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Bisexuals found to be more monogamous
| women's bisexuality an 'identity,' not phase: study |
| By News Editor |
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| Lesbians who have been consciously or subconsciously screening out bisexuals as potential girlfriends should pay attention to the results of a new study, which debunks the commonly held myth that bisexuality is just an experimental or transitional phase. |
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Researchers from the University of Utah, who assessed 79 non-heterosexual women five times over the course of a decade, debunked the stereotype that bisexual women aren't able to commit to monogamous relationships.
Study author Lisa Diamond wrote: “It is interesting that this finding provides a notable counterpoint to the popular stereotype that bisexual women are incapable of committing to a single partner. Not only did bisexual women tend to pursue exclusive, monogamous relationships over time, but they were more likely to do so than either unlabeled or lesbian women.”
By the end of the study, more than 60 percent of those who identified as bisexual in 1995 were involved in relationships lasting longer than five years – compared to about 35 percent of lesbians and 30 percent of unlabeled women.
The study also found bisexuality among women to be a distinct orientation and not a temporary stage and commonly thought as the bisexual women who were tracked remained attracted to both men and women throughout that time.
Diamond, an associate professor of psychology and gender studies, first conducted face-to-face interviews with her subjects between the ages of 18 and 25 around New York state in 1995. The women identified themselves as lesbian, bisexual or unlabeled, but not heterosexual. She then spoke with them by phone every two years.
"This is the first research that's really followed bisexual women for such a long period of time and it really, I think, puts to rest the notion that this is a transitional stage," said Diamond.
"If it was a phase, it should have burnt out. They might have a change in identity and relationships, but that pattern of non-exclusive desire is still there, even among those who have married. It debunks the notion of it being a phase."
According to the professor, most women "possess the capacity to experience sexual desires for both sexes, under the right circumstances."
Based on the results of her study, Diamond added that she expects that over time more women would have the opportunity to become aware of this capacity and may adopt bisexual/unlabeled identities rather than exclusive lesbian or heterosexual identities.
"Despite our modern day and age it's amazing how persistent some of the negative stereotypes about bisexuality have been. There are still even some researchers, as well as lay people, who are not really sure that it really exists, who have viewed it as a transitional state on the way to lesbianism, or viewed it as just something that some confused heterosexuals will claim about themselves," Diamond was quoted as saying in an interview with Reuters.
The study also supports the commonly held notion that female sexuality is relatively fluid and that the “distinction between lesbian and bisexual women is not a rigid one.”
Researchers found that women’s “definitions of lesbianism appeared to permit more flexibility in behaviour than their definitions of heterosexuality. In all, 76 percent of the women who switched to lesbian labels pursued sexual contact with both men and women during the two years prior to the identity change, compared with 30 percent of women who switched to heterosexual labels.”
The report can be read in the January issue (vol. 44) of Developmental Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association.  |
What do you think about this study? Is it accurate?
Submitted by on July 6, 2008 - 12:24pm.
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Bisexuality and the Space Between Binary Categories
Bisexuality and the Space Between Binary Categories
by John TownsendRobyn Ochs is a major educator, activist, and advocate for bisexual issues. Editor of The Bisexual Research Guide and of Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World, she has taught courses and facilitated workshops ranging from the politics of sexual orientation to transgressing binary categories of sexuality and gender imposed on us by society. In 2004, she married Peg Preble, her longtime life partner, on the first day same-sex marriage became legal in their home state of Massachusetts.
Robin Ochs. Photo Courtesy of Robin Ochs
Ochs recently shared with Lavender some of her views about bisexuality.
Tell me about how you came into consciousness about your bisexuality.
I was a teenager three decades ago, before the Internet; before one could turn to the omniscient Mother Google for answers to our questions; before there were lesbian, gay, bi, or trans characters on television series, or even on talk shows. Though there were gay people in my life, there was deafening silence on this subject, so I did didn’t know at the time that they were gay. Thus, I grew up never questioning my heterosexuality. In fact, I wasn’t aware that there was a question to be asked.
Then, during my first semester at college, I fell head over heels in love with another woman. I was terrified at what this might mean, and was afraid to tell anyone. I questioned whether I was really a lesbian, whether my past attractions to men had been real, and after considerable reflection, realized, no and yes.
I was convinced that if came out as bisexual, my straight friends would reject me, and I knew that the lesbians on my campus did not like or trust bisexuals. So, for five years, I confided only in my journal. Finally, in 1982, a coworker came out to me as bisexual, and I said aloud for the first time that I was bisexual, too. The world didn’t end, and I felt so relieved. After that, coming out got a lot easier.
You’ve talked about the spectrum of sexuality, and Kate Bornstein called you “the absolute goddess of sexual fluidity.” Where does heterosexuality become bisexuality, and where does bisexuality become homosexuality?
If only there were clear lines! But, of course, there aren’t.
In one of my workshops, I have people fill out an anonymous one-page questionnaire. People are asked, among other things, to place themselves on a sexuality continuum from zero to six according to their overall score, and according to their behavior, fantasies, sexual and romantic attractions during different time periods—in the past month, before age 16, and overall. They are also asked what word or words they use to describe their sexual orientation. Once completed, the questionnaires are collected, shuffled, and redistributed, so that everyone in the room is now representing someone else in the room.
We then look at the data. It becomes clear that many people’s location on the scale varies depending on what period of time, and on whether you are referring to their behavior, their fantasies, etc.
Another consistent finding is that the terms “straight” or “heterosexual” are used by people standing not only on zero, but on zero, one, and two. The term “bisexual” is used by folks not only on three, but also on two and four—and sometimes also on one and five. The words “lesbian,” “gay,” and “homosexual” are used by folks not only on six, but also on four and five. There’s an overlap between categories, so someone standing on four, for instance, might identify as lesbian or gay, or as bisexual.
In no way am I saying that there are not people on the ends of the scale—there are indeed many. Rather, the categories of heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual are broad, and encompass a wide range of experience.
You’ve noted that biphobia is the fear of “the other” and the fear of the space between our categories. Can you expand on that?
I’m very interested in biphobia—in its unique characteristics, and in its overlap with homophobia.
Bisexuals evoke discomfort and anxiety in others by the mere fact of our existence. We are pressured to remain silent, or to squeeze ourselves into one of the binary categories, as our silence allows both mainstream and sexual minority cultures to exaggerate the differences between heterosexual and homosexual, and to ignore the fact that human sexuality exists on a continuum.
It is much less threatening to those uncomfortable with homosexuality to perpetuate the illusion that homosexuals are those people—way over there, very different from heterosexuals. By othering us, heterosexuals do not have to confront the possibility of acknowledging same-sex attractions within themselves, and possibly becoming “like them.” There is considerable anxiety in being forced to acknowledge that the “other” is not as different from you as you would like to pretend.
For a long time, I was bewildered at the anger and hostility directed at me because I insisted on identifying as bi. The realization that part of society’s discomfort with bisexuals was about our challenge to binaries, and not really about bisexuality per se, depersonalized my own experience of biphobia, and made it easier to understand.
You have written about biphobia, and have made a distinction between “external biphobia” and “internalized biphobia.”
It’s clear that there are many negative prejudices and stereotypes aimed at those who identify as bisexual. But biphobia does not come only from the outside. We may carry our own experience of internalized biphobia: isolation, illegitimacy, shame, and confusion.
What are your thoughts on polyamory? I’ve had many bi friends over the years who say it can work, and who have had to make it work.
It’s funny—because I self-identify as bisexual, people tend to think that I have some expertise in the subject of polyamory. It’s interesting to me how often bisexuals are awarded guardianship of polyamory, and of nonmonogamy in general. To me, this seems quite silly. People of any sexual orientation can be monogamous or polyamorous.
To be honest, I’ve always preferred monogamy in my own romantic relationships. But this is not because I believe that monogamy is categorically superior to polyamory. Rather, it is what works best for me. I’m entirely prochoice on this issue, and I wish we would all relax, and respect other people’s right to make their own relationship choices.
What is your response to those who debunk the binary view, and say there are numerous genders: boy; girl; intersexed people, of course; and other new, and some will say sarcastically, gender-related forms of identity?
It’s clear to me that gender—like sexual orientation—exists on a continuum. People are very creative, and continue to construct new words and new categories to more accurately describe their experiences.
And here, I’ll come back to the concept of being prochoice. We each have the right to choose our own labels, and to change those labels if we later find another that works better for us. And I would encourage people to ditch the sarcasm. The process of self-labeling is very important and personal, and we’ll all be better off if we treat others with the respect we would wish for ourselves.
Your book Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World has gotten great acclaim. Tell me about your concerns and hopes about bisexuality in global terms in the coming years. There are so many parts of the planet that are so erotophobic, even when it comes to vanilla heterosexuality.
Getting Bi is an anthology of short personal narratives written by people in 32 different countries on six continents who range in age from 15 to 79. It is about to be published in Beijing in Mandarin. We’re working on a Spanish edition, and also on a second edition in English, which will include some new material, with a few more countries represented, including Muslim voices.
My experience of putting together this book has clarified for me how much geography and culture influence our experience of identity, our understanding of relationships, of possibility, even of desire itself. That said, the Internet and globalization have had an enormous influence, and expanded our conversations across borders, creating increasing commonality in our experience.
I agree that there is tremendous fear of sex and sexuality. You ask about my fears and hopes. My fear is that in many parts of the world, LGBT people will continue to be oppressed, jailed, murdered—our full humanity denied. My hope is that our increasing visibility will result in an opening of hearts and minds, resulting in increased understanding and legal protections, and that these changes will spread, until more and more countries treat LGBT people as full members of society, and that eventually, we will stop obsessing about who identifies as what, or whether our partners are male or female.
Have you written a basic book on bisexuality, and/or are there any other titles on bisexuality specifically that you recommend?
Getting Bi is an excellent place to start, as it is recent, it represents many different voices and perspectives, and it includes a bibliography of other resources.
There are lots of other good books out there. My all-time favorite, with the exception of my own book, is Bi Any Other Name, edited by Lorraine Hutchins and Lani Kaahumanu. And Bill Burleson, who, I understand, sometimes writes for your magazine, has written a book called Bi America. Authors Paula Rodríguez Rust, Lisa Diamond, Beth Firestein, Ron Fox, and Ron Suresha all come immediately to mind for those interested in research or a more academic approach.
Tell me about the work that you do?
I travel around the United States, and occasionally beyond, speaking on campuses and at conferences on bisexual identity, on identity and labels, on homophobia, and on marriage equality.
My wife and I were married on May 17, 2004, on the first day it was legal to do so.
I’m also working up some new programs for the coming academic year that are based on skill-building and idea-sharing. In my travels, I see so many creative ideas, and I like to be a sort of Johnny Appleseed, spreading these ideas around.
Another thing I give—and get in return—is perspective. A student in Wyoming once told me that, as someone from a marriage-equality state, I was like a visitor from a future that he hoped to live in someday. And his gift to me was a reminder that there are so many brave, amazing people throughout this country being role models and making change in places that are sometimes very resistant—even hostile. These people are my heroes and s/heroes.
At times, I feel I am holding apart the walls of the binaries that are pressing against my reality, threatening to suffocate and flatten me. By affirming and drawing attention to the space between, I am creating for those of us who need it more space to exist, more air to breathe. And in challenging one false binary, I challenge them all.
In this way, I see a clear connection between the bi, trans, and intersex movements, and with multiracial and biracial movements, and with everyone who affirms complexity. Our diversity is exciting and beautiful—something to be embraced, not denied. Remember: A normal person is just someone you don’t know real well yet.
For further information, visit www.robynochs.com.
Yay Bi pride !!
You too can start a bialogue in your LGBT community
Just some interesting info i found
http://www.bialogue.org/
Who We AreAfter the Stonewall rebellion in 1969, as the Bisexual Community in the Tri-State area of New York City, New Jersey & Connecticut grew larger, more active, more diverse and organized, a need was seen to have a more formal methodology to keep everyone informed on all the various facets of the community. Taking as it's model the highly successful East Cost Bisexual Network (ECBN) headquartered in Boston, in 1987 under the guidance of the American national group BiNet USA the "New York Area Bisexual Network (NYABN) is formed.
The New York Area Bisexual Network serves as a central communications network for Bisexual & Bi-Friendly Groups and Resources in all five borough's of NYC and the surrounding Tri-state area.
The mission of the New York Area Bisexual Network is to facilitate the development of a cohesive bisexual community in the New York Area. Which in turn will promote bisexual visibility, protect the bisexual community from discrimination and bi-phobia and assist and empower our individual community members and their families to live full, rich, safe and happy lives.
In addition to it's website, MySpace page & associated Blogs the NYABN also keeps up with listings for the Tri-State Region as well as providing links to Regional, National and International Groups and Events, [& as we move into outer space we will no doubt provide links to those groups too]. Additionally NYABN coordinates the NYC Bisexual-Information Phone-Line, keeps up the NYC Bisexual Community PO Box, hosts various groups, meetings and events of interest to the entire bisexual community, helps new groups form and coordinates arrangements for the Bisexual Contingent(s) at NYC's annual LGBT PrideFest and Parade each June.
1969 - In June of 1969 a group of LGBT people tired of being pushed around forcibly defend their rights against police harassment. The Stonewall Rebellion marks the symbolic origin of the modern LGBT Movement.
1970 - Bisexual activist and a stalwart at the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) Brenda Howard coordinated the rally to commemorate the 1-month anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion and then creates the rally and march that celebrate the 1-year anniversary. This became the annual New York City Pride March which spawned marches around the world.
Brenda also originates the idea for a week-long series of events around Pride Day, called Pride Week.
Most US states and many countries and cities around the world now celebrate Pride Day/Week annually, descended directly from those first marches and rallies in New York City which a Bisexual activist Brenda Howard coordinated and created.
1972 - The National Bisexual Liberation Group forms in New York. Within three years, more than 5,500 members in 10 US chapters receive what is probably the earliest bisexual newsletter, "The Bisexual Expression".
1975 - Bi Forum, a social, educational, and support group, forms in New York 'to encourage awareness of bisexual issues in a non threatening and non judgmental environment.' At its peak in 1980, Bi Forum has more than 200 active members and a mailing list of several thousand.
1982 - Tamara Bower founds the "Bisexual Women’s Network", which remains active until 1984 when she goes to Mexico for a year.
1986 - Bisexual activist Brenda Howard is active within the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights that passed the New York City law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
1987 - As the Bisexual Community in the Tri-State area of New York City, New Jersey & Connecticut grows larger, more active, more diverse and organized, a need is seen to have a way to keep everyone informed on all the various facets of the community. Taking as it's model the highly successful East Cost Bisexual Network (ECBN) headquartered in Boston, in 1987 the "New York Area Bisexual Network (NYABN) is formed.
The NYABN serves as a central communications network for Bisexual & Bi-Friendly Groups and Resources in the Tri-state area; provides links to Regional, National, and International Groups and Events; runs the Bi Community's centralized phone-line & PO Box; helps new groups form; hosts events of interest to the entire community and coordinates arrangements for the Bi Contingent(s) at NYC's annual LGBT PrideFest and Parade each June.
1989 - BiPAC, the New York-based Bisexual Political Action Committee forms in 1989. It's missions is to challenges biphobia where and when ever it is found. In 1990 it runs a successful national letter writing campaign that challenges biphobia in the lesbian and gay community when it persuades a NYC Alternative Public High-School to remove an offensive workshop it offers called "Bisexual Men: Fact or Fiction?"
1990 - Out bisexual becomes an active member of Heritage of Pride (HOP) to promote bi-inclusion from within. At the same time other out, proud & visible members of the bisexual community begin volunteering to fund-raise and assist at various HOP functions.
1991 - In January of 1991 the "New York Bisexual Women’s Support Group" is founded by Tamara Bower. The group has since evolved into three (3) "daughter" groups to better serve various constituencies within the Bisexual Community.
1991 - Spearheaded by members of The Bisexual Women’s Group, the bi community holds a letter-writing campaign proposing The Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center make changes towards bi-inclusively such as changing the Center’s name and using bi-inclusive language in their newsletter and other literature.
1991 - BiPAC members marched with the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization (ILGO) in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade along with NYC Mayor Dinkins. Mayor Dinkins compared the experience to walking in civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama. BiPAC members continue to work with ILGO, some going to jail protesting their being banned from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
1992 - BiPAC works in conjunction with other LGBT and progressive organizations on the “Children of the Rainbow” campaign, creating a manual for community members and activists who are fighting to keep the inclusive school curriculum. In a foreshadowing of future political events, in 1993 a well organized & well funded coalition of extreme right-wing political interests and religious fundamentalists eventually have the curriculum tossed out and the School Commissioner who championed it is driven out of office.
1992 thru 1994 BiPAC begins another campaign proposing to Heritage of Pride (HOP) that the names of their Lesbian and Gay Pride events be changed to include Bisexual people.
BiPAC meets with gay community liaisons of several NY politicians, including the Mayor and Governor, requesting increased bi-inclusion and awareness.
BiPAC forms the Bisexual Speakers Bureau and performs speaking engagements at colleges, universities, the NYC Board of Education and NYC community organizations.
1993 - New York Bi Activist Sheela Lambert writes, produces, and hosts the first television series by and for the bisexual community. Bisexual Network successfully airs for 13 weeks on NYC Public Access Cable.
1994 - BiRequest a weekly social and moderated discussion group for bisexual and bi-friendly people from 18 to 80 begins meeting.
1994 - New York City hosts the Third International Bisexual Conference (3icb) in conjunction with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the symbolic origin of the modern LGBT Movement. About 400 people attend from at least five countries. The visible bisexual presence at the celebration signifies our link to the past: bisexuals fought in the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969, and celebrate the changes it has inspired in the present.
1996 - Bi community rallies around another proposal to HOP asking them to be more bi-inclusive which passes: but no action is taken.
Bi activist Sheela Lambert joins HOP for 2 years as an active Gay and Lesbian Pride organizer to promote the bi-inclusive agenda as a member.
2000 - Bi activist Sheela Lambert together with transgender activist Pauline Park forms the Coalition for Unity and Inclusion.
The Coalition succeeds in drawing support from directors of LGBT Community organizations and politicians as well as grass-roots bi and transgender community participation in their letter writing campaign, petition drive and feedback campaign asking the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center to change its name to include Bisexual and Transgender people.
2001 - The Center was renamed and a new sign was unveiled on the front of the building on 12 July 2001 that reads: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center.
2002 - Heritage of Pride renames their Lesbian and Gay Pride events which become the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March, Rally, Festival and Dance in 2002.
2002 - Coalition for Unity and Inclusion beings work on convincing the NewFest Board to change the subtitle of their annual film festival to be more inclusive.
2004 - The NewFest Board changes the name of their film-festival from The New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival to the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Film Festival.
2005 - The New York Times publishes an article in it's Science Section based on a study conducted by a researcher with a dubious reputation and suspect data entitled "Straight, Gay or Lying?" in which it is claimed that Bisexual men do not exist. The NYABN works with national Bisexual & LGBT groups to discuss what constitutes valid scientific research, the nature of discrimination as well as the concept of objective journalism with staff members at the New York Times.
http://www.bimagazine.org/nonfict/international/intl_1.html
don't want to put a spanner in the works but...
did the study also find out if these monogamous relationships were predominantly with women or men?
I would venture a guess that the answer would be men.
Just talking from experience....:)
What would be interesting if said study could put forward a theory why that would be the case. Or even ask the participants for their views.
What conclusion would you draw from that
So what does it matter if the relationship is with a man or a woman?
The only thing you can get out of that is that it's hard for a woman to maintain a long term relationship with another woman. Apparently, statistically true for bisexual and lesbian women. Hell, for men too
It matters if you are trying to date them
If, statistically, 50% of lesbians stayed with their female partners for 5 years, but only 20% that would imply that it is more risky to date a bisexual woman, if you are a woman, even if 80% of bisexual women stayed with male partners more than 5 years.
And it is comparing apples and oranges. For one thing, there's marriage, and societal pressures, if you are in a hetero relationship, that you don't have in a gay one (yet, or as much). I would hazard that bisexual men stay with women longer than men, and bisexual women stay with men longer than women, for that reason. Actually, the "There are more straight people out there" doesn't apply in this case, since it's discussing what happens once a relationship starts, not how many bisexuals are actually dating men or women. The distinction is important.
Actually, you should just date her if you want to, damn the statistics. Either way. Using a study like this to say you should date a bi girl is dangerous because it implies that should the numbers change (or as I pointed out up there, are misleading), you should not. And that is just sad. Who knows what number you will be? You might be the one to last 20 years with a bisexual girl, or your lesbian girlfriend could leave you after one.
The only thing I understood
The only thing I understood out of all of that is the last paragraph. And I haven't been drinking or anything today... maybe I'm just tired. But I read it three times and I still don't get it.
Did you make up those numbers in your first paragraph? If not, where did you get them from? If so, why are you making up numbers?
Are you saying that opposite sex relationships last longer due to societal pressure?
As a side note: The median duration of opposite sex marriages is seven years.
You can't say that
You don't know the answer to that so you shouldn't assume that the bisexual stereotype is true.
And if it is the big reason has to be it's easier if you can fit yourself into what society deems right and that is to be in a hetro relationship,being gay is hard and some people maybe just don't have the strength to live it.Or another reason could be is it just happened to be a man they fell in love with.
But lets be fair the study also didn't say with who the lesbian or unlabelled ended up with they could have as easily ended up with a guy for the some of the same reasons.
Well, I have heard a lot of
Definitely
Exactly what you said..Guys are very upfront and not many girls are willing to put themselves out there in the fear of you know the totally straight girl going wtf..haha
Here's....
Here's Dr Lisa Diamond web page page:
http://www.psych.utah.edu/people/faculty/diamond
The article in question is the third form the top:
Diamond, L. M. (2005). A new view of lesbian subtypes: Stable vs. fluid identity trajectories over an 8-year period. Psychology of Women Quarterly , 29, 119-128.It appears to have been published in a peer reviewed journal, so at least other psychologists have read it.
I researched and the author at least has 3 articles that have been cited, she also published a recent article which appeared in an indexed peer reviewed journal, that can be located through pubmed.
In short she doesn't sound like a hack, so I'm going to take my time and read the article to get the information first hand.