Young men who identify as bisexual are the least likely to have come out, according to triple j's What's Up In Your World survey.

The survey of 11,000 people aged 18 to 29 found young men who identify as gay are twice as likely to have come out as bisexual men.

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Whatsapp Data from triple j’s 2018 What’s Up In Your World Survey. Sample size: 1643 18-29 year olds

Sam* identifies as bisexual but hasn't come out to most of his family and friends.

"In the media, bisexuality is portrayed in women as quite a cool thing... but I think for men it detracts from their masculinity," he told Hack.

"I think that if you're a guy who is interested in other guys that somehow makes you less of your gender.

It's really stupid when you start to fathom it.

The survey also found women are twice as likely to identify as LGBTIQ and be open about it.

On top of that, more young people identify as bisexual than gay and lesbian.

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Whatsapp Data from triple j’s 2018 What’s Up In Your World Survey. Sample size: 8,847 18-29 year olds

What's the coming out experience like for people who identify as bisexual?

Julia Taylor from the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society is leading the country's largest study into the mental health of people who are attracted to more than one gender.

"Research shows that there are certain issues that are present for gay and lesbian people as well as bisexual people," she told Hack.

"But there are particular protective factors for gay and lesbian people that bisexual people aren't privy to.

If gay and lesbian people come out and things don't go so well for them... they do have a big vocal community to find support and that's something bisexual people don't have.

Sam said the first time he was asked about his sexuality was while doing the triple j survey.

"When it got to the part on sexuality it said, 'are you straight, gay, bisexual, etc'," he said.

"That's the first moment I externally wrote down or acknowledged... 'yes I'm bisexual'."

It turns out that doing triple j's What's Up in Your World survey was a huge turning point for Sam and acknowledging his bisexuality.

"There was a question that really stumped me ... and it was, 'have you come out?'" he said.

"I'd barely come out to myself so I put down 'no' because I don't see how it changes me as a person.

Then, I had a phone call with my mum and dad yesterday talking about this interview and it went okay... I came out to them then.

Survey finds your gender can affect your coming out experience

Julia said her research backs up triple j's survey in finding bisexual men have more difficulties in coming out than the rest of the young LGBTIQ population.

"More and more so bisexual women are depicted in television and literature... although it's still minimal," she said.

"But for bisexual men it's completely invisible... there's a lack of role models.

"When you're deciding something as difficult and personal as coming out, looking up to people who have lived through it is a really important thing ... and when there's no role models for bisexual men that's a real hindrance to the coming out journey."

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Whatsapp Researchers say there aren't many bisexual characters in popular culture. Sarah Hyland who plays Hayley in Modern Family has said her character is bisexual.

Sarah, 20, told Hack she also found answering the survey questions on sexuality difficult, but in a totally different way to Sam.

"I think sexuality is fluid and I just think ticking it in a box doesn't work," she said.

I can't sit here confidently and say I'm totally straight or I'm totally gay... I think if you get to know someone then gender doesn't matter at all.

Sarah is one of the three per cent of young women who identified as pansexual in the triple j survey.

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Whatsapp Data from triple j’s 2018 What’s Up In Your World Survey. Sample size: 1,643 18-29 year olds

'Pan' means 'all-inclusive' and people who identify as pansexual are attracted to multiple genders.

"When you're bi you're interested in men and women... pansexuality is being attracted to qualities and it doesn't matter about gender," Sarah said.

"It's totally gender blind."

This year, Janelle Monae joined the likes of Angel Haze, Sia, and Miley Cyrus in identifying as pansexual.

However, Sarah said when she was initially coming to terms with her sexuality she had no idea what pansexual was.

When I was looking into everything being like 'what am I?', I found it quite difficult to grasp the concept of pansexuality because I'd never heard of it before.

How can the coming out experience become easier?

Sam said social norms around sexuality still haven't progressed to make the coming out experience easy for young LGBTIQ people.

"There's such a correlation about saying 'that's gay' and 'that's awful'... stop the little stuff like that," he said.

"Every time you choose to say that, someone around you might be burying themselves deeper away from who they want to be.

"I have really open and appreciative friends who I haven't talked to about this yet, but I know they'll be there to help me and talk to me about what I'm going through."

*names have been changed