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Correlates of Early Overt and Covert Sexual Behaviors in Heterosexual Women

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Abstract

We used data provided by 417 Kinsey-0 and Kinsey-1 heterosexual women using an anonymous computerized survey to determine the adult correlates of two female–female behaviors that occurred before age 18; 25.4% of participants reported engaging in one or both behaviors. Sexual experimentation with females and masturbating using images of females before age 18 were statistically significant predictors of four different female–female behaviors in adulthood: sexual contact with females, masturbating using images of females, preferring a female fantasy partner while having sex with a favorite (male) partner, and voyeurism directed at females; 27.3% of the participants reported engaging in one or more of the latter four behaviors. The analogous early female–male behaviors were not statistically significant predictors of female–female behaviors in adults. Conditioning resulting from participation in these early female–female behaviors might explain the correlations between the two early behaviors and the subsequent four adult same-gender behaviors. The earliest and latest ages that participants engaged in each early behavior and case-by-case analysis showed that the sequence of events leading to the female–female adult behaviors was initial sexual experimentation with similar age females (at a median age of 9 years) followed by masturbating using images of females (at a median age of 15). These results suggest that conditioning and other forms of learning play an important role in establishing coexisting same-gender orientations in heterosexual women.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous referees and the Editor for their helpful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA

    Paula J. Bickham, Stephen L. O’Keefe & Elaine Baker

  2. Department of Social Work, School of Medicine, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA

    Girmay Berhie

  3. Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia University-Charleston Division, Charleston, WV, USA

    Martin J. Kommor

  4. Division of Social Work, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

    Karen V. Harper-Dorton

  5. Department of Psychology, Marshall University Graduate College, 100 Angus E. Peyton Drive, South Charleston, WV, 25303-1600, USA

    Stephen L. O’Keefe

Authors
  1. Paula J. Bickham
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  2. Stephen L. O’Keefe
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  3. Elaine Baker
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  4. Girmay Berhie
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  5. Martin J. Kommor
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  6. Karen V. Harper-Dorton
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Correspondence to Stephen L. O’Keefe.

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Bickham, P.J., O’Keefe, S.L., Baker, E. et al. Correlates of Early Overt and Covert Sexual Behaviors in Heterosexual Women. Arch Sex Behav 36, 724–740 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9220-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9220-1

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