Age and sexual culture among homosexually oriented males

It is here argued that the thesis has been overgeneralized that the culture of homosexually oriented males is heavily youth oriented. It is suggested that any "youth orientedness" is due to their largely single "marital status" rather than to sexual orientation. Utilizing data from 243 males from the Detroit area, several qualifications to the thesis of youth orientedness are indicated. It was found that a majority of males aged 18-24 prefer a male partner who is older, a majority of those aged 25-34 years prefer a same-age person, and 50% of theose over 35 prefer a younger partner. These relationships were found to be especially strong among those segments of the sample who attend gay bars infrequently or who are of lower occupational levels. Also, higher occupational status was found to be associated with preference for the younger, independent of age. It is suggested that, because of the heterogeneity of the male homosexual community, the degree of emphasis of youth will be found to vary with social setting.