This is really fascinating. Some of it surprises me, but most of it doesn't.
I have to fess up. I did have the impression that gay men tend to be on the promiscuous side. But according to the stats from OK Cupid, it isn't true. There's a tiny minority of gay men who account for almost a quarter of gay male sex reported.
Now I feel like a s**thead for buying into the same stereotypes that I get so irked about myself.
Granted, the results here are skewed by being limited to people on OK Cupid. But I don't know in which direction they're skewed.
I am, however, extremely disturbed by the "which is bigger: the sun or the earth" question. The idea that 5% of men and 10% of women answered it wrong makes me want to scream. I mean, I sometimes see the Jaywalking segment on Leno, and that's just as bad. The depths of ignorance make me weep for the human race.
The personality traits and interests matrices were also a little depressing.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Sadly I can't access the link from work due to our content blockers. What was the study and the results?
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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"Religion is the opiate of the masses, so long as the masses are straight. However, amass a bunch of lesbians and you're going to need actual drugs."
quote: Granted, the results here are skewed by being limited to people on OK Cupid. But I don't know in which direction they're skewed.
Since the "median reported sex partners" is the same for all four major groups, it points to a possible correlation between number of sex partners and people who use OkCupid. Doesn't seem to have much to do with sex or sexuality.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I think they might not be using the data correctly, or at least they are using the data to prove things that really are not related. Like their claim that gay people are not sexually interested in straight people simply because when they searched for a date they did not search for straight people. I don't think that logic follows nor do I believe that gay people would not find straight people attractive or be sexually interested in them. This doesn't mean gay people are out sexually harrassing straight people, but I don't think it proves what they say it proves either.
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I think it is fairly interesting how many stereotypes DO match up with their data. Hardly a rousing confirmation of anything, but a very interesting data set.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Yea im not certain that this report can make legitamate claims. If this assuming that people who would use this service are hoping to be successful (whether its for sex or for relationships) it would be highly counter-intuitive to search and contact somone of a different orientation than what you are looking for.
Not to mention that they went through a vast number of views, 4 million. Unless this is all the profile views they have ever had, even a few % can lead to a lot of actual views. Also unless i missed it it doesnt tell you what % of their customers are gay. If a very small number of customers are homosexual then even a small number of views can lead to a relativly large amount of gay people looking at straight people.
I also feel that certain titles are a bit misleading "Straight people have gay sex too" indicates that straight people engage in homosexual acts often. The answer to "have you ever had a sexual encounter with someone of the same sex?" can be as little as 1. I think its misleading to say that they have gay sex.
I'm not suprised about the Gay curious map. I would think the deep south would be a very uninviting place for a homosexual to live.
Wheras i have little love for politicians, i think if this is an attempt to make people feel better about homosexuals that making an offhand comment like that might be a little counterproductive. Maybe not though, maybe they could do a study about how much both gay or straight people hate politicians or something...
Im very uncertain what the question about the sun vs. earth has anything to do with well.... anything... other than the women at OKC might have a better sense of humor. I mean who doesnt read questions like that and not want to answer it wrong on purpos occasionally?
The personality trait graph is pretty interesting though. Im not really sure what type of conclusions can be drawn from that sort of data.
Gathering their data by searching the self-describing paragraph of their members might also not be an accurate way to judge these traits. They remarked how suprised they were that the stereotypes seem to match. It could very well be that people wrote that part because they assumed it is what is expected of them. If i'm gay and hope to attract a mate then i might put "artsy" or that i like purple because that, in my mind, might be what another gay person was looking for.
Also, something like the color purple has been a symbol for gay pride. It could be something they like because it is symbolic to them rather than because they deeply like the color.
Im not sure that their claim of having "unparalleled insight into sex and relationships" is true. But the article does seem to have a very political tone to it.
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When they said "The Color Purple", my assumption was that they were referring to the Book/Movie not the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Much of this is believable, but I can't see how the study could possibly constitute good evidence of how the population as a whole behaves.
There's got to be a massive self-selection effect. I suspect that the sexual behavior of the average internet dating service user is significantly different from that of the average human being in their demographic.
Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: When they said "The Color Purple", my assumption was that they were referring to the Book/Movie not the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum.
I have no idea why that didnt pop into my mind first....
Posts: 467 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:I am, however, extremely disturbed by the "which is bigger: the sun or the earth" question. The idea that 5% of men and 10% of women answered it wrong makes me want to scream. I mean, I sometimes see the Jaywalking segment on Leno, and that's just as bad. The depths of ignorance make me weep for the human race.
Haha, I considered answering "the earth" as a joke. Hopefully that explains some of that 5-10%.
Posts: 241 | Registered: Nov 2009
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quote:Originally posted by Destineer: Much of this is believable, but I can't see how the study could possibly constitute good evidence of how the population as a whole behaves.
There's got to be a massive self-selection effect. I suspect that the sexual behavior of the average internet dating service user is significantly different from that of the average human being in their demographic.
As a friend of mine also pointed out, the different dating sites can be expected to have quite different demographics. OKCupid is one of the classier sites (among those focused on casual dating, rather than arranging marriages).
Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Actually, I briefly considered answering "the earth" as a joke when I took the quiz. In my comments on that question, I muse, "I wonder how many people were simply unable to resist being contrarian on such an obvious question of fact. I nearly was, myself, but then found myself doubting that being contrary is in fact the same thing as being quirky or amusing."
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