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Essay on Married Men, Having Sex With Men
A large number of men who engage in homosexual behavior are, or have been, married. The distribution by marital status is calculated by applying the rates given in the 1970 Kinsey survey and the 1988 NORC survey to the number of males in each category, as given in the Statistical Abstract for the relevant years. In both years a majority of those who reported having sex with men were currently married. Harry's 1988 survey found that 42% of those who described themselves as sexually attracted to men were married.
In Bell and Weinberg's San Francisco study (1978), conducted in 1970, only 20% of those surveyed reported that they were, or ever had been, married. This discrepancy indicates that married homosexuals are much less likely to be involved in the gay community, or to define themselves as gay. Bearing in mind that the gay population is only a subcategory of those who engage in homosexual behavior, what is known of their fertility? Only a small minority (about 10%) are fathers. This is a result of two factors: few gay men marry and only about half of those who marry have children.
It is clear that men who engage in homosexuality vary in the extent, duration, and timing of such activity. Ethnographic accounts suggest five types, and most individuals can be placed in at least one of them. The typology is based upon an individual's life history and is, therefore, retrospective in nature. In terms of Kinsey's scale of sexual preferences, types I and II would be 5 or 6 (with a strong preference for male sexual partners). Type III would rate 3 or 4 on the scale, (equally attracted to both men and women), while types IV and V would be 1 or......
