T11-O-08 Bisexual women differ from lesbian and heterosexual women on several sexuality measures - 27/06/08

Doi : 10.1016/S1158-1360(08)72954-2

S.A. Sanders ^1,^2,^⁎, C.A. Graham ^1,³, R.R. Milhausen ⁴
¹ The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction Bloomington, Indiana, USA
² Department of Gender Studies, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana, USA
³ Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
⁴ Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Corresponding author.

Résumé

Objective

Compare sexual orientation groups on: numbers of male and female sexual partners and total numbers of partners in lifetime and the past year; propensity for casual sex; frequency of condom use in the past year; erotophilia-erotophobia; sexual sensation seeking; propensity for sexual excitation and sexual inhibition.

Design and methods

A volunteer sample of 545 women from the USA and Canada completed anonymous questionnaires. Analyses were conducted based on two groupings:

1)	self-identity [heterosexual n=450, bisexual n=46, lesbian n=49] and
2)	lifetime partner type [women who had sex with men only (WSMO) n=396, women who had sex with men and women (WSMW) n=136, women who had sex with women only (WSWO) n=13]. Comparison of the scores across sexual orientation groups included age as a covariate in a series of univariate GLM analyses.

Results

Statistically significant sexual orientation group differences (based on both self-identity and lifetime partner type) were found for almost all variables. These were not explained by other demographic differences. Specifically, bisexuals showed a different pattern of responding than both heterosexual and lesbian women, and WSMW scored differently than WSMO. WSWO did not differ from WSMW or WSMO.

Conclusions

Research merging bisexuals with lesbians (or with heterosexuals) OR merging WSMW with WSMO as WSM may obscure important differences relevant to sexuality and sexual health. Care should be exercised in conceptualizing bisexuality as “in-between” heterosexuality and homosexuality. Attention should be given to discordant findings across multiple dimensions of sexual orientation and various aspects of sexuality.

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