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Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited
By BENEDICT CAREY
Some people are attracted to women; some are attracted to men. And some, if Sigmund Freud, Dr. Alfred Kinsey and millions of self-described bisexuals are to be believed, are drawn to both sexes.

But a new study casts doubt on whether true bisexuality exists, at least in men.

The study, by a team of psychologists in Chicago and Toronto, lends support to those who have long been skeptical that bisexuality is a distinct and stable sexual orientation.

People who claim bisexuality, according to these critics, are usually homosexual, but are ambivalent about their homosexuality or simply closeted. "You're either gay, straight or lying," as some gay men have put it.

In the new study, a team of psychologists directly measured genital arousal patterns in response to images of men and women. The psychologists found that men who identified themselves as bisexual were in fact exclusively aroused by either one sex or the other, usually by other men.

The study is the largest of several small reports suggesting that the estimated 1.7 percent of men who identify themselves as bisexual show physical attraction patterns that differ substantially from their professed desires.

"Research on sexual orientation has been based almost entirely on self-reports, and this is one of the few good studies using physiological measures," said Dr. Lisa Diamond, an associate professor of psychology and gender identity at the University of Utah, who was not involved in the study.

The discrepancy between what is happening in people's minds and what is going on in their bodies, she said, presents a puzzle "that the field now has to crack, and it raises this question about what we mean when we talk about desire."

"We have assumed that everyone means the same thing," she added, "but here we have evidence that that is not the case."

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It's ridiculous of course, suggesting that bisexuality isn't a real orientation and that you have to be one or the other or lying.

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het flexible

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ORIGINAL: EmeraldSlave2
It's ridiculous of course, suggesting that bisexuality isn't a real orientation and that you have to be one or the other or lying.

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ORIGINAL: Faramir

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ORIGINAL: EmeraldSlave2
It's ridiculous of course, suggesting that bisexuality isn't a real orientation and that you have to be one or the other or lying.

It would be ridculous to jump from a single clincial study to a comprehensive or defintive view of human sexuality. It would also be ridiculous to discount evidence from a clinical study because it doesn't match expectations or is upsetting.

I'd be interested in seeing more studies, and especially a study involving female arousal (maybe that would be harder to conduct). Maybe this trial shows something about male wiring, but doesn't include a psychologial or emotional aspect.

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ORIGINAL: EmeraldSlave2
It doesn't matter what any study showed or will show, I am sexually attracted and aroused by both males and females. Case closed.

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I would say the difference between het flexible and bicurious is someone who HAS experimented and isn't really curious, they just know their level of attraction allows some flexibility in terms of sex.

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ORIGINAL: EmeraldSlave2


I would say the difference between het flexible and bicurious is someone who HAS experimented and isn't really curious, they just know their level of attraction allows some flexibility in terms of sex.

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When I first came into collarme I checked the box for bi-sexual. I got way too much mail the focused on that orientation. That biggest of male fantasies to participate in or watch some girl on girl.

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ORIGINAL: EmeraldSlave2


It doesn't matter what any study showed or will show, I am sexually attracted and aroused by both males and females. Case closed.

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ORIGINAL: Faramir


But since the study is about how groups of human males react in a controlled setting to sexual stimulus, your personal proclivities aren't meaningful.

It is very revealing that you made the leap from a value neutral study to someone telling you how to feel.

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Since I AM a bisexual, trying to say "this study supports the idea that you are really lying" does mean a lot to me.

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ORIGINAL: Faramir

I found this fascinating, but I would really like to see if there are similar findings for women.

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ORIGINAL: EmeraldSlave2
using this to somehow support that bisexuality isn't a legitimate orientation is ridiculous.

Since I AM a bisexual, trying to say "this study supports the idea that you are really lying" does mean a lot to me.

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ORIGINAL: Faramir

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ORIGINAL: EmeraldSlave2
using this to somehow support that bisexuality isn't a legitimate orientation is ridiculous.

Since I AM a bisexual, trying to say "this study supports the idea that you are really lying" does mean a lot to me.

If fanyone tried to do that - make that leap, they'd be way out of line.