com/1014142/a-teen-health-survey-crucial-to-us-public-policy-is-finally-asking-kids-about-their-sexual-orientation/

The above link is an article regarding a survey that the CDC did in 2016, where they tried to determine the % of HS students who are gay or bisexual. They first asked what they consider their orientation to be, then asked the gender of the person they were dating. The survey determined that 8% of HS students are bisexual or gay. For those of you with kids in HS, does this seem right to you? I can believe this might be true just of males, but it seems now that very few HS females identify as straight. I'm wondering if things have changed that much since 2016, or if the 8% is inaccurate.

"Seems" is doing a lot of work there, buddy.

[Anonymous]

That number is consistent with historic trends. There's a lot of talk on DCUM about it being cool or trendy to be LGBTQ, though I haven't seen more in my kids' friend groups than I did when I was a kid (less, actually, but probably not statistically significant).

When I was a kid, at least, a lot of kids didn't come out til college. That does seem to have changed (kids are more self aware earlier, or perhaps just less intimidated to come out).

[Anonymous]

MCPS high school teacher here. I never have to break up boys and girls making out like i did in 2007, but spend my entire time on hallway duty pulling girls apart. It's very trendy to be queer in some capacity, and I have even heard it referred to as being straight and only dating the other gender makes you hetero-normative and homophobic.

[Anonymous]

I know it's being called trendy but there is scientific evidence that women have an arousal response to a much wider range of images than men do (it's also been found that women are much less aware of their own arousal). It does not shock me at all that in a more sexually conscious age that is also more accepting of female than male bisexuality, that a lot of girls now identify as bisexual.

[Anonymous]

I think in conservative parts of America-places like the bible belt it is much lower because people are too afraid to admit or even face it, but in more liberal areas-higher because kids feel more free to be who they are.

[Anonymous]

sounds right. our views are skewed because experimenting is now considered "cool", so we automatically think the percentage would be higher.

but really, who cares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I think in conservative parts of America-places like the bible belt it is much lower because people are too afraid to admit or even face it, but in more liberal areas-higher because kids feel more free to be who they are.

BS. Even those in more conservative areas eventually come out. no one stays closeted their whole life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I think in conservative parts of America-places like the bible belt it is much lower because people are too afraid to admit or even face it, but in more liberal areas-higher because kids feel more free to be who they are.

BS. Even those in more conservative areas eventually come out. no one stays closeted their whole life.

Maybe, maybe not. But in a survey of HS kids, they are more likely to say they are straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://qz.com/1014142/a-teen-health-survey-crucial-to-us-public-policy-is-finally-asking-kids-about-their-sexual-orientation/

The above link is an article regarding a survey that the CDC did in 2016, where they tried to determine the % of HS students who are gay or bisexual. They first asked what they consider their orientation to be, then asked the gender of the person they were dating. The survey determined that 8% of HS students are bisexual or gay. For those of you with kids in HS, does this seem right to you? I can believe this might be true just of males, but it seems now that very few HS females identify as straight. I'm wondering if things have changed that much since 2016, or if the 8% is inaccurate.

"Seems" is doing a lot of work there, buddy.

Yeah, maybe in that pp's neighborhood. But even then I'm skeptical that "very few" is accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the number has always been between 5-10% of the human population.

yes, see the research. "John Money" for example.

[Anonymous]

The survey was two years ago. I think there has been an uptick over the past couple years of girls saying they are lesbian or bi. I don't know if it's because I live in a liberal area so it's more prevalent, but it is a lot more than a few years ago, and a lot more than when I was a teen. I don't know if this is true for the rest of the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I think in conservative parts of America-places like the bible belt it is much lower because people are too afraid to admit or even face it, but in more liberal areas-higher because kids feel more free to be who they are.

BS. Even those in more conservative areas eventually come out. no one stays closeted their whole life.

I call BS on this, actually. Plenty of people don't come out or, if so, they do it much later in life.

Having come from a very conservative area, I denied being gay when people outright asked me. I was afraid, for both my safety and my family's reputation.

Living here, I do not have that fear. And isn't this about how people identify through a survey? They may not always admit they're gay in a survey, and it would also depend on how the survey worded the questions. Years ago DW and I participated in a census survey that tried to get an idea of how they should word same sex marriage on the census to get an idea of how many gay and lesbian folks are married. This was before same sex marriage was federally legalized. Though many of the women in the focus group considered their partner their spouse, and though many had had weddings (not legal), they still wouldn't identify as married since it wasn't legal.