The largest survey of the EA / Eunuch community as a whole was originally summarized in the following thread. As is typical of academic publishing, press dates are often significantly later than the research is conducted. I understand there are several articles in press based upon this data.
http://www.eunuch.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=7464
What is your sexual orientation?
Heterosexual (straight) - 28 %
Homosexual (Gay / Lesbian) - 33 %
Bisexual - 32. %
Asexual - 4 %
Other - 2%
Excerpted from email discussions with the principal authors regarding the above survey / study:
One very significant element is the very large proportion of gay respondents. Given the over-all membership of the EA, I am willing to make the presumption that the sample reflected our overall population, based upon profile reports. It leaves me to wonder though, and perhaps speculate a bit as to why this would be the case, even beyond "guilt" or "risk" factors.
The questions were not so probing as to let us know whether anyone's sense of "guilt" about homosexual orientation per se was a risk factor for castration ideation, in the absence of other risk factors. However, a propensity toward dangerous sexual play appears to be more common in the homosexual than the heterosexual populations of North America and Europe.
One might wonder if the "guilt" factor comes about via internalized homophobia, familial, social, and religious. Is there a disaffection from sex and sexuality because of the institutional and familial homophobia? Is it largely religiously influenced? Is there an element of self-punishment following and taking the form of punitive fantasy / ideation for being gay?
Another aspect I would consider is that because gay sexuality is of much greater focus and intensity, often of necessity, in western society, because of its highlighted disapprobation, especially in the individual's daily existence, there is a significantly increased self-awareness of it and related aspects of life. Because one is so much more attuned to such things, one is willing to explore it more fully from all angles, resulting in greater risk-taking, "richer" fantasy life, and so on.
Since being castrated, has your sexual orientation changed?
Yes - 26
No - 92
Unsure - 22
The results on change in sexual orientation raise a problem in light of the belief that sexual orientation is relatively fixed. Overall, the respondents report a twenty percent change in sexual orientation with castration. One would not expect a significant change of direction in orientation. I would be more suspicious that a number of individuals have become more attuned to, and willing to acknowledge, their previously existing and perhaps repressed orientation. This especially in light of the recent findings that have been cited regarding claims of bi-sexuality, and the reality of their responses to stimuli presented
