Abstract
We investigated whether motivation for same-sex sexual contact was related to mid-cycle peaks in estrogen levels (typically associated with ovulation) among women with consistent versus inconsistent patterns of same-sex sexuality. Twenty women (M age = 30 years), all of whom have been providing data on their sexual behavior and identities since 1995, completed daily diaries assessing sexual motivation and provided 10 days of salivary estrogen samples. During the 3 consecutive days on which estrogen levels peaked, women who had consistently identified as lesbian since 1995 (n = 5) showed increased motivation for sexual contact with women. This change in same-sex motivation was significantly smaller among women who consistently identified as bisexual (n = 7) and women who had given up their lesbian or bisexual identities at some point since 1995 (n = 8). Women who ascribed a role for “choice” in their same-sex sexuality also showed smaller increases in same-sex motivation. The findings suggest that women with consistent versus inconsistent patterns of same-sex sexuality might be experiencing different types of same-sex desires influenced by different factors.
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Notes
Sample characteristics make it difficult to know the degree to which such findings are generalizable. For example, the study by Weinberg, Williams, and Pryor (1994) sampled openly identified bisexuals who were members of the San Francisco bisexual community, who might arguably be more likely to experience and openly report changes in sexual object choice.
Freud (1905/1961) actually articulated a similar notion with respect to homosexuality, noting that the evidence for “intermediate examples” of homosexuality suggested that “we are dealing with a connected series” (p. 138). Freud (1895/1961) drew upon the notion of “complemental series” to explain the etiology of these types; this notion, which he originally developed to explain the etiology of pathology more generally, maintains that neither endogenous, hereditary factors nor experiential factors are sufficient to produce pathology in and of themselves. Rather, Freud maintained that they exerted inverse and complementary influences on psychological development (i.e., the stronger “press” from one, the weaker “press” from the other).
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by grant 1 R21 HD044398 from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, awarded to Sheri Berenbaum, and a University of Utah Research Committee grant, awarded to Lisa Diamond.
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Diamond, L.M., Wallen, K. Sexual Minority Women’s Sexual Motivation Around the Time of Ovulation. Arch Sex Behav 40, 237–246 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-010-9631-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-010-9631-2