Survey shows more same-sex attracted
According to new research, fewer than seven out of 10 Australians consider themselves to be completely heterosexual and heterosexual men are beginning to embrace the anal orgasm.
The 2011/2012 Great Australian Sex Census, an initiative of the Australian Sex Party, the Eros Association, Sexpo and adult dating website RedHotPie.com.au, surveyed 15,000 Australians. Only
68.8 percent of respondents were exclusively heterosexual in their attractions.
Just over 6 percent of men identified as homosexual, 12.1 percent as bisexual and 13.1 percent as bi-curious.
Of the women surveyed, 2.3 percent identified as lesbian, 20.6 percent as bisexual, and 17.2 percent as bi-curious.
Almost 18 percent of male respondents reported enjoying receiving anal sex while another 15.4 percent were curious about receiving anal sex.
Australian sexologist Dr Nikki Goldstein told the Star Observer the results did not surprise her.
鈥淚t seems to be a trend that鈥檚 taken off after US writer Dan Savage wrote a column asking readers what the act where a straight woman penetrates a straight man anally should be called, and they came up with the word 鈥榩egging鈥�, so it got a lot of publicity,鈥� Goldstein said.
鈥淚 think that normalised it for a lot of people. There鈥檚 now a lot of curiosity in Australian men about looking at penetration as a specific sexual act, as opposed to being linked with a particular sexual identity.
鈥淗owever, there is still a really strong stigma about any kind of anal play that鈥檚 classified as gay, which is a real shame because anal play can be really enjoyable for both men and women.鈥�
Goldstein said a rise in people having anal sex pointed to a need to add information about it into sex education.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 understand why that isn鈥檛 taught in the mainstream,鈥� she said.
鈥淭here are a lot of people out there having really uncomfortable experiences with it because of a lack of education on the specifics on how you have anal sex.
鈥淚f someone wants to have anal sex, that鈥檚 their choice, but we should at least be telling them the facts, the anatomy and how the body works.鈥�
The survey also found widespread support for LGBTI people having the same rights as other Australians, with 58.3 percent supporting same-sex marriage, 59.8 percent supporting the right of same-sex couples to adopt and 57 percent supporting lesbian couples鈥� access to reproductive technologies.
But the point is Stuart, where does homophobia come from and how can it be challenged.
People aren’t born with homophobic ideas, they are propagated by particular sections of society, namely the Govt and certain religious institutions.
The gay marriage campaign is a great example of how easily these ideas can be shifted, with approx 35% support for gay marriage before the campaign, and now that level sits at 65% consistently.
Challenging homophobia and also gender norms (as fighting for gay marriage does) helps mitigate the social pressures/constructs around sexuality.
At the end of the day, facts and figures don’t count. Intolerance towards homosexuality remains very high, as is evidenced by continuing abuse towards gay people in the workplace.