So, you think you are alone in all this? 

Think again.

I'm adding a new section this weekend. It'll be called "What the experts say." In it, I'm going to start adding information about what scientific researchers who study human behavior have found about the bisexual and gay lifestyle, for women. I think if you check out these figures occasionally, you'll have an opportunity to learn more about who we are as a group. After all, science is knowledge and it'll innoculate you against the false beliefs and prejudices we have all been exposed to during our lives. Don't forget that knowledge is power.

I'll start off today by quoting an article published by the American Psychological Association in 2001, which addresses the question of "normalcy" in regards to our behavior. Pretty much, the article summarizes the fact that no one is 100 percent heterosexual 100 percent of the time, as stated by Linda Garnets, PhD, a researcher at UCLA. Here's a small excerpt from the article: "People's erotic attractions can be surprisingly fluid when it comes to erotic attractions, and science fails to support the conventional wisdom that people's sexuality can be neatly placed in rigid categories, she said."

Click on the link below to read the entire article: Our erotic personalities are as unique as our fingerprints
http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr01/erotic.html

You can click on the back button to return to this page.

Regarding the Kinsey studies, since they took place over 50 years ago, and back then they were considered revolutionary and taboo, there is no doubt that the final figures on female sexuality are outdated, however, some of his valuable findings still apply today, and I'll quote below some of that.

About the study:
5300 white males and 5940 white females provided almost all the data, with the majority of participants being younger white adults with some college education.

Method:
Kinsey used in-depth, face-to-face interviews by highly trained interviewers. In each history a subject would be questioned on up to 521 items, depending on his/her specific experience (the average in each case being near 300). Histories covered social and economic data, physical and physiologic data, marital histories, sexual outlets, heterosexual histories, and homosexual histories.

Scope:
Data was gathered from 1938 to 1963, when the project was closed.

Conclusions by Kinsey:

Kinsey’s conclusions similar to Linda Garnets, (the Dr. quoted in the article mentioned above). He devised a heterosexuality/homosexuality scale whereby no one was classified as absolutely gay nor absolutely straight.

He concluded that: “The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories... The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects, (p 639)…. An individual may be assigned a position on this scale, for each period in his life...  (ref link: http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/research/ak-hhscale.html ) (Source:http://www.research.iu.edu/centers/kinsey.html )

As a result of these findings, he published two books about fifty years ago. The second one was the long-awaited book on women's sexuality, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, which quickly became a bestseller.

Obviously a lot has changed since then and although his findings broke taboos and opened the door to a new way of thinking about human sexuality, —and many studies have come about after, but none like his— there is a need for more current statistical data and research. The good news is that the Kinsey Institute is now conducting its next large study on human sexuality. This is your opportunity to participate in a significant step towards better understanding of this topic. So, I’d like to invite you all to step up to the plate and put in your 2 cents. I did. The on line questionnaire is anonymous and voluntary, meaning, there is no payoff except to know that you have contributed to another major study by the most reputable organization on the topic.

So, if you are a woman, of any sexual preference, who’s interested in participating, click on the link below. It should take you no more than 20 minutes. Afterwards you’ll be given a study participant number. So, this is a chance to make history, to do your part. And if you want, pass it along to your friends. The study, I believe, will close in 2008, but don’t wait too long.  Have fun!  

http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/surveylinks.html 
There are 2 studies listed. Start by clicking on the Women's Well Being and Sexuality Study. The next one will follow. And please, come back here and post your comments on the study. Let us know what you thought about the questions.

‘Till the next one!