29% of Young Americans Are Some Degree of Bisexual

Gay, straight, or in between? When asked to place themselves on a sexuality scale, almost a third of young Americans—and nearly half of their British counterparts—consider themselves some degree of bisexual, reports polling website YouGov, which states the results indicate an "increasingly open-minded approach to sexuality." The survey of 1,000 American adults used the Kinsey Scale—developed by Albert Kinsey in the 1940s—and asked respondents to plot themselves on a scale of zero (exclusively heterosexual) to six (exclusively homosexual). Results published last week show 78% of adult Americans plotted themselves as completely heterosexual while 4% selected completely homosexual; 16% were somewhere in between (with another 2% unsure).

Those numbers change when you look at Americans between the ages of 18 and 29. A full 29% of American young people plotted themselves somewhere between one and five, essentially labeling themselves bisexual, YouGov reports. That number was even higher—43%—in a similar survey of British people between 18 and 24. Of the 78% of American adults who classified themselves as "exclusively heterosexual," YouGov found 12% still reported having at least one homosexual experience. YouGov notes "these figures are not measures of active bisexuality." Indeed, 20% of Americans in the 18-29 range say they've had a same-sex experience. (More sexuality stories.)