Bisexuality and Sexual Fluidity
Gregory Herek (2002) surveyed attitudes toward bisexuality in 1997 and 1999 and found an interesting sex difference: men felt differently about gay and bisexual women than about gay and bisexual men, but women felt differently about bisexual men and women than gay men and women. On one measure, Herek reports "feelings toward bisexuals were colder (less favorable) than toward any other group except injecting drug users." (Only responses from heterosexuals were included in this study, but less than 4% of the sample reported any other sexuality).
Richard Lippa (2006) found that higher sex drive was connected to greater desire for both men and women in women only; men appeared to have increased desire for one sex or the other. However, the self-report measures Lippa used were highly subjective, and reporting bias is likely to have occurred. Roy Baumeister's review (2000) suggests that women have a more flexible and socially influenced sex drive than men, varying their amount and type of sexual activity widely over the course of their lifetimes.
This topic leads to entirely too many chances for authors to be cute. Levine (2003) says: "In both the clinician's and the researcher's hands, sexual desire is a slippery concept."
Yes, I have known a lot more women who say they're bisexual than men. But I really think that's a reporting bias more than a difference in the way men's and women's sex drive is programmed. Even without the socialization of childhood, I still find it socially harder to say I'm bisexual now than it was a decade ago, and my social environment isn't more restrictive -- except in as much as I'm read and treated as male.
Richard Lippa (2006) found that higher sex drive was connected to greater desire for both men and women in women only; men appeared to have increased desire for one sex or the other. However, the self-report measures Lippa used were highly subjective, and reporting bias is likely to have occurred. Roy Baumeister's review (2000) suggests that women have a more flexible and socially influenced sex drive than men, varying their amount and type of sexual activity widely over the course of their lifetimes.
This topic leads to entirely too many chances for authors to be cute. Levine (2003) says: "In both the clinician's and the researcher's hands, sexual desire is a slippery concept."
Yes, I have known a lot more women who say they're bisexual than men. But I really think that's a reporting bias more than a difference in the way men's and women's sex drive is programmed. Even without the socialization of childhood, I still find it socially harder to say I'm bisexual now than it was a decade ago, and my social environment isn't more restrictive -- except in as much as I'm read and treated as male.