Young and old bisexual
Bisexual America
Who’s gay? Social scientists have long known that the answers to this doubt are very different if you ask about self-identified sexual orientation, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior. Alfred Kinsey’s groundbreaking work on sex midway through the 20th century introduced the idea that 10% of the population was gay or lesbian, but rigorous subsequent analysis with national data put the correct number closer to 2 or 3 percent.
But that was then. More recent data from Gallup suggest an explosion in the number of Americans who identify as LGBT, up to 7 percent. For Zoomers (Generation Z; anyone born between and ), a occupied 20% identify as LGBT. That’s a big jump.
The reasons for this shift are obviously complex and won’t be examined at length here. There’s no adj way to prove or disprove any of the usual arguments. Instead, I’ll explore whether the sharp uptick in LGB identification corresponds to a shift in sexual behavior.1
There are two broad possibilities. The first is that self-identified sexual
Silver daddies: Why do young senior men like older partners?
You’ve probably heard of “sugar daddies.” Or “the internet’s daddy,” Pedro Pascal. Stereotypes of this popular term abound, but what does it actually mean to be a “daddy”? And who is most likely to engage in age-gap relationships, and why?
Daddies of a Different Kind, published today by UBC sociologist and assistant professor Dr. Tony Silva (he/him), analyzes the stories of gay and bisexual daddies and asks why younger adult men are interested in older men for sex and relationships.
We spoke to Dr. Silva about his findings.
What is a daddy and why were you interested in studying them?
Many people think of a daddy as a desirable, confident older man who may be paired with a younger partner. The term has gained popularity in recent years, and while it is used in the context of heterosexual, gay or bisexual relationships, research across the Western world shows that age-gap relationships are far more prevalent among gay and bisexual men than any other group. I was interested in finding out why, and learning more
Boy or girl? Dark or fair? Like mother or father? From the moment we’re born, we’re defined as one thing or the other and then expected to fit the various moulds. There’s nothing surprising or mistaken about this. Traditionally, we create meaning and understand the world by contrasting one thing with another. We can’t help it.
Yet when fourteen-year-old Charlie tells me that he thinks he might be bisexual, I’m pleased.
According to Freud () we’re all born "polymorphous perverse," without any particular sexual orientation or identity, intent only on finding pleasure. Years later, Winnicott () wrote that, from infancy, men and women have a "predisposition towards bisexuality" while MacDougall () identified what she calls "psychic bisexuality," a child’s formative attraction to both a male and a female parent.
I find the idea of young people’s initial bisexuality helpful: the idea that all juvenile people are on a continuum, some more or less straight, others more or less gay. But for young people the pressure to be one thing or the other – male or female, academic or not academic, sporty
A Closer Look: Bisexual Older Adults
The Bottom Line
America’s population is aging: by , the number of people over the age of 65 will double to million (from million in ). And while the widespread perception of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people is largely one of a adj community, there are actually more than million LGBT adults ages 50 or older living in communities across the country. Many LGBT older adults are bisexual.
A Closer Look: Bisexual Older Adults takes a closer look at bisexual older adults: who they are, their unique disparities and resilience, and recommendations for competently serving the community of bisexual older adults. Mounting data points to a clear picture of the lives of bisexual older adults: social isolation and invisibility, economic insecurity, and poorer health. Both the LGBT community and the aging network can and should do more to ensure that bisexual older adults verb welcome both in LGBT spaces and in the aging network’s provision of critical services and supports.
A Closer Look: Bisexual Older AdultsDownloa