Abstract
Interviews were conducted in close friendship pairs with women who ranged in age from 18 to 52 years at the time of interview. Results suggest that women of different sexual orientation identities had different friendship profiles. Comparisons across friendship type suggest that bisexual-heterosexual friends consistently experienced a shift in friendship dynamic based on the sex of partner for the bisexual friend and were more likely than lesbian-heterosexual friends to integrate their friendship into their social lives. Lesbian-heterosexual friendships were significantly more likely to include an explicit acknowledgment of non-heterosexual identity. Although cross-orientation friendships did not consistently include a feminist/political dimension, when friends also differed in racial identity a feminist/political dimension in the friendship became apparent. In cross-race friendships racial minority identities were explicitly acknowledged even when non-heterosexual identities were not.
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Acknowledgments
A Faculty Research Grant made available through the Women’s Forum of the University System of Maryland supported this research. An extended thanks to Sarah St. John and Carin A. Sailer for their participation in conducting the interviews and to Carin A. Sailer for her aid in coding the interviews for this analysis. Thanks, also to Kelly B. Cartwright for her helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.
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Galupo, M.P. Women’s Close Friendships across Sexual Orientation: A Comparative Analysis of Lesbian-Heterosexual and Bisexual-Heterosexual Women’s Friendships. Sex Roles 56, 473–482 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9186-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9186-4