Intersections between Sexual Identity, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Behavior among a Nationally Representative Sample of American Men and Women

Abstract

Social scientists struggle on how to best operationalize and measure sexual orientation. Depending on the survey, researchers can use self-reports of lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) identity, same-sex partner cohabitation, same-sex sexual attraction, or same-sex sexual behavior. All measures come with their own limitations. To illuminate differences in these measures, this study examines the intersections between self-reported sexual identity, attraction, and behavior among a nationally representative sample of US men and women aged 15 -45. I explore how and when the three measures align, examine the determinants of self-identifying as gay or bisexual based on sexual behavior and attraction, and assess gender differences in the patterns. I find that about 20% of women and 10% of men aged 15 -45 would comprise the LGB community if it were defined to include those who report at least one of the following: gay or bisexual identity, any same-sex attraction, or same-sex sex in the last year. This is much higher than the 6.4% of women and 3.6% of men aged 15 -45 who selfidentify as LGB. I conclude with recommendations that can aid in measurement of the LGB population, and discuss implications for using certain measures over others when conducting research on the LGB community.

Understanding Sexual Orientation Identity, Sexual/Romantic Attraction, and Sexual Behavior beyond Western Societies: The Case of Japan

“…Much like measuring other sexualities (Mishel 2019), these results indicate that the prevalence of asexual population depends on the definition of asexuality, such as absence of sexual attraction and asexual identity (Hinderliter 2009), or absence of sexual and romantic attraction, which has been historically used in the Japanese asexual community. Also, the findings indicate that when assessing sexual/romantic attraction, it is important to specify the appropriate time span as using lifetime sexual/romantic attraction and using recent sexual/romantic attraction yield different results.…”

“…they do not report same-sex behavior or same-sex orientation identity such as homosexual and bisexual), while almost all of those who report same-sex orientation identity indicate that they also have same-sex desire and/or behavior (Laumann et al 1994). Also, a recent study shows that about 20% of women and 10% of men indicate some form of same-sex sexuality, while 6.4% of women and 3.6% of men identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual among U.S. women and men aged 15-45 (Mishel 2019).…”

“…To measure multiple aspects of sexual orientation, (1) sexual orientation identity, (2) sexual attraction, (3) romantic attraction, and (4) sexual behavior were asked in the survey. Unlike previous studies that focus on sexual orientation identity, sexual attraction, and sexual behavior (Laumann et al 1994;Mishel 2019), our measures of sexual orientation include romantic attraction as an additional dimension of sexual orientation because community-based surveys on sexual and gender minorities in Japan have typically used romantic attraction as the indicator of sexual orientation (Nijiiro Diversity and the Center for Gender Studies at International Christian University 2020). Similarly, marketing surveys on sexual and gender minority issues in Japan often define sexual orientation as "the gender of people you are attracted to" (Dentsu 2019) 7 .…”

“…However, almost all of the existing studies exploring the concordance of sexual orientation identity, sexual attraction, and sexual behavior currently use data from North American and Western European countries such as the United States (Mishel 2019) and the United Kingdom (Geary et al 2018). These societies have distinct histories of sexuality compared to societies with non-Western traditions such as Japan.…”

Constructing a queer population? Asking about sexual orientation in Scotland’s 2022 census

“…There are many approaches to the collection of data about sexual orientation. Geary et al (2018) and Mishel (2019) have noted how the concept of sexual orientation is an umbrella term for different dimensions including sexual identity, attraction and behaviour, described as:…”