sexuality

[desh]

Inspired by today's Gene Weingarten chat and by talking to a few friends of mine, here's a poll:


But first, to define some terminology: "Gal" is what I'm saying since neither "woman" nor "girl" is as age-nonspecific as "guy". Please ignore whatever patronizing connotation you may think "gal" has.

If "gay", "straight", and "bi" aren't specific enough for you, then consider "gay" to be kinsey 5-6, "bi" to be kinsey 2-4, and "straight" to be kinsey 0-1.

There are limits to the number of choices any poll can give (especially on LJ), but not limits to the number of different answers that are actually possible, especially with a charged question like this. Please, wherever possible, choose the closest answer even if it's not perfect. Feel free to elaborate in comments.

Now, then:
[Poll #1104392]
(As always, LJ lets you edit your poll results if you misclicked or something.)

Comments

[goob712.livejournal.com]

"Bisexual" is a spectrum, not a definite halfway point. Most bisexuals have a lean towards one side or the other, as far as I have seen.

That makes it hard to pinpoint. I find it silly that a person would claim that a person could "identify as bisexual but is really straight/gay". If you identify as one thing, who cares what anyone labels you?

I identify myself as bisexual, but with a long-term preference for men. Does that make me "actually straight"? I'm currently in a long-term relationship with a man, and we are monogamous. But if I were not, I would certainly pursue future relations with women, if I could.

That said, it is very frustrating to be a female interested in another female, and realize she's only in it for the male attention it gets. Does that mean she's not really Bi? Just pretending?

Difficult question.

[krisispm.livejournal.com]

You just made what I think are the most salient two points in any discussion about bisexuality.

The "not a halfway point" facet is frequently mentioned and increasingly acknowledges, but people often overlook the "long-term preference" issue ... or, they nefariously employ it as a way to arbitrarily assign someone as straight or gay.

It makes perfect sense to me for someone to be attracted to both sexes, but to have a preference for which they ultimately wind up with. We have a bisexual friend who recently married a man, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's "actually straight" for life now.

[peneli.livejournal.com]

Well, sexuality is a spectrum, in general.

If we could accept that, all this would be much easier.

[goob712.livejournal.com]

Amen.

:)