A Study on Bisexuality and Lesbianism in Women

According to a recent study being published by the American Psychological Association, women are more flexible when it comes to sexual labels than their male counterparts. In addition, contrary to popular believe, women considering themselves to be bisexual are capable of establishing and maintaining long term relationships with a person of one sex.

The study collected data regarding 79 different women over a ten year period. All of the women being studied considered themselves not to be heterosexual, though their labels were not necessarily the same. Rather, they either identified themselves as lesbian, bisexual, or unlabeled.

“The research provides the first empirical examination of competing assumptions about the nature of bisexuality, both as a sexual identity label and as a pattern of nonexclusive sexual attraction and behavior” said Lisa M. Diamond, Ph.D, who conducted the study. “The findings demonstrate considerable fluidity in bisexual, unlabeled, and lesbian women’s attractions, behaviors, and identities and contributes to researchers’ understanding of the complexity of sexual-minority development over the life span.”

According to the study, women considering themselves to be bisexual or unlabeled were more likely to switch their identity than lesbian women, though they tended to just switch between the bisexual and unlabeled identities. In addition, 17% of these women switched to a heterosexual label at some time during the stud, though more than half of these women had switched back to either an unlabeled or bisexual label by the time the study came to an end.

By the end of the ten year study, most of the 79 women involved in the study had formed long term relationships – which was defined as a monogamous relationship lasting for at least one year - with either a man or a woman. Interestingly, only 67% of those calling themselves heterosexual were involved in a long term relationship. 85% of those calling themselves unlabeled, on the other hand, were in a long term relationship while 70% of those identifying themselves as lesbians were.

The study also found that women tend to have a loose definition of lesbianism. In fact, 15% of those that identified themselves as lesbians had engaged in sexual activity with men within the past two years. Those calling themselves heterosexuals, on the other hand, had not had any sexual contact with a woman during the same time period.