2.3% of U.S. Men in Survey Report Homosexual Acts

A comprehensive new survey of the sexual behavior and attitudes of American men in their 20s and 30s has found that just 2.3%--far less than the 10% figure usually cited--say they have ever had sex with another man, and that 1.1% report being exclusively homosexual.

The figures in the federally funded study, released Wednesday by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, are far less than the 10% homosexuality figure commonly attributed to the landmark Kinsey report published in 1948.

The new survey also found:

* The median number of female sex partners the men said they had ever had was 7.3. Slightly more than 23% said they have had 20 or more partners, and 28% said they had one, two or three. Only 4.6% said they had never had vaginal intercourse.

* Three-quarters of the men agree with the statement that using a condom “shows you are a caring person,” whereas 15% say it “makes your partner think you have AIDS.”

* About one-quarter of the men said they had used a condom in the four weeks before the interview. Black men were more likely to report using condoms (38%) than were white men (25%).

The findings, published in the journal Family Planning Perspectives, are among hundreds obtained in one of the largest studies of male sexual behavior ever undertaken.

The researchers got a $1.8-million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to conduct the survey in an effort to find ways to encourage condom use and stop the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Although the survey’s finding of homosexual behavior among 1% to 2% of respondents is at variance with the popularly repeated figure of 10%, it agrees with several previous surveys in this country, Britain and France.

Robert Bray, a spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said nobody really knows how many homosexuals there are, but he challenged the study’s figures as too low. Bray said many gay men are reluctant to identify themselves as homosexual to interviewers.

Among other findings from the survey:

* Although the median number of female sex partners was 7.3 for all men in this age group, it was lowest among married men (5.3) and highest among the formerly married (14.7). Among men who have never married, who tend to be younger, it was 8.1.

* The men surveyed reported having vaginal intercourse an average of about once a week; but 22.5% say they have such sex 10 or more times a week.