Defining the lesbian/gay community? Market research and the lesbian/gay press

J Homosex. 2000;39(1):25-42. doi: 10.1300/J082v39n01_02.

Abstract

The development of marketing information on the readership of the lesbian/gay press attests to the press's success as a medium and its attraction to advertisers. Yet such marketing data, highly skewed towards affluent, urban, white-anglo gay males, raise some serious problems. Such data has been misused by opponents of lesbian/gay rights as representing the entire lesbian/gay community. They also reflect the change of the lesbian/gay press from a medium representing a minority community to one representing an important niche market. An examination of readership data from five major urban lesbian/gay newspapers illustrates these problems.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Advertising*
  • Female
  • Homosexuality / psychology*
  • Homosexuality, Female / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mass Media*
  • Middle Aged