Bisexuality 101: What do the surveys say about bisexuality?

It's tough to be bisexual—even in studies. Because no one owned up to the B-word, the Centers for Disease Control ditched the category all together and started using MSM (men who have sex with men) and they don't even have a WSW (women who have sex with women) equivalent! But for the studies that do mention us, here is where we stand.

•    A 2006 California State University study shows that women are 27 percent more likely to be attracted to the same sex, too, as men are.

•    A study shows that 37 percent of American men have achieved orgasm with other men, and yet only 4 percent identify as gay. Hmm, guess circle jerks are done with closed eyes.

•    In a large study in The Advocate, 40% of gay men at some point identify as bisexual

•    33% of bisexuals are in hetero relationships, 20% in homosexual relationships, 25% in no relationship, 10% are with a man and woman at same time, 10% are in multiple relationships of all kinds at the same time. In addition, 35% of bisexuals previously considered themselves gay or lesbian.—Ron C. Fox, psychotherapist, San Francisco

•    Most bisexuals understood their opposite gender attraction at a pre-pubescent age and about three years later became aware of a same-sex attraction—California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco

•    40% of gay men have had sex with women, and almost half still engage in sex with women as well as men, but don't call themselves bisexual—James Spada, author of  “The Spada Report,” a survey of gay male sexuality

•    20% of the general population experiences same-sex attraction some time in their lives—Janus Report on Sexual Behavior

•    Of 200 people who went through the Christian anti-gay Exodus reprogramming, 66 percent of the men and 44 percent of the women achieved “good heterosexual functioning,” but Columbia prof Robert Spitzer said he didn’t consider they were bi “because there’s no accepted definition of what bisexuality is.” And 9 percent became, essentially, eunuchs.

•    41.6% of the girls and 36.4% of the boys age 12 to 19 reported fantasizing about sex with both genders, according to a Minnesota Adolescent Health Survey

Look out! They’ll be testing the waters in Minnesota soon if stats like these keep cropping up.

The Survey Says

• Bisexuals were mostly intimate with members of the opposite sex; more than a third were married. Bisexual women described themselves as the happiest group in the sample (compared with straights, gays, and lesbians). Bisexual men voiced the most dissatisfaction. Bi women had sex more than any other group and engaged in more acts of masturbation than other women—Playboy magazine survey

• Masters and Johnson in 1979 announced a 60% conversion of homosexuals to heterosexuality for a period of five years after treatment; however, it was later found that 93% of the subjects weren't homosexual, but bisexual

• 35% of lesbians and 17% of gay men report some sexual attraction to the opposite sex, while 39% of lesbians and 15% of gay men had sexual fantasies about the opposite sex in the past year. Even more dramatic, 75% of lesbians and 50% of gay men had had vaginal intercourse at some point in their lives— The Advocate magazine survey

• Columnist Dan Savage’s  “Big Trouble Sex Survey” finds:

Bi women and gay men were the most likely to cheat on their partners

Bi women were twice as likely to be drunk during sex than their straight or lesbian counterparts

Bi men were more likely to rat out a friend than their gay or straight counterparts

Bi men and women when asked to pick between Kenny G or Linda Tripp to sleep with picked Kenny G by 70%

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