Gay Promiscuity Statistics
Are gay men promiscuous? To answer this question properly, I have extracted data from different representative sample studies in three countries. This created an accurate set of statistics on the number of sexual partners homosexual men had per year and in a lifetime.
To my knowledge, these are the best data sets available. I often see people referring to distorted surveys which use convenience samples of men on dating apps, men at bars, or even men and prostitutes who attended sex clubs in the 1970’s. On the other hand, a representative sample like the ones I refer to will capture an accurate snapshot of all gay men, including the promiscuous and non-promiscuous ones.
In summary: the median number of lifetime sexual partners for homosexuals fell between 10 and 22 sexual partners when accounting for all three survey-studies. Approximately 50% of gay men had just 0 or 1 sexual partner per year across all three studies. A minority of gay men had most of the sex.
Gay promiscuity statistics from the USA
From the General Social Survey between 2008–2018 (12,000 people)
The University of Chicago’s GSS provides a great dataset on sexual partners because it’s collected every two years from thousands of Americans across the country — all weighted for city, location, age and so on.
The definition of sexual partner in the G.S.S. is generally defined as oral, penetrative or simply ‘sexual experience’ such as mutual touching.
As you can see, about half of gay men have had 10 or less sexual partners in their life. I also tested for correlation between age and number of sexual partners and it came up with a very weak association. This means there are many gay men who don’t have many sexual partners through their whole life (i.e. many men in the first column are both young and old). Other men seem to have a lot of sexual partners, with 27% having more than 30. I further analyzed the 10% who had more than 100:
Breaking down the men who had more than 100 sexual partners was for interests sake. Just 1.9% had more than 400 sexual partners. About 1% had more than 500 partners, and the percent gets smaller and smaller the higher the ‘body count’.
Gay promiscuity statistics from the United Kingdom
From the NATSAL 2013 (20,000 people) conducted by various universities
The next great dataset comes from the third NATSAL study, which surveyed over 15,000 people representative of the British population. I’ve only included number of sexual partners in the previous year since I couldn’t get good access to the data. However the ‘typical’ (median) number of lifetime sexual partners was 19.
Roughly 50% of gay men had 0 or 1 sexual partner, and a smaller minority had 10 or more sexual partners. This matches up with previous research showing that a minority of gay men have most of the sex.
The definition of ‘sexual partner’ was a little unclear in this dataset. At one point it says it may include any sexual experience, but another part in the documentation says this is oral/penetrative.
Gay promiscuity statistics from Australia
From the ASHR 2012 (25,000 people) conducted by various universities
The Australian ASHR dataset is less useful because it qualified a sexual partner as any experience deemed sexual — even kissing or hugging. So a kiss in a bar is just added on. Again, this is the number of sexual partners in the previous year, however they published that the ‘typical’ (median) number of lifetime sexual partners was 22 (probably higher, in part, due to a broad definition of sexual partner).
Insights from the studies
First, across all three studies about half of gay men consistently fell into the 0 or 1 sexual partner in the previous year. It’s likely that quite a few of these men are in relationships.
In a lifetime, homosexuals typically had between 10 and 22 sexual partners when accounting for all three survey-studies.
The studies also highlighted that most of the time a ‘sexual partner’ did not equate to penetrative sex. According to the the ASHR; roughly 70% of the activity was oral, 20% was penetrative sex and 10% was mutual masturbation.
It’s likely that the promiscuity stereotype emerges from the minority of gay men who have a significant amount of sex. It’s probable that highly sexually active men are more prone to boast, whereas more reserved gay men have less interest in telling the world about their sex life. In my opinion, the majority of gay men are not ‘promiscuous’, but at the extreme end they are and have much more accessibility to sex due to the sex drive of two men (and the absence of women) – but that’s entirely subjective. It’s likely that more reserved gay men feel more comfortable to come out of the closet nowadays, and their answers are being captured in research.
Perhaps these statistics surprised you, changed your beliefs or simply affirmed what you were already thinking. Just remember, any time you see a study on sexual behavior make sure to check that it relied upon a representative sample before you draw any conclusions.
Sources
- The General Social Survey by NORC at the University of Chicago. The data I accessed was from between 2008 and 2018. It’s accessible on the GSS data analyzer here, however you will need to create an account.
- Australian ASHR 2012, specific paper on homosexuals is found here:
Grulich et al. (2014). Homosexual experience and recent homosexual encounters: the Second Australian Study of Health and Relationships. Sexual Health. 11. 439–50. 10.1071/SH14122. - NATSAL-3 2013, specific paper on homosexuals is found here:
Mercer, C.H., Prah, P., Field, N. et al. The health and well-being of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Britain: Evidence from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3). BMC Public Health 16, 525 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3149-z
