HOME | ARCHIVE | EMAIL US | TRAVEL SECTION
 

UNITED KINGDOM

Lesbian UK – Diva Magazine Reveals All

… And there are some shocks in the top 20 ‘hotspots’
 

■ The Diva lesbian map of the UK showing the top 20 ‘hotspots’ Map by David Drury, courtesy Diva magazine

LONDON, October 2, 2008  –  Diva breaks new ground with the UK’s first ever lesbian map: a map of Britain which shatters previous assumptions about ‘where the girls are’.

It is, perhaps no surprise that in the Orkney and Shetland Islands there are not many lesbians.

But the shock comes with the revelation that Gloucester (6th) and Chelmsford (9th) are among the biggest lesbian ‘hotspots’.

The figures come from the most comprehensive study ever undertaken into the geographical locations of the UK’s 2.4 million lesbians and are published in the November issue of Diva – the monthly’s 150th issue – which went on sale today.

Research reveals Britain’s top 20 lesbian hotspots, by postcode.  These are London, Glasgow, Redhill, Manchester, Birmingham, Northern Ireland, Gloucester, Cardiff, Newcastle, Chelmsford, Brighton, Edinburgh, Leeds, Bristol, Nottingham, Reading, Coventry, Liverpool, Leicester and Peterborough.

The near-even spread of lesbians across the UK was not what Diva predicted.

Lesbians appear to be almost everywhere and a lot more thinly spread than we might think: most UK postcodes house between 0.2% and 1% of the lesbians in this survey, and it’s only in cities that upwards of 2% of the survey’s lesbians are found.

“The academic literature suggests that the lesbian population is not as concentrated [in major centres] as the gay male population,” said Darren Smith, an expert in the geography of population, at Brighton University.

“[This map] is a really good idea.  The data we had from the last census had so many gaps… and the results were an under-representation because it didn’t pick up single people.”

Using statistical data acquired anonymously from a range of sources including magazine sales, visitors to leading lesbian websites and subscription-based services, it’s now true to say ‘we know where you live’.

“The user wasn’t required to do anything to take part,” said Ian Johnson, CEO of Out Now Consulting.

“No-one revealed their identity, but technology allows us to see where the clusters are.  This provides fascinating information that wasn’t previously known.”

The study has allowed us to see those ‘invisible’ lesbians living outside the main centres, who can now tap into online networks.

It’s now so much easier for lesbians to connect and socialise with each other, regardless of where they live.  And that puts all gay women on the map.

Seed Newsvine  

Got an opinion on this article?  Leave your comment here.