Are You Straight, Gay, or Somewhere Between? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• STRAIGHT, GAY OR LYG? BISEXUALY REVISED
• IS YOUR MAN GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL?
• GAY, STRAIGHT OR LYG? SCIENCE HAS THE ANSWER (2003)
• ARE YOU STRAIGHT, GAY, OR SOMEWHERE BETWEEN?

STRAIGHT, GAY OR LYG? BISEXUALY REVISED

Aled Ksey and lns of self-scribed bisexuals are to be believed, are drawn to both a new study sts doubt on whether te bisexualy exists, at least study, by a team of psychologists Chigo and Toronto, lends support to those who have long been skeptil that bisexualy is a distct and stable sexual who claim bisexualy, acrdg to the crics, are ually homosexual, but are ambivalent about their homosexualy or simply closeted. "You're eher gay, straight or lyg, " as some gay men have put the new study, a team of psychologists directly measured genal aroal patterns rponse to imag of men and women. Randall Sell, an assistant profsor of clil soc-medil scienc at Columbia Universy, "is for some therapists to see this study and start tellg bisexual people that they're wrong, that they're really on their way to homosexualy.

IS YOUR MAN GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL?

"He add, "We don't know nearly enough about sexual orientatn and inty" to jump to the the experiment, psychologists at Northwtern Universy and the Center for Addictn and Mental Health Toronto ed advertisements gay and alternative newspapers to rec 101 young adult men. Thirty-three of the men intified themselv as bisexual, 30 as straight and 38 as rearchers asked the men about their sexual sir and rated them on a sle om 0 to 6 on sexual orientatn, wh 0 to 1 ditg heterosexualy, and 5 to 6 ditg homosexualy.

Bisexualy was measured by sr the middle alone a laboratory room, the men then watched a seri of erotic movi, some volvg only women, others volvg only a sensor to monor sexual aroal, the rearchers found what they expected: gay men showed aroal to imag of men and ltle aroal to imag of women, and heterosexual men showed aroal to women but not to the men the study who scribed themselv as bisexual did not have patterns of aroal that were nsistent wh their stated attractn to men and to women. "Regardls of whether the men were gay, straight or bisexual, they showed about four tim more aroal" to one sex or the other, said Gelf Rieger, a graduate psychology stunt at Northwtern and the study's lead thor. And a 1994 survey by The Advote, the gay-oriented newsmagaze, found that, before intifyg themselv as gay, 40 percent of gay men had scribed themselv as bisexual.

Jt as some heterosexuals still believe (rrectly) that homosexualy is “abnormal, ” some heterosexuals and homosexuals feel the same way about bisexualy (also rrectly). ” Ksey’s huge survey of Amerins’ sexualy showed that most people are exclively heterosexual or homosexual, but that some fall between var gre of bisexualy. As many heterosexuals began celebratg sex for pleasure (as distct om procreatn) durg the so-lled Sexual Revolutn of the 1960s and 1970s, homosexuals began celebratg their own sexualy—and fightg prejudice and discrimatn agast them.

GAY, STRAIGHT OR LYG? SCIENCE HAS THE ANSWER (2003)

Ironilly, as bisexualy gaed more media notice, some homosexuals stepped up their attacks, llg a “p-out” or a “betrayal” of bisexuals’ prumed “te nature” as homosexuals. They asked 101 young men—30 of who intified as straight, 38 as gay, and 33 as bisexual—to watch erotic vios wh their genals wired to tect aroal.

ARE YOU STRAIGHT, GAY, OR SOMEWHERE BETWEEN?

From 2006 to 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn’s Natnal Survey of Fay Growth surveyed Amerins on their sexual orientatn, and found that 16% of women and 5% of men cled to select straight or gay, sistg that they were somewhere the middle, attracted to both genrs to varyg gre. A 2013 Universy of Ptsburgh study showed that many straight and gay people reacted negatively to bisexualy wh 15% of straight men sistg that bisexualy don’t exist. A study of llege stunts’ attus the mid-1990s asked participants if they nsired homosexualy acceptable or unacceptable: 43% said male homosexualy was unacceptable, while 38% said the same about lbianism.

Other studi have shown that, pared wh imprsns of gay men and lbians, more people believe that bisexuals are promiscuo, unfahful to their lovers, unable to make a long-term mment to a sgle person, and more likely to fect a lover wh a sexually transmted fectn. Bisexuals talk about “g out twice"—once as gay or lbian a heterosexual world when they acknowledge their attractn to their own genr, and then aga when they acknowledge their ntug attractn to the oppose sex.

“Let me tell you a story, ” he said, rellg the time he reprented a heterosexual woman a se agast gay neighbors who were tryg to have her dog put down. ”Bisexuals are so unlikely to be out about their orientatn — a 2013 Pew Rearch Survey, only 28 percent of people who intified as bisexual said they were open about — that the San Francis Human Rights Commissn recently lled them “an visible majory” need of rourc and the ey of many Amerins, bisexualy — spe ocsnal and exaggerated media reports of s chis — remas a bewilrg and potentially vented orientatn favored by men nial about their homosexualy and by women who will evably settle down wh men.