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Post by eccentric on Nov 11, 2015 12:15:51 GMT
Interestingly the American psychiatric Association's entry on LGBT says that " Some people believe that sexual orientation is innate and fixed; however sexual orientation develops over a person's lifetime. Individuals may become aware at different points in their lives that they are heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual. In contrast the American Psychological Society say that sexual orientation can change through psychotherapy, group work and life events. My experience as a therapist is that women in many circumstances find that they are looking for something different in their sexual relationships after having children and can convert from heterosexual to lesbian relationships at this point and as teenagers there is huge fluidity in orientation but this is often curtailed by parent and peer pressure. The debate about whether sexuality is fluid or stable is one that continues although current scientific consensus has a bias towards it not being a choice but innate. The form sexual fluidity was termed by Lisa M Diamond in her book Sexual fluidity. She argues that traditional labels of desire are inadequate. Historically research such as that performed by Mead has brought into question European Male female stereotyping however research carried out by Ragina Verma which shows that male and female brains are wired differently www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/02/men-women-brains-wired-differentlyI have difficulty with giving evidence that sexualty is fluid because research shows evidence in both directions. |
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Post by eccentric on Nov 13, 2015 10:55:49 GMT
Anthropologists such as Mary Mead found evidence of fluidity in sexuality. Studies of different cultures in the early 20th century showed that other cultures display different gender models to that of the UK. There is evidence in modern society of fluidity however this shows more that different sexes do not need to be the same in order to perform the same or similar roles.
Is anyone else out there to have forum discussions with?
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Post by monica on Nov 13, 2015 18:32:11 GMT
Margaret Mead's research found that different cultures showed male and female roles as being different, thereby suggesting that gender and sexuality were defined and formed by cultural influences rather than genetic ones, and so by definition fluid. This does not address whether sexuality is fluid in an individual because she didn't, so far as I know, take a male or female from their own culture and transplant them into another culture to see if they changed. It may be that the cultural influences create learned gender/sexuality behaviour in an individual, whether that's in childhood (probably) or later, and to what extent this can be changed.
Personal experience has demonstrated that both male and female can identify as heterosexual at one point in their lives, and homosexual or lesbian at another stage; this in an environment where there is very little social pressure to 'be' one thing or another. The issue of whether male/female brains are 'wired differently' is, I think, a bit of a red herring as it's not so hard and fast as that - certainly hormones play a very large part in determining not only whether the foetus is physically male or female, but also neurologically in terms of brain development, and this would effect how they identify.
I personally think that everyone is on a kind of sliding scale, and a variety of influences can determine where they are on it at any one time.
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Post by monica on Nov 13, 2015 21:05:31 GMT
Further to my last post, one can look to the ancient Greek practice of pederasty, being a relationship between a man and a younger boy - youths were considered boys until they grew beards and became marriageable (and some shaved so as to remain 'boys' for longer). The older man plaed an educational and instructional role in the boy's life, and this also included a sexual relationship. When the boy became a man he would marry and at some point would take on the 'active' role in the pederastic relationship with his own 'boy'. This suggests either a fluidity of sexuality and/or a cultural norm.
In considering fluidity one could also include those who identify as bisexual, and who can and do happily have sexual relationships with partners of either sex.
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Post by monica on Nov 30, 2015 22:30:49 GMT
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Post by charlotte21 on Dec 15, 2015 17:07:06 GMT
Interesting study done showing that heterosexual women have stable sexuality, with bi and homosexual females equally unstable (more fluid), whereas with men heterosexuality and homosexuality are equally stable with Bi the more unstable. Admittedly this is for just over 2500 people with an average age of 47, so I am wondering does this change during different phases of life?
Mock, S. E., & Eibach, R. P. (2012). Stability and change in sexual orientation identity over a 10-year period in adulthood. Archives of sexual behavior, 41(3), 641-648.
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Post by charlotte21 on Dec 15, 2015 17:23:03 GMT
And arguably supporting Mary Mead there is considerable literature on situation-dependent flexibility in sexual responsiveness.
Diamond, L. M. (2008). Sexual fluidity. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
There is a section in the book: The Husbands and Wives Club: A Year in the Life of a Couples Therapy Group, Book by Laurie Abraham. It discusses the work of therapist and author Joe Kort and the idea that there is a tendency to 'lump together' sexual orientation/identity with sexual fantasy and sexual behavior, yet the 3 often exist relatively independently. For example a person can have a fluid orientation whilst having a heterosexual relationship with homosexual fantasies, or any such combination; and these can co-exist without causing internal conflict.
Anyone know more about Kort's work?
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