Survey Slashes Stereotypes

One way of looking at the struggle over the MCPS sex-ed curriculum is to note that one side is trying to perpetuate a stereotype of gays and lesbians, while the other side is trying to move beyond it. With that in mind, we may learn something from a recent survey.

The Chicago Tribune has it this time:

SAN JOSE, Calif. - To judge from the images on network television and corporate advertising, lesbians and gay men share the same demographic niche: affluent, educated, urban -- and usually white.

Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong, says a new national demographic study that suggests lesbians and gays are more likely to be older, "responsible" suburbanites sharing a mortgage payment and listening to country music than young turks partying in the Castro or Chelsea.

"We wanted to bust some stereotypes," said David Morse, president and chief executive of New American Dimensions, a Los Angeles market research company that joined forces with San Francisco-based Asterix Group, a brand strategy firm, in an attempt to paint a more nuanced portrait of the nation's gays and lesbians.

Some findings surprised even the researchers:

African-Americans and Latinos were more comfortable expressing their gay identity than whites, although their gay identity was not the most important part of who they are. And, while whites were more likely to be in live-together relationships than Latinos or blacks, they were less likely to include children in their family plans.

Gays and lesbians are increasingly open and honest about their sexuality. Two-thirds agreed with the statement, "Everyone knows I'm gay."

A majority of lesbians and gay men live outside big cities, with about one-third of lesbians and one-quarter of gay men living in small towns or rural areas.

The average age people realized their sexual orientation was 15, but it was younger for men than for women. Gays, lesbians far more diverse than media portrays, study finds

This is great. A whole bunch of stereotypes are blown away in this survey, which by the way you can read HERE.

Corporate America frequently stumbles when it attempts to sell its products to gays, the study's authors say. They blamed a one-size-fits-all marketing approach.

"It would be wrong for marketers to think that this was a rich and white, male, partying group," said Christine Lehtonen, president of Asterix.

BTW, I'd like to use this opportunity to introduce some cognitive dissonance by pointing out that this survey exists so that businesses can exploit the gay market more effectively. Capitalists want to sell stuff, gay people buy stuff, it is in the interest of the business to understand what kind of consumers they are and what kind of stuff they'd like to buy. This is your free enterprise system at work.

The study was based on more than 900 in-person and online surveys conducted across the country in June. While survey respondents were predominantly white, nearly one in five were black, Latino or Asian. An equal number of men and women responded.

The diversity the researchers found mirrors what demographers using U.S. Census Bureau and other demographic data have reported about the nation's gay and lesbian population. But it doesn't reflect the stereotypes -- wealthy, urban and white -- that continue to be broadcast in advertising and TV shows, said Gary Gates, a demographer at the Williams Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles school who specializes in America.

"Gay men actually make less money than other men. And every time I say that, people say, 'What?'" Gates said. " This stereotype of gay men being really wealthy -- the whole ' Will and Grace' kind of stereotype -- it's just absolutely not true."

While gay or lesbian characters are no longer a novelty on TV, gay characters remain predominantly white. There is only one regular gay minority character on broadcast TV in the 2007-08 prime-time schedule, a recent survey by Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation found.

The New American Dimensions/Asterix study also looked at how lesbians and gays reacted to TV and print advertising, and studied brand loyalties to cars and other products. Among the winners: Subaru, Budweiser and Yahoo, which was favored by a nearly 2-1 ratio over Google.

Gay people use Yahoo for Internet searches, over Google? Wow, I didn't see that one coming.

The study classified about 12 percent of the study's respondents as "closeted." They were more likely to be single, older, live in small towns, read Reader's Digest and People magazine, and drive a Chevrolet. Only about one in five say their sexual orientation is an important part of their identity.

At the other end of the study's spectrum were the "super gays," who were almost universally open about their sexual orientation, and tended to be highly educated, affluent, be in couples, live in large cities and listen to classical music.

But while highly visible groups like the "super gays" tend to set the image of what gay life is like in America, Morse said they represent a minority of the entire community. "Sixty percent of this market is to a certain extent invisible," he said.

Lehtonen said although the study found a great amount of diversity among the segments, some of the stereotypical divides didn't appear.

"I expected to find more differences by gender, male and female," she said. "And primarily, there weren't a ton of differences."

Gates said the New American Dimensions/Asterix Group study differs from other marketing studies, in that there was not a primary focus on the white, male, affluent demographic.

"I do think," Gates said, "this appears to present the gay community in a way that's somewhat different and unique, in that it's focusing a little more intentionally on a broader gay demographic, and arguing that there isn't in some respects 'a gay demographic.'"

This kind of information is very useful. Turns out some gay people did not have a member in the Village People. Shocking.