In the comment section of the post on cross-national correlation between IQ and divorce, reader An Unmarried Man claims that conservatives live secretly perverted lives. (I'm not sure if he is applauding or criticizing us.) You hear this often enough, but evidence is rarely, if ever, cited. The General Social Survey asks two questions (that I know of) about behavior that at least some people would call perverted--consumption of online pornography and homosexual sex.
Percent using pornographic site in last month--males
Extremely liberal 31.2
Liberal 30.2
Slightly liberal 41.7
Moderate 24.6
Slightly conservative 22.2
Conservative 17.8
Extremely conservative 18.2
Percent using pornographic site in last month--females
Extremely liberal 17.6
Liberal 8.1
Slightly liberal 3.3
Moderate 4.2
Slightly conservative 3.4
Conservative 3.8
Extremely conservative 0.0
Percent who have had same sex partners in past year--males
Extremely liberal 12.0
Liberal 7.9
Slightly liberal 4.5
Moderate 3.3
Slightly conservative 2.2
Conservative 1.5
Extremely conservative 1.4
Percent who have had same sex partners in past year--females
Extremely liberal 12.1
Liberal 5.1
Slightly liberal 2.8
Moderate 1.8
Slightly conservative 2.2
Conservative 1.5
Extremely conservative 2.0
In the study The Social Organization of Sexuality, the group that most frequently practices anal sex is Hispanics--70 percent of whom are Democrats.
Are gun owners mentally ill?
Some anti-gun people think owning a gun is a sign of some kind of mental abnormality. According to General Social Survey data, gun owners ...
@bgeorge77:
ReplyDeleteExactly my thought. This is running with the assumption that the GSS responders are honest about such things, and I can see why ultra-conservatives would have a reason not to be...
@JayMan --
ReplyDeleteUsing Steve Sailer's technique, you can track HIV infection to see if all those conservative flyover areas of the country are secretly doing that-which-shall-no-be-named.
Um, nope. HIV is concentrated pretty much where you would expect it, in our ultra-liberal cities.
bgeorge77 -> "But how can you tell who is lying?"
ReplyDeleteConservatives are more likely to be religious. Also, it is well informed that liberals have a tendency to explore new areas.
These figures are trustful.
Ultra libs are the most likely to lie.
ReplyDelete@Dan:
ReplyDeleteHIV is concentrated pretty much where you would expect it, in our ultra-liberal cities.
That, by itself, doesn't prove anything, because the infection rate is a function of not only sexual practices, but the disease load in the population as well. The disease load is higher in cities, so the infection rate would be higher even if sexual practices were the same as in conservative districts.
Conservatives are more likely to be religious. Also, it is well informed that liberals have a tendency to explore new areas.
ReplyDeleteThese figures are trustful.
They are plausible. That's not necessarily the same as trustworthy. Even if the pattern is real (which it probably is), the degree may not be.
Hmmm, good point...
ReplyDeleteI think the argument was less that liberals don't do porno and gay sex--they don't find the second morally objectionable and only some of them (feminists) find the first objectionable.
The argument is that red states have more out-of-wedlock births, etc., perhaps due to a lack of sex education and contraceptive/abortion availability. Of course, if you're pro-life, murder is a worse sin than premarital sex...
@SFG:
ReplyDeleteExcept states are not people, and it doesn't follow that if a "red state" has a higher rate of out-of-wedlock births, it's the "conservatives" who are contributing to it.
(Red states have lower per capita incomes, and vote for Republicans... but poor voters in those states vote for Democrats, etc.)
"The disease load is higher in cities, so the infection rate would be higher even if sexual practices were the same as in conservative districts."
ReplyDeleteGee I wonder how the disease load got to be so high in those places? Because HIV isn't spread by casual contact. Those liberal urbanites must be doing something with large numbers of different people that the country conservatives aren't. What could they be doing? This is a mystery that I as a conservative am not able to penetrate. I cannot even begin to delve into the dark and fetid depths of this puzzle. Jayman, if you have probed into this enigma, maybe you can explain it to me.
@Dan:
ReplyDelete"Gee I wonder how the disease load got to be so high in those places? Because HIV isn't spread by casual contact."
It could mean several things, aside from the obvious. One of course is sexual behavior being more risky in the past. While it's likely to remain that way, typical sexual behavior could have evened out between two groups, but the one with the higher disease load will have a higher infection rate.
The other, and probably more likely reason—at least with respect to HIV, is the presence of male homosexuals. Liberal cities have a higher concentration of gays, and hence, will have higher rates of HIV infection.
The presence of NAMs also likely contributes.
"In the study The Social Organization of Sexuality, the group that most frequently practices anal sex is Hispanics--70 percent of whom are Democrats."
ReplyDeleteI thought that would have been the greeks.
But how can you tell who is lying?
ReplyDeleteYou could ask that of almost all the questions on the GSS.
Perhaps conservatives are reporting lower numbers for, say, pornography because they are ashamed or hate pornography yet are addicted etc
Perhaps there is a race of intelligent aliens living on Titan who don't want us to find them.
The argument is that red states have more out-of-wedlock births
ReplyDeleteThat's a really dumb argument.
in the study The Social Organization of Sexuality, the group that most frequently practices anal sex is Hispanics--70 percent of whom are Democrats.
ReplyDeleteBuy hey - perhaps they're lying!
Red states are full of blacks and illegal immigrants. These populations pull down the numbers of chaste, virgin women and make them look bad. Take them away and red states actually have lower rates of it.
ReplyDelete"Perhaps conservatives are reporting lower numbers for, say, pornography because they are ashamed or hate pornography yet are addicted etc"
ReplyDeletePeople tend to try to live the lives they profess to believe in. They never do so perfectly, of course, but they try. This does not include politicians, who are all full of shit, but my general impression is that even Dem politicians are more likely to cheat on their wives than Republican ones.