Set 3 - Quarter 1
You're MVP on Our Team :)
Hiiiiii :)
I’ve been thinking about writing to y’all all week :) I know that we have over 800 users (!!) but trust me, you’re special. If you ever, like, want to chat more I would be into that 👀 we actually have a chat platform, you should hit us up. I’ll be waiting :))))
This week we asked some questions related to some pretty popular stereotypes, so I’m excited to get into it!
Plant Platoons
I love plants. I actually have several plant-related tattoos (super original I know), and one legacy plant from my parents that has been around since the 70s. Speaking of, I need to water the poor thing. I’ve been neglecting them, but I guess they’re kind of drought-resistant now? No root rot over here, I can tell you that.
We consistently overestimated how many plants sapphics own! Maybe we’re influenced by the social media earthy sapphics. Plants sapphic, who has 10,000 plants in their oasis apartment, is an outlier adn should not have been counted.
Plant ownership did tend to go up as people got older. With time comes a greener thumb?
Queer users also reported having the most plants! Please teach us your secrets on how to keep plants luscious and shiny, I have a monstera that by all accounts should be loving the southern California climate but is looking a little brown around the edges. I’ve heard neem oil is the way to go?
The group differences we did see weren’t super huge, but it is interesting that they were there. Queer users also reported having more pets back in Set 2 Quarter 2, so maybe there’s a similar trend here? Queer sapphics just love life? I actually think that’s a really nice sentiment, so I’m sticking to that. Keep growing your plants and please for the love of all things good, keep posting pictures of your personal garden of Eden that you’ve curated. I save all of those photos on pinterest as inspiration to keep my little plants alive.
Varsity Variances
Growing up, I think my sister and I tried nearly every sport under the sun. Basketball, volleyball, soccer, fencing, golf, track and field, ballet, but with the notable exception of softball (though my parents did try to get us into T-ball when we were young). I fear none of them stuck. I became a theatre kid and my sister turned to writing and academics. But I do still love watching volleyball!
It seems that, for many of us, varsity leagues were just not in the cards. Only ~25% of users reported playing a varsity sport in high school, which is considerably lower than the average guess of 42%. Now I really want to know the percentage of varsity sports players who are gay, bc I feel like that’s pretty high. Time to go to an WNBA game really nonchalantly and make eye contact with one of the players as they save a ball at the last second before it hits my head. Wattpad style.
It seems like older users reported being in varsity sports more than younger users. I thought for a while and consulted the internet as to why this might be. Here is my diagnosis. The popularity of sports has maybe declined somewhat over the years as hobbies/interests have been able to form more and more niches as globalization (and the internet) has increased. The sheer amount of pastimes you’re able to have now far exceeds anything seen before in human history, and so people who may once have turned to sports as a hobby are finding other interests to engage in instead. The other side of this is that participation in sports has gotten increasingly competitive and therefore more expensive for parents as well. Not to get too far into this, but I think this is seen across the board with young people needing to declare some niche that they’re good at and focus on it from a very young age in order to have a competitive advantage over other people. This goes for sports as well as academics. If a kid starts at something once they’re older, they’re competing with someone who has been doing it for longer, and I think this did not exist at the same level 20-30 years ago. Participating in varsity sports is also not cheap, and the time and money requirements put on parents to get their child into varsity sports can often limit who is able to participate. Whatever the reason(s) may be, it is an interesting finding!
Lesbians drove up the average somewhat for participation in varsity sports, with queer and bisexual users having comparable rates of participation. The rates weren’t super different (and they were not statistically significant), but it is possible that this stereotype of varsity level lesbians has a slight ring of truth to it. Either way, I will be cheering from the sidelines (doubly so if you play volleyball).
Subaru Sapphics
This is one of the funniest stereotypes I’ve heard. Listen, I really appreciate the safety and practicality of a Subaru (and I like the little constellation reference that’s part of their logo), but this is so incredibly random to me. Looking at the numbers, I felt that 23% of users owning a Subaru was not that high and I was tempted to say, “see! Stereotype busted.” But it’s actually way higher than the national average of 1.6% of Americans who own a Subaru. The highest rates of Subaru ownership are actually in Vermont (11.3%) in case anyone was wondering. This number is probably a little higher if we match it to the question we posed (“have ever owned or leased a Subaru”) but I think it’s still higher than average 😭
Sapphics in their 30s were the most likely to have owned or leased a Subaru, but there’s still time for everyone to catch up. Maybe we too will be swayed by their durability and marketing.
Queer users were also the most likely to have owned/leased a Subaru, but the perception was highest for Lesbians! In all honesty though, what do we even need a midsize SUV for? All of our varsity sports equipment?
Drinking Days
Last up on the list for today is how many days per week our sapphic users report drinking. Over 70% of users said they drank on 1 day or less in a week! This is actually more or less on par with recent national averages, so I’m glad to see we’re staying healthy! I know that sapphic culture can very easily be centered around alcohol and other substances, but we absolutely overestimate how much other sapphics are drinking.
Users in their 20s reported the highest levels of drinking days per week, but all age groups rounded to 1. This kinda makes sense though, once the seriousness of hangovers start to hit in the mid to late 20s, it really starts to take the fun out of it. I was thrown when I started feeling the effect of like 1-2 drinks on my body the next day. For anyone who has not yet experienced this, your day is coming.
Lesbians technically had the highest average on this one too, but again all results rounded to 1 and none were statistically significant. It’s interesting that we overestimate this, and we want to take a second to say that it’s absolutely okay to not drink/not drink very much! Objectively this is very good for you. But it’s also been nice to see a surge in sapphic community spaces that are not so heavily influenced by drinking or other substance use. Whoever is hosting the next crocheting night, lmk bc I want in on that.
That’s all I have for today! See you foxy minxes in the app ;)
XOXO SapphicSavvy
Plants:
Varsity Sports:
Subarus:
Drinking Days: