Suicidal Gender Divide: An Internet Survey Suggests That Lesbians and Bisexual Women Engage in Riskier Behaviors Than Their Male Counterparts-But Is It Bad Science? (Society)

Howey, Noelle, The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine)

The dangers faced by America's gay and lesbian youth--such as unsafe sex practices, rampant drug use, and suicidal tendencies--have been copiously documented in countless studies since 1989, when the Department of Health and Human Services first reported that gay young people were two to three times more likely than straight ones to try to kill themselves.

Some of the numbers cited in this research--particularly the disturbing statistic that gays and lesbians represent 30% of all youth suicides--have been reprinted in so many hundreds of articles and fact sheets that they have achieved the level of conventional wisdom. And while the far right has appropriated such stats to "prove" that being gay is inherently pathological, gay rights advocates have used them to show the need for more education and social services specifically targeted at gay and lesbian youths.

Now another study is tackling the issue, with even more surprising results--positing not only that gay youths are more likely to engage in drug use and unsafe sex and to attempt suicide but that, contrary to …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Suicidal Gender Divide: An Internet Survey Suggests That Lesbians and Bisexual Women Engage in Riskier Behaviors Than Their Male Counterparts-But Is It Bad Science? (Society). Contributors: Howey, Noelle - Author. Magazine title: The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine). Publication date: February 18, 2003. Page number: 22+. © 2008 Regent Media. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

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