Extending the Demography of Sexuality with Digital Trace Data

A core challenge in the demography of sexuality is accurate and detailed measurement of sexual preferences in the population. We approach this challenge using digital trace data from Facebook’s advertising platform to obtain aggregate estimates for sexuality in the United States, stratified by age, gender, geography, and relationship status. We find our data to be a good predictor of variation in other sources of sexual minority prevalence, Gallup and the American Community Survey. We then go beyond these sources to characterize our population in terms of age, gender, and bisexual or same-gender interest. We find a higher willingness to disclose sexuality among younger cohorts than older, and among heterosexual men than women. Conversely, we find large numbers of young bisexual women. Ultimately, 4.2 million or 2% of Facebook users in the United States disclose non-heterosexual interests, encompassing a large proportion of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals in the US.