Straight Girls Kissing: Theorizing Same-Sex Behavior in a Population-based Sample of "Straight” Women

• In Event: 587 - Regular Session. Sociology of Sexuality: Young Adult Sexualities

Abstract

It is common for young women to have same-sex romantic and sexual experiences in the absence of general attraction to women or lesbian or bisexual identity. Currently available theories do not adequately account for this demographic pattern. Emerging research has primarily examined this “straight girls kissing” phenomenon in relation to gender and power in college hook-up culture. The popular theoretical conception of women’s sexuality as “fluid” fails to extend beyond college-attending populations and falls short of accounting for how stable but “messy” sexualities are experienced and expressed. I draw on 35 in-depth qualitative interviews with women with “messy” non-hetero sexualities to explore this new demographic trend. Participants were drawn from the Relationship Dynamics & Social Life (RDSL) study, a longitudinal demographic survey project conducted at the University of Michigan (participants enrolled for 30 months beginning at age 18 or 19). A sub-sample (n=594) answered separate questions on sexual behavior, attraction, and identity (approximately one third has some type of non-hetero response). This paper focuses on those indicating “behavior only”, theorizing its motivation and meaning. My data support several new theories: (1) women with attraction to both men and women strategically choose behavior with women in certain contexts, based on perceptions of safety; (2) "openness" is a critical way of conceptualizing one's sexuality, replacing specific behavior and corresponding identity labels; and (3) the (actual or perceived) increase in lesbian visibility places a burden on some women to interrogate their sexualities if they feel they don't fit with changing norms of sexuality.

Author

• Jamie Louise Budnick, University of Michigan