Lisa Diamond: Sexual Fluidity

[bibliogramma]

Lisa Diamond is an Associate Professor at the University of Utah and a self-identified feminist scientist. Her primary field of research lies in the realm of the psychological and biobehavioral processes underlying intimate relationships and their influence on emotional experience and functioning over the life course. Her book Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire discusses her results of some of her research in this area.

Diamond begins with an overview of current prevailing assumptions about love and desire - "that an individual’s sexual predisposition for the same sex or the other sex is an early-developing and stable trait that has a consistent effect on that person’s attractions, fantasies, and romantic feelings over the lifespan." She goes on to note that these assumptions are largely based on male experience because most research into sexuality has been conducted on men and adds that new research (including her own) conducted with women suggests that there is another dimension to sexuality in addition to such elements as identity and orientation, and that this dimension - sexual fluidity - is considerably more marked among women.

Sexual fluidity, quite simply, means situation-dependent flexibility in women’s sexual responsiveness. This flexibility makes it possible for some women to experience desires for either men or women un- der certain circumstances, regardless of their overall sexual orienta- tion. In other words, though women—like men—appear to be born with distinct sexual orientations, these orientations do not provide the last word on their sexual attractions and experiences. Instead, women of all orientations may experience variation in their erotic and affectional feelings as they encounter different situations, relationships, and life stages.

Looking at differences in men and women, she posits that the process by which sexual orientation is formed is different in men and women. In discussing the formation of sexual orientation in general, she argues that it arises from a combination of biological and cultural factors - that biology (genetics and other biological factors) create the predisposition for one or another orientation, but that culture plays a significant part in determining whether and how that predisposition is expressed. Introducing the role of sexual fluidity in this process, she argues that

... sexual fluidity should strengthen situationally influenced pathways to female same-sex sexuality, it should correspondingly dilute—but not completely cancel out—the overall evidence for biological contributions to female sexuality. The evidence for biological contributions to male same-sex sexuality, in contrast, should be stronger and more consistent.

It is currently accepted that the various pathways to the development of a same-sex orientation differ in their effects on males and females, and there is often lower correlation between existence of a biological marker and development of a same-sex orientation in women; further, expression of a same-sex orientation also differs in males and females.

For example, whereas many gay men recall childhoods characterized by gender-atypicality, feelings of “differentness,” and early same-sex attractions, fewer les- bian/bisexual women recall such experiences. Women also show greater variability than men in the age at which they first become aware of same-sex attractions, first experience same-sex fantasies, first consciously question their sexuality, first pursue same-sex sexual contact, and first identify as lesbian or bisexual.

Diamond is careful to distinguish sexual orientation, sexual identity and sexual fluidity.

Fluidity can be thought of as an additional component of a woman’s sexuality that operates in concert with sexual orientation to influence how her attractions, fantasies, behaviors, and af- fections are experienced and expressed over the life course. Fluidity implies not that women’s desires are endlessly variable but that some women are capable of a wider variety of erotic feelings and experiences than would be predicted on the basis of their self-described sexual orientation alone.

In particular, she distinguishes between the influence of sexual fluidity on sexual behaviour and the experiences associated with a bisexual identity:

By now, it should be clear that though the concept of fluidity overlaps with the phenomenon of bisexuality (since fluidity, by definition, makes nonexclusive attractions possible), they are not the same things. Whereas bisexual- ity can be conceived as a consistent pattern of erotic responses to both sexes, manifested in clear-cut sexual attractions to men and women (albeit not necessarily to the same degrees), possessing a potential for nonexclusive attractions (or, as we have seen, finding the “idea” of same-sex contact appealing even if you currently have no same-sex desires) is clearly different.

Diamond's own research is, of course, the centerpiece of the book. She discusses in considerable detail her 10 year longitudinal study with women who identified as one of the following: lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, or "unlabled."

In general, the conclusions Diamond draws from her research suggest several distinct differences from the generally assumed theories (i.e., theories based primarily on research among male subjects) of the construction of sexual identity and the patterns of sexual behaviour. Diamond's findings suggest that sexual fluidity in women:

1. results in a greater tendency toward changes in sexual identity
2. leads to increased willingness to acknowledge the potential for future change in their attractions and relationships as they age.
3. leads to a greater prevalence of nonexclusivity - the possibility that they might experience attractions to or relationships with both sexes.
4. implies that early sexual experiences do not predict later ones.

It is important to note that Diamond is not equating the potential for change in identity with voluntary or external influences; she points out that change does not imply choice or control. She is careful to show that the findings of her research into sexual fluidity do not suggest or support any of the following interpretations:

1. that all women/people are bisexual
2. that there is no such thing as sexual orientation
3. that sexual orientation is a conscious choice
4. that sexual orientation can be changed either by personal intention or external influence such as reparative therapy

Following several initial chapters devoted to summarising her research and how her theory of sexual fluidity explains the differences between what women experience in terms of sexual identity formation and sexual behavior, and what current theories predict, Diamond goes on to explore her findings and their implications for the study of sexuality, particularly the sexuality of women, in greater depth.

I must say that as a woman who has identified as bisexual for most of her adult life, after an adolescent period of identifying as a lesbian, much of what Diamond theorises feels "right" in examining my own identity changes, attractions and sexual experiences. Whether this will be true for other women is a question to be answered by time and further research into women's sexuality.