From: kane@buast7.bu.edu (Hot Young Star)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,ca.politics,ba.politics
Subject: Myths about Promiscuity
Date: 8 Oct 92 22:53:55 GMT
Followup-To: talk.politics.misc
Organization: Astronomy Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Originator: kane@buast7.bu.edu

>From Clayton Cramer:
>Message-ID: <12605@optilink.UUCP>
>Date: 5 Oct 92 16:00:28 GMT

Reference:
>William H. Masters, Virginia E. Johnson, and Robert C. Kolodny,
>_Human Sexuality_, 4th ed., (New York, HarperCollins Publishers Inc.:
>1992).  Masters & Johnson, of course, are too well-known in the field
>of sex research to require introduction.

>Promiscuity

>Of course, the resemblance to the gay bath house, sex club,
>gay bar scene, and public restroom activities of homosexuals
>should be obvious.  How typical are these stereotypical behaviors?
>Masters, Johnson, and Kolodny include a table titled, "Sexual
>Partners Among Homosexuals."  The results of the survey are
>fascinating, and nicely dovetail with reading soc.motss:

>White  Black
>N=574  N=111

>Lifetime number of homosexual partners  
		     White  Black  Total
		     N=574  N=111  N=685
1                      0%      0%     0%
2                      0       0      0
3-4                    1       2      1
5-9                    2       4      2
10-14                  3       5      3
15-24                  3       6      3
25-49                  8       6      8
50-99                  9      18     10
100-249               15      15     15 
250-499               17      11     16 
500-999               15      14     15 
1000 or more          28      19     27 

>Read this chart carefully.  More than half of the white male
>homosexuals had 250 or more lifetime homosexual partners, as did
>44% of the black male homosexuals. 

For the total numbers (which I've added), the weighted mean number
of lifetime partners is 452.

>Just like the rest of us?
>How many heterosexuals do you know that have 250 different
>sexual partners in one lifetime?  How many do you know with 1000
>or more?

To find an answer, look at Masters, Johnson, and Kolodny's "CRISIS:
Heterosexual Behavior in the Age of AIDS", 1988.

pp 8-9: The authors surveyed 800 heterosexual adults with no homosexual
        experience for the years 1977 through 1986. Of the 800, 400 are
        monogamous (200 male, 200 female), and 400 (200 male, 200 female)
        reported more than one sexual partner.

	"The average annual number of sex partners in the non-monogamous
		     ^^^^^^
	 group was 11.5 for women and 9.8 for men."
		   ^^^^		      ^^^

Over the 9 years of this study, which is certainly less than a
"lifetime", then the men averaged 90 partners, the women, 100.
				  ^^			  ^^^

If we consider an average lifetime sexually active period to be 50
years, then the men have an average number of partners around 500.
							      ^^^

This is comparable to the 452 lifetime partners for gay men.
			  ^^^
(Sorry, I coudn't find the number of years counted in the homosexual
survey)

Another survey by Masters, Johnson, and Kolodny, reported on p. 125 of
the same book, allows derivation of the average annual number of sexual
partners for 200 homosexual men living in the northeast, as 22. This gives
							    ^^
some indication of how homosexual men compare to non-married heterosexual
men, who have an average of 10 partners per year.
			    ^^

So the promiscuity rate is more comparable than first thought. Homosexuals
appear to be approximately twice as promiscuous as straight men. This may
have something to do with the relationship dynamic difference between women
and men as opposed to men and other men, or it may be due to external social
condemnation and its destabilizing effect on a relationship. (That according
to my straight friend who is a sex therapist.)

Brian
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
kane@{buast7,astro}.bu.edu (Hot Young Star) Astronomy Dept, Boston University,
Boston, MA 02215. True personal salvation is achieved by absolute faith in
ones true self.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Xref: sparky talk.politics.misc:50577 alt.politics.perot:1931 alt.politics.elections:15870