MacaronMaster and Blathers raised the idea of an LGBTQ+ forum in a thread under Administrative topics. I wanted to provide some evidence from 6 surveys of ABDLs relevant to that discussion. Unfortunately the thread was closed so I couldn’t post it there. However I thought it might be of general interest.
ABDLs are vastly more likely to have a minority sexual orientation than the general population.
The Wikipedia article ‘Demographics of Sexual Orientation’ cites a meta analysis of the frequency of sexual orientations in the general population –
“Surveys in Western cultures find, on average, that about 93% of men and 87% of women identify as completely heterosexual, 4% of men and 10% of women as mostly heterosexual, 0.5% of men and 1% of women as evenly bisexual, 0.5% of men and 0.5% of women as mostly homosexual, and 2% of men and 0.5% of women as completely homosexual.”
Zamboni states, “Estimates of sexual minorities in North American cities are as large as 15.4% in San Franciso (Gates, 2006).”
In the ABDL surveys the proportion of respondents who identified as exclusively homosexual ranged from - 8.9% (Bent1); 8 to 13% (Grey1 to 4); 14% (Fuss); 18% (Zamboni, males); and 22% (Speaker, ‘primarily’ homosexual). Senese did not report on sexual orientation. We can have a high level of confidence in an estimate of around 16%, a point mid way between the two large scale professional surveys. As the overwhelming proportion of the survey populations are male, the appropriate point of reference is the 2% of males in the general population who identify as exclusively homosexual. On this basis ABDLs are around eight times more likely to be homosexual than the general population.
The proportion of survey respondents who identified as bisexual ranged from 19% (Zamboni, males); 21.3% (Bent1); 22% (Speaker); 24 to 32% (Grey 1 to 4); and 44.7% (Fuss). The large range may be influenced by the wording of the questions. Zamboni and Bent asked respondents to make a distinction between identifying as being heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual. Fuss and Grey gave bisexual respondents the option of distinguishing between those who were equally attracted to both genders, and those who leaned towards, or were more often attracted, to each gender. It appears that the three option choice in Zamboni and Bent may understate the prevalence of those who with a bisexual orientation. On the basis of the above we can have a high level of confidence that the lower end of the prevalence of ABDLs with a bisexual orientation is in the low twenty percent range. On this basis ABDLs are around four times more likely than the general population to be bisexual.
Of course, the much higher representation of people with minority sexual orientations results in a substantially lower proportion of heterosexuals amongst ABDLs compared to the general population. The proportion of people with an exclusively heterosexual orientation ranges from – 37% (Fuss); 50 to 59% (Grey1 to 4); 58% (Zamboni, males); 60.2% (Bent1); and 74% (Speaker, ‘primarily’ heterosexual). Based on all the above data we can have a moderate level of confidence that heterosexuals constitute around 55 to 60% of the ABDL population. The substantial minority reported in Fuss, the latest large sample professional survey where the wording of the question was arguably more valid, is a significant contra-indication. It is possible that future surveys will corroborate Fuss and overturn the current position. For this reason the confidence in the assessment that those with an exclusively heterosexual orientation are a narrow majority cannot be given a high confidence.
Some of the surveys also sought to identify the prevalence of those who were asexual (disavowing sexual expression) or autoerotic (preferring masturbation and disavowing partners).
For those who identified as asexual the values were 4% (Fuss, analloerotic) and (Grey3 & 4).
For those who identified as autoerotic the values were 4-5% (Grey3 & 4, solo), and 7% (Speaker, ‘solitary sex’). Zamboni reported 5% who were attracted to neither males or females, and could be either asexual or auto-erotic. Bent1 gave respondents of option of choosing ‘no comment’ for the question on sexual orientation and returned a value of 9.6%.
On the basis of the above, we can say with moderate confidence that a small minority of ABDLs are either asexual or autoerotic. A high level of confidence is not appropriate as only one peer-support survey (Grey3 and 4) allowed respondents to distinguish between being asexual and autoerotic. The two large sample professional surveys agreed on the size of the population but lack clarity about its composition.
The six ABDL surveys are -
Zamboni = ‘Adult Baby/Diaper Lovers: An Exploratory Study of an On-line Community Sample’ based on a 2011 survey by the late Dr Brian D. Zamboni, assisted by BitterGrey. The survey can be obtained free, on the articles tab, of abdiscovery.com.au .
Fuss = ‘Self-Reported Childhood Maltreatment and Erotic Target Identity Inversions Among Men with Paraphiliac Infantilism’ Joannes Fuss, Laura Jais, B. Terrence Grey, Sascha R. Guczka, Peer Briken, Sarah V. Biderman. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy Volume 45, 2019, Issue 8
Grey1 to 4= BitterGrey’s 1st to 4th surveys which can be found on understanding.infantilism.org .
Bent1 = Adult Baby Survey #1, the results are available free to subscribers to the abdiscovery.com.au website (subscription is free gets you on the mailing list).
Speaker - Thomas Speaker’s PhD thesis which can be found on understanding.infantilism.org .
Senese =An Exploratory Study of Adult Baby-Diaper Lovers’ Characteristics in an Italian Online Sample. by Antonietta Lasala, Francesco Paparo, Vincenzo Paolo Senese and Raffaella Perrella. (Assisted by BitterGrey). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2020).
Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Regards. Dylan.
LMAO