In a longitudinal study, Lisa Diamond followed young nonheterosexual women over a period of 8 years. She found that these young women could be sorted into three different subtypes: stable lesbians, fluid lesbians, and nonlesbians.
Stable lesbians (N=18) were defined as "those who maintained consistent lesbian identifications over an 8-year period spanning the transition from late adolescence to young adulthood."
Fluid lesbians (N=25) were defined as "those who alternated between lesbian and nonlesbian labels during this time period."
Stable nonlesbians (N=36) were defined as "those who never adopted lesbian labels, despite acknowledging and acting upon same-sex attractions."
Diamond (2005) tested the following three hypotheses:
- Hypothesis 1: Given the cultural emphasis on consistency and exclusivity in same-sex attractions and behavior as a primary criteria of lesbianism, stable lesbians will have reported both more exclusive and more consistent same-sex attractions and behavior over the 8 years of the study than fluid lesbians and stable nonlesbians.
- Hypothesis 2: Because documented instances of sexual fluidity often involve the experience of unexpectedly becoming attracted to-or involved with-specific individuals, regardless of their gender, fluid lesbians and nonlesbians will be more likely to report that their attractions are more oriented to the person and not their gender.
- Hypothesis 3: Stable lesbians will report earlier sexual identity milestones than fluid lesbians and nonlesbians (i.e., earlier attractions, sexual contact, sexual questioning, and identification). Additionally, given the cultural presumption that lesbianism is more intrinsic than bisexuality, stable lesbians will be more likely than fluid lesbians and stable nonlesbians to report that they were born with their sexuality and less likely to feel that their sexuality was influenced by their environment or by personal choice.
Hypothesis 1 was confirmed. Stable lesbians emerged as a distinct group, with "the highest same-sex attractions", "significantly smaller fluctuations in physical and emotional attractions", "the greatest percentage of same-sex sexual contact", and "significantly less change in sexual behavior". Whether fluid lesbians make up a distinct group was less clear. "In some domains, fluid lesbians more closely resembled nonlesbians, and in other domains they were more similar to stable lesbians." In terms of attractions, fluid lesbians emerged as a "fairly distinct group". "Over the 8 years of the study, fluid lesbians reported experiencing approximately 80% of their physical attractions for women and 70% of their sexual behavior with women, compared to 93% and 92%, respectively, among stable lesbians and 45% and 32%, respectively, among stable nonlesbians."
Hypothesis 2 was also confirmed, where "stable lesbians generally disagreed with the characterization "I'm the kind of person that is attracted to the person rather than their gender," whereas fluid lesbians and nonlesbians showed similar degrees of agreement with this characterization." This was tested by asking three groups to rate on a 1 to 5 Likert scale whether they agree with the statement "I'm the kind of person that's attracted to the person rather than their gender." On average, stable lesbians responded with 2.7 (slightly disagree), while fluid lesbians responded with 3.7 (agree), and nonlesbians responded with 4.1 (agree). The difference between fluid lesbians and nonlesbians was not statistically significant.
Hypothesis 3 was disconfirmed. Stable lesbians did not report earlier sexual identity milestones, nor were they more likely to report that they were "born with their sexuality". The age of "first conscious same-sex attraction" was 14.6 (SD=3.2) for stable lesbians, 15.3 (SD=3.2) for fluid lesbians, and 15.2 (SD=3.9) for nonlesbians, with none of these differences being statistically significant. When asked to rate on a 1 to 5 Likert scale whether they agree with the statement "I feel my sexuality is something I was born with", stable lesbians responded with an average of 4.2 (agree), fluid lesbians 3.8 (agree), and nonlesbians (3.6). This difference was not statistically significant, suggesting that bisexuality or fluid nonheterosexuality is no less "innate" than exclusive homosexuality.
Interestingly, the ratio of stable lesbians (N=18) to fluid lesbians (N=25) is roughly similar to the stability vs. fluidity of same-sex sexual attractions reported in a sample of FTM transsexuals (Meier et al., 2013). Of the 273 FTMs who reported exclusive attraction to women prior to transition, 45% (N=124) reported the same after transition, while 49% (N=133) reported bisexual attraction after transition. An additional 6% (N=16) reported exclusive attraction to men. This is somewhat similar to another longitudinal study conducted by Diamond (2003), where she followed young women over the course of 5 years. 10 of the 80 young women who reported same-sex attraction later reported that they were heterosexual.
Given these findings, Diamond (2005) has stressed the importance of longitudinal studies in the research of sexual orientation: "prior research on sexual identity development has focused almost exclusively on the period of time before individuals first self-identify as sexual minorities, assuming that once this milestone is achieved, little subsequent development takes place. Not only is this supposition incorrect, but the present findings demonstrate that the types of sexual-development pathways women follow after coming out may tell us more about variability in the nature and experience of same-sex sexuality than the pathways women take to coming out." This is also applicable to young adolescents, as early same-sex attractions do not always predict later same-sex orientation (Li & Hines, 2016), and "At least 10 percent of straight identified youth reports a small degree of same-sex sexuality" (Savin-Williams, 2019).
In a separate study, Diamond & Wallen (2011) found another key difference between stable lesbians and other types of nonheterosexual women. Here, stable lesbians were described as women who "report stable and exclusive same-sex attractions and behavior, consistent self-identification as "lesbian," and feel their sexuality is an intrinsic characteristic over which they have no control". These are contrasted with another group of nonheterosexual women, described as women "whose same-sex desires are primarily attributable to arousability."
Diamond & Wallen (2011) hypothesized that "On a day-to-day basis (or within the context of an experimental study...), women whose same-sex desires are primarily attributable to arousability might be indistinguishable from women with stable and enduring lesbian or bisexual predispositions...during ovulation, when proceptivity increases, women with stable lesbian or bisexual predispositions should experience significantly greater motivation for same-sex contact. This should not be the case for women whose same-sex desires are primarily attributable to arousability; in fact, they might show even less motivation for same-sex contact during this period, given that proceptivity might supersede arousability during this period."
To test this hypothesis, Diamond & Wallen (2011) studied a small sample of 20 women. 5 were categorized as stable lesbians, due to "consistently" identifying as lesbian over the ten-year period of 1995-2005. 7 were categorized as stable bisexuals, due to "consistently" identifying as bisexual over the same period. 8 were categorized as "gave up identity", due to identifying as lesbian or bisexual in 1995 but later relinquishing (temporarily or permanently) that identity.
Diamond & Wallen's (2011) hypothesis was confirmed for stable lesbians, but not stable bisexuals: "We had predicted that consistent bisexuals would show increases in same-sex motivation similar to those of the consistent lesbians, and that both groups would show greater increases than the ‘‘gave up identity’’ group. We found instead that only the stable lesbian group showed greater peak-estrogen increases in same-sex motivation than the ‘‘gave up identity’’ group; stable bisexual women actually showed the smallest increases of all, significantly smaller than both the stable lesbian group and the ‘‘gave up identity’’ group. When the additional effect of ‘‘perceived choice’’ was taken into account, we found that the largest peak-estrogen increases in same-sex motivation were observed among lesbians who perceived that choice played no role in their sexuality, whereas bisexual women who granted a role for choice in their sexuality actually showed the largest declines in same sex motivation around the time of ovulation."
The finding is limited by its small sample size, and requires replication with "a larger and more diverse sample". Still, it suggests "the potential existence and etiology of different subtypes of female same-sex sexuality", where stable lesbians could have different "underlying influences" from other types of nonheterosexual women.
Although Diamond found no association between developmental milestones and subtype, other researchers have found differences between an "early" and "late" trajectory. In their study of 30 nonheterosexual young women, McClelland et al. (2016) also identified differences between girls with "early" first same-sex attractions (before age 10) and those with "late" first same-sex attractions (between age 16-22).
de Graaf & Picavet (2018) also found differences in developmental trajectories of a larger Dutch sample of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults. Of the 3054 respondents, 330 women and 792 men who were exclusive homosexuals, while 1144 women and 788 men were nonexclusive in their attractions. Two distinct trajectories among exclusive homosexuals: "Trajectory 1: early, homosexual experienced" (N=452) and "Trajectory 2: late, bisexual experienced" (N=666). Contrary to Diamond's (2005) findings, earlier average age of first same-sex attraction was related to stable, exclusive same-sex sexual attractions and behavior (Trajectory 1). On average, the age of first same-sex attraction was 13.7 years for Trajectory 1 (no "experience" with opposite-sex partners), and 16.7 years for Trajectory 2 (some "experience" with opposite-sex partners). Most male exclusive homosexuals followed Trajectory 1, while most female exclusive homosexuals followed Trajectory 2: "Among exclusively same-sex attracted people, women more often than men follow the ‘‘late, bisexual experienced’’ trajectory." In those with nonexclusive attractions to the same-sex, six different trajectories were identified, "which differed especially with regard to the nature and comprehensiveness of their same-sex experiences."
Given the smaller sample size, it is possible that Diamond (2005) was unable to find statistically significant differences in developmental milestones due to low statistical power.
References
Diamond, L. M. (2003). Was it a phase? Young women's relinquishment of lesbian/bisexual identities over a 5-year period. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84(2), 352. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.352
Diamond, L. M. (2005). A new view of lesbian subtypes: Stable versus fluid identity trajectories over an 8-year period. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29(2), 119-128. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2005.00174.x
Diamond, L. M. (2008). Sexual fluidity: Understanding women’s love and desire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Diamond, L. M. (2021). The New Genetic Evidence on Same-Gender Sexuality: Implications for Sexual Fluidity and Multiple Forms of Sexual Diversity. The Journal of Sex Research, 58(7), 818–837.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.1879721Ganna, A., Verweij, K. J., Nivard, M. G., Maier, R., Wedow, R., Busch, A. S., ... & Zietsch, B. P. (2019). Large-scale GWAS reveals insights into the genetic architecture of same-sex sexual behavior. Science, 365(6456), eaat7693.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat7693
McClelland, S.I., Rubin, J.D. & Bauermeister, J.A. “I Liked Girls and I Thought They Were Pretty”: Initial Memories of Same-Sex Attraction in Young Lesbian and Bisexual Women. Arch Sex Behav 45, 1375–1389 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0507-3
Meier, S. C., Pardo, S. T., Labuski, C., & Babcock, J. (2013). Measures of clinical health among female-to-male transgender persons as a function of sexual orientation. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 42(3), 463-474.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-0052-2
Savin-Williams, R. C. (2019). Developmental trajectories and milestones of sexual-minority youth. The Cambridge handbook of sexual development: Childhood and adolescence, 156-179.
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108116121.009
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