December 10, 2013 | Sex & Society

At least five percent of American men are gay

Researcher Seth Stephens-Davidowitz estimates that 5 percent of American men are gay.

"Using surveys, social networks, pornographic searches and dating sites, I recently studied evidence on the number of gay men," he wrote. "The data used in this analysis is available in highly aggregated form only and can be downloaded from publicly accessible sites. While none of these data sources are ideal, they combine to tell a consistent story."

The story, according to Stephens-Davidowitz, is that 5 percent of men are attracted to other men, but that the vast majority of homosexuals are still living in the closet.

This makes accurate numbers difficult to come by, he admitted. Even in anonymous surveys, many men will deny their homosexuality. And often, gay men won't share their sexuality on social media for fear of a backlash. "On Facebook, for example, about 1 percent of men in Mississippi who list a gender preference say that they are interested in men; in California, more than 3 percent do." This makes the number of gay men seem smaller than it is, he argued.

He looked at Google searches for gay porn to get a better picture. "While tolerant states have a slightly higher percentage of these searches, roughly 5 percent of pornographic searches are looking for depictions of gay men in all states." More men are into same sex activity than claim to be.

Another interesting find: "Additional evidence that suggests that many gay men in intolerant states are deeply in the closet comes from a surprising source: the Google searches of married women. It turns out that wives suspect their husbands of being gay rather frequently. In the United States, of all Google searches that begin 'Is my husband...,' the most common word to follow is 'gay.' 'Gay' is 10 percent more common in such searches than the second-place word, “cheating.” It is 8 times more common than “an alcoholic” and 10 times more common than 'depressed.'"

You can read the rest of Seth Stephens-Davidowitz' findings at the New York Times.