Last Friday, the Census Bureau released its 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States, an annual report chock full of pages upon pages of tiny numbers that map out life in the U.S.A. today. For the first time, same-sex sexual contacts are reported, and the verdict is official (for now): Women are more likely to have same-sex sexual encounters than are men — or at least they’re more likely to admit to them. Here are the actual numbers:
- 11.2% of women say they’ve had “any same-sex sexual contact,” in comparison to 6% of men.
- Lesbians are more likely than gay men to stick with one partner: Among women 15-44 years of age, 1.1% have had one partner of the same sex in the last 12 months; in comparison, 0.7% of men say they’ve had one partner of the same sex in the last 12 months.
- Gay men have more sexual partners than lesbians (big surprise): More men (0.9%) say they’ve had two or more partners in the last 12 months than women (0.2%).
- But women are more likely to be bisexual: 3.1% have had two or more partners of both sexes, whereas only 1% of men report the same.
- 19.9% read a book two or more times per week
- 18.2% surf the web two or more times per week
- 31.6% own cats as pets (on average, 2.1 cats), whereas 36.1% own dogs (on average, 1.6 dogs)
- 47% of adults use the internet to sent instant messages
- 27% go online to read someone else’s blog
- 9% of adults create their own blog
