ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on homo- and bisexual behaviour in ten European countries and the way this behaviour is related to variables such as age and gender, education, urbanity and marital status. The AIDS epidemic has turned male homosexuality into a societal issue that can no longer be marginalized or ignored. To understand similarities and differences between countries in the occurrence and expression of homosexuality, it is important to ponder what homosexuality and bisexuality actually are. As implied by the elicitation/opportunity hypothesis, the variety in homosexual expression in contemporary Western societies cannot be understood without acknowledging the dominance of heterosexuality. The way in which homosexuality has been addressed will undoubtedly have affected the various studies’ outcomes. The relationship between lifetime homosexual behaviour and current age may also give the reader some insights as to whether homosexual contacts are related to a specific period in life or occur randomly during a person’s sexual career.
