Gay Dudes Aren't Looking for Straight Dudes, Lesbians Like Drugs More than Straight Women, and Other Revelations from OkCupid

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It turns out that a tiny fraction of gays have single-handedly two-handedly created the public image of gay sexual recklessness—in fact we found that just 2% of gay people have had 23% of the total reported gay sex, which is pretty crazy.

(waves)

gloomy gus on October 12, 2010 at 5:36 PM

Looks at map.

Yep.

I knew it.

Supreme Ruler Of The Universe on October 12, 2010 at 5:38 PM

The chart comparing men and women on which they believe is bigger, the earth or the sun, is pretty hilarious.

Long live the wild, wild, bi-curious west.

Mattini on October 12, 2010 at 5:39 PM

Now, hold up. We are supposed to believe that straight girls are more into sports than our Sapphist sistren? What do you suppose the "into" in "into sports" means, then? I have never once met a lesbian who didn't know and care way more about sports than I do. I've always had to look to straight girls and my nellier homo friends for allies in my utter-uninterest-in-sports.

Can this really be true?

piminnowcheez on October 12, 2010 at 5:45 PM

That map is total horseshit. Anybody who has ever been in New Mexico and Texas knows that the demographic is almost identical. There's no reason why the two states should be two very different colors.

Fifty-Two-Eighty on October 12, 2010 at 5:52 PM

you've obviously never lived in Texas, 5280.

Will in Seattle on October 12, 2010 at 5:59 PM

I was just at a weekend birthday retreat, my gf and I were one of two straight couples of 10 people in the house. The gay men were mostly glued to college football (no alma maters though), the gay women were cooking ribs (best I've ever had, for what it's worth, and also did not care for football), and me and the other straight dude seems most interested in luring river otters to our riverfront (unsuccessfully).

Everyone loved the hot tub evenly, and drug usage followed no social patterns.

It's not science, but it was my weekend. That OKCupid thing is awesome.

Dougsf on October 12, 2010 at 6:02 PM

@4, if you go read the article, you can see what kind of questions informed the graph.

-Do you play actual sports?
-Do you enjoy exercise?
-Do you have a favorite sports team, that you really like to follow?

and so on.

MacCrocodile on October 12, 2010 at 6:06 PM

And you've obviously never been to New Mexico, Will. And no, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos don't count, just the same as Austin doesn't.

Fifty-Two-Eighty on October 12, 2010 at 6:06 PM

@4: Same here, which is one reason I appreciate my nellier homo friends and straight women friends so much during football season.

Wow, I had no idea my state was that orange, given its voting record.

on October 12, 2010 at 6:07 PM

@5: It's just a distortion based on the number of counties in the state, it seems

33 counties in NM versus 254 in TX (and I used to be able to name all of them).

Baconcat on October 12, 2010 at 6:10 PM

Have you ever said anything so nerdy that you wish you could just, you know, delete the whole internet?

Baconcat on October 12, 2010 at 6:11 PM

3: Damn, I just came across that statistic. How embarrassing for my sex. 1 in 10 women believe the sun is bigger than the earth? Although 1 in 5 men believe that, and that's still pretty bad.

on October 12, 2010 at 6:20 PM

@8 oh man, that is annoying.....some of us in the world love exercising & doing outdoor activities but absolutely can't stand the whole televised sports / hardcore sports fan thing that seems to penetrate our society pretty deep....

its like someone saying you are into insane clown posse because you play a musical instrument like the trumpet.

Andy_Squirrel on October 12, 2010 at 6:21 PM

I dunno, BC, it made sense to me. Maybe I should be worried too.

Fifty-Two-Eighty on October 12, 2010 at 6:22 PM

@5280, I've been to both and they are different. For instance, New Mexico is rural and sparsely populated, Texas city dwellers and high population. New Mexicans trend toward Democrat and Texans are solidly Republican. Texans are rich, New Mexicans poor. New Mexicans do business in Spanish, Texans in English. Compare on wikipedia. But anyway, having been raised around New Mexico and often visiting Texas, I would say they have different philosophies that would explain the map.

Medina on October 12, 2010 at 6:24 PM

Don't worry, Baconcat and 5280, like the little black dress, Asperger's never goes out of style...

gloomy gus on October 12, 2010 at 6:27 PM

I meant the naming all the counties in Texas thing, 5280, but yeah, you're a nerd.

del internet.bat

Baconcat on October 12, 2010 at 6:27 PM

Madison's gayer than Chicago, home of IML?

Oh. I'm gay and I barf at soy milk.

Drew2u on October 12, 2010 at 6:38 PM

Baconcat just gave me a geekerection.

Also, I love OKC.

Violet_DaGrinder on October 12, 2010 at 6:39 PM

No problem, BC, just rename internet.bak and you'll be back in business in no time. Yep, I'm a nerd alright.

Medina: Texans are rich city dwellers? Really? You need to get out more.

Fifty-Two-Eighty on October 12, 2010 at 6:39 PM

@1... i think i have to blame that statistic on the fact that okcupid is a dating site and attracts a somewhat less promiscuous people. The sluts aren't on okcupid, they're on manhunt and adam4adam.

aaand i'm on all 3. so yeah.

nixor on October 12, 2010 at 6:56 PM

Siding with 5280 on the "buh?", Medina.

Baconcat on October 12, 2010 at 6:57 PM

@5280, when you say, "Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Austin don't count", ok, you're setting the ground rules for your own comparison. But you've ruled out 1/3 of New Mexico, vs only 5% of Texas. Are you SURE you've been to both states? They have a really different vibe, to me.

Eric from Boulder on October 12, 2010 at 7:01 PM

@24: They do have a different vibe, but not for the reasons Medina has proposed.

For what it's worth, Texans that don't live in El Paso (96% of all Texans) view New Mexico as "South Colorado". Things in South Colorado: Ruidoso, I-10, mountains, Roswell.

Baconcat on October 12, 2010 at 7:04 PM

Eric: What I was basically saying was that the cities don't count, because if you look at the map, they're represented by their own, deep orange/red color, which is to be expected.

The rural areas of New Mexico and the rural areas of Texas really are pretty identical, and there are lots of them in both states.

Fifty-Two-Eighty on October 12, 2010 at 7:08 PM

Shit. Other than The L Word, I'm a lesbian by OK Cupid standards... maybe that's why my love life sucks!

S-Lo on October 12, 2010 at 7:14 PM

The rural areas aren't really all that identical. New Mexico is all lumpy and Texas does this thing every spring where you wake up and HOLY FUCK BLUEBONNETS AND FLOWERS AND IS THAT A DEER OH GOD I FUCKING LOVE NATURE.

Then we kinda eat the deer and mow the flowers, but you get the idea.

Baconcat on October 12, 2010 at 7:15 PM

@26. Fair enough.
@28. Funny!

Eric from Boulder on October 12, 2010 at 7:20 PM

OK, geographically they're very different (except for the southern part of New Mexico); demographically (I.e., how homosexual they're likely to be), I still think they're pretty much indistinguishable.

Fifty-Two-Eighty on October 12, 2010 at 7:23 PM

New Mexico is a more equal mix of hispanics, catholics and young folks than Texas and is far more accepting of gays than Texas is. ;)

The demographics of New Mexico closely mirror the border region of Texas, which also enjoys similar levels of support for liberal issues and votes democrat.

When you get North of San Antonio (ignoring Austin and Dallas for a second), you may as well be in Oklahoma. And folks wonder why we hate North Texas.

Baconcat on October 12, 2010 at 7:33 PM

@13 - Your math is wrong, lady. You're right about 1 in 10 women, but 5% of men is 1 in 20, not 1 in 5.

Men understand numbers and comparative size. It's kind of an obsession of ours.

MacCrocodile on October 12, 2010 at 7:37 PM

Damn @22 Totally beat me to it- the promiscuity numbers for gay men are totally skewed... speaking from personal experience, if I want a quick hookup, I'm more inclined to hit up Manhunt, Adam4Adam, Grindr or Scruff. There are way too many survey questions and hoops to jump through on okcupid for most people looking for a quick meaningless fling.

UNPAID COMMENTER on October 12, 2010 at 7:55 PM

Oh my god: Straight women are so boorring!

Sandiai on October 12, 2010 at 7:56 PM

And yes, Madison is way gayer than Chicago (as a percent of the population being gay or bicurious). Oh yes.

Sandiai on October 12, 2010 at 8:06 PM

Only 6? All of the participants on that site are liars, straights and gays.

TheMisanthrope on October 12, 2010 at 8:31 PM

The stats on promiscuity (according to which I'm in the 98th percentile, LOL!) are so out of line compared to real life that I can't take anything else in the article seriously. Which is actually good news, because the chart of Stuff Gay Men Like (with The Devil Wears Prada on top) would be really fucking depressing if I were to take it seriously.

john t on October 12, 2010 at 8:31 PM

Ok Cupid is a horrible source for statistics. Most gay men have had less than 6 partners? yeah right...

Paxlotl on October 12, 2010 at 8:39 PM

Well shit, I've been gay all this time and didn't know it. Why the hell would anyone want to hook up with a straight woman if they're this damn boring. It must be boobs.

Katy on October 12, 2010 at 9:02 PM

@35: Maybe if they broke Chicago into "Boystown" and "Non-Boystown Chicago" on that map...

venomlash on October 12, 2010 at 9:22 PM

I just want to scritch Baconcat behind those adorkable little corgi ears.

supergp on October 12, 2010 at 9:45 PM

And what about big, solid tomato red Canada? Huh?

And gus @1...you really should learn to pace yourself..leave some for the others ;)

Canuck on October 12, 2010 at 9:47 PM

@42 - It's not like we're a finite resource or anything. I don't know who, exactly, Gus is, but I've probably had sex with him at one point (at least), and there's still plenty to go around.

MacCrocodile on October 12, 2010 at 9:54 PM

Do you know how vee keep varm in Canada, dahleen?

Original Andrew on October 12, 2010 at 10:10 PM

Something people often forget in statistics (either unintentionally or in an attempt to manipulate the ignorant), is that the numbers only represent the sample. In this case, the sample is people with profiles on OkCupid, not every single person in the country. If it was a random phone survey, then you could more accurately claim that the statistics are a fair representation of the country's population.

And keep in mind, most of the people on OkCupid are single and looking for a partner (or at least were when they put up a profile and answered a bunch of questions). I'm not saying that the OkCupid numbers are way off, just something to keep in mind.

rummy42 on October 12, 2010 at 10:14 PM

Watch yourself around gus, MacCrocodile, that's all I'll say. He cuts a natty figure in his Fluevogs, listens to alternative acoustic trios playing songs like "boys want sex in the morning," and smoked Dunhills in his formative years. And it's a known fact you haven't had sex with someone unless you post the pictures on Slog, am I right??

@44 Canada is precisely the reason lube is made with such a low freezing point...dahling!

Canuck on October 12, 2010 at 10:19 PM

I am amused by the little red dot where Salt Lake City is.

ScaryMara on October 12, 2010 at 10:50 PM

what's a partner again?

reverend dr dj riz on October 13, 2010 at 12:07 AM

@46: Someone else likes Uncle Bonsai! I was just listening to them. On cassette tape.

BlackRose on October 13, 2010 at 1:28 AM

According to this chart, lesbians are violent drug addicts who like to write slash.

on October 13, 2010 at 3:36 AM

@49 I know! My moldy old cassette tape broke a while back, and I googled them last night, and they have a home page and a new album coming out...woo hoo!
http://www.unclebonsai.com/

Canuck on October 13, 2010 at 5:40 AM

@47. . . I know! Who knew Salt Lake City was on fire AND flaming?

Come on Mormons, come out of the closet.

sweet.

julia09 on October 13, 2010 at 5:53 AM

Keep in mind the map does not show degrees of gayness, it shows degrees of bi-curiosity. In places like Chicago gay is gay and straight is straight. Also look at New Orleans, probably the bluest spot on the map.

wl on October 13, 2010 at 5:56 AM

@9 no, but my uncle lived there.

The map is correct.

Will in Seattle on October 13, 2010 at 11:38 AM

As others have posted here, I am a lesbian and I didn't know it. Just glad I don't have to hang out with straight women, they seem even more boring and unimaginative than straight men.

on October 13, 2010 at 11:47 AM

@49, @51 - I saw them in concert last year, for the first time in 20 years. ;-) They're touring again and everything.

They are, however, refusing to do Penis Envy.

Geni on October 13, 2010 at 3:21 PM

Um...@53 - that big blue spot is all of Mississippi, not New Orleans. New Orleans is dark yellow.

Sheryl on October 13, 2010 at 3:29 PM

"There's no question that according to this analysis gay people are "different..." In fact what these numbers are saying is that the average gay person has only about 30% in common with the average American. "

Yes, we inhabitants of Urania are inscrutably different than you Americans, the alignment of same-genitals being only one way in which we confound the notions and practices of actual citizens of this country.

HardTruth on October 13, 2010 at 4:43 PM

To @35's point, I would expect that college towns like Madison would have a much higher percentage of gay or bicurious population than a major city like Chicago due to the higher concentration of college students and progressives.

And any place that has soy milk is a great place in my book! But because I have dairy allergies and am vegan :)

seattlecak on October 13, 2010 at 10:14 PM

Gay Dudes Aren't Looking for Straight Dudes, Lesbians Like Drugs More than Straight Women, and Other Revelations from OkCupid

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