Sex Question Friday: Are Women More Likely To Be Bisexual Than Men?
Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller Posted on Friday, May 4, 2012 at 7:00AM 
Every Friday on the blog, I answer sex questions submitted to me by actual college students. This week, we’re talking about bisexuality. Many students have asked me whether it is really possible for someone to be attracted to both men and women (a question I have previously answered here). However, the student who asked this week’s question wanted to know whether there is a difference between male and female bisexuality.
I have heard of research that determined men can only be attracted to one sex whereas women can legitimately be bisexual. Is this true?
Not exactly. Men’s attraction is not necessarily limited to one sex. In fact, a recent lab experiment found that bisexual men experienced high levels of sexual arousal in response to both male sexual images and female sexual images (to read more about this study, click here).1 The arousal pattern of bisexual men was distinct from that of heterosexual and homosexual men, who only experienced arousal in response to images of their desired sex (i.e., gay men were only aroused by images of men, while heterosexual men were only aroused by images of women). Were bisexual men equally aroused by both men and women? Not necessarily. Bisexual men usually experienced stronger arousal in response to one sex than the other (some were more strongly attracted to men, while others were more strongly attracted to women). However, this should not be taken to mean that bisexuality doesn’t really exist in men, because it does—it’s just that while bisexual men were indeed highly aroused by both sexes, they usually found one sex to be slightly more arousing.
Although it is clearly possible for men to have some degree of attraction to both sexes, women seem to have a more natural capacity for bisexuality than men. For instance, research has found that self-identified heterosexual women exhibit almost equally strong levels of genital arousal in response to male-male, female-female, and male-female pornography, whereas heterosexual men do not.2 Thus, men and women appear to have different levels of erotic plasticity, such that women of all sexual orientations are capable of being turned on by a wider range of sexual targets than are men. As some additional evidence of this, research has found that some women go back and forth between having relationships with men and women and change their sexual identity to be consistent with their sexual desires (a phenomenon known as “sexual fluidity”).3 No corresponding pattern of behavior has ever been documented among men. Women’s greater erotic plasticity is also evidenced by the fact that women are less likely than men to develop sexual fetishes (i.e., to become fixated on certain objects or body parts in order to receive sexual pleasure).
In summary, while it is indeed possible for both men and women to be bisexual, evidence from a variety of sources suggests that bisexuality may be a more natural occurrence among women than men.
For past Sex Question Friday posts, see here. Want to learn more about The Psychology of Human Sexuality? Click here for a complete list of articles or like the Facebook page to get articles delivered to your newsfeed.
1Rosenthal, A. M., Sylva, D., Safron, A., & Bailey, J. M. (2011). Sexual arousal patterns of bisexual men revisited. Biological Psychology, 88, 112-115.
2Chivers, M. L., Rieger, G., Latty, E., & Bailey, J. M. (2004). A sex difference in the specificity of sexual arousal. Psychological Science, 15, 736-744.
3Diamond, L. (2008). Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Image Source: http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b114/JadeW/bisexual.jpg
Reader Comments (6)
Great article!
Good article, although I'd like to point out that the idea of women being more inherently bisexual (or even that all women are potentially bisexual) is rather a myth with little ground in reality. Most statistics worldwide, from Kinsey onwards, show that the ammount of bisexual men and women is about the same (sometimes there are more men, sometimes more women, but the difference is irrelevant). Throughout history, however, the prevalence of male bisexuality over female is overwhelming.
The only study that seems to support the idea of bisexuality being much more prevalent in women is the one you cited by Chivers, but other studies using the same methodology showed that a significant ammount of straight males are turned on by gay porn as well (for example, Adams HE, Wright LW Jr, Lohr BA., 1996). Also there are lots and lots of personal testimonies of straight men getting turned on by gay pornography. It's a very common issue in sexology and consulting forums.
On the other hand, the research paper of Chivers cites a previous study (with the same methodology as well) conducted with straight and lesbian women, that showed that the straight ones got aroused accordingly with their sexual orientation, while the lesbians didn't, which is exactly the opposite phenomenon that Chivers reported in her study.
The other research frequently cited supporting this view of female sexual fluidity is that of Diamond. But actually, Diamond didn't study straight women; she studied just lesbian, bisexual and "unlabeled" women so, if anything, her research would prove that pure homosexuality is very rare in women. But it wouldn't be proof, as it's usually claimed, of all women being potentially bisexual.
Irene: This article was writen for a man. Dr. Justin may be a doctor, but he stills a man. Of course he will say women are more likely to be bisexual than men. And of course, he will only cite studies that support his opinion (like Chiver's) while ignore the studies that don't ( like Adams HE, Wright LW Jr, Lohr BA., 1996) .
For me, saying "bisexuality may be a more natural occurrence among women than men." totally CONTRADICTS HISTORY. (And sadly, HISTORY is something that even professionals like Dr Justin tend to forget, when it comes to this subject).
What more documented evidence that the antique Greece, antique Rome, renaissance, etc. records of male bisexuality is needed?
Most Men just want to believe "almost only women are bi by nature" because that's their fantasy. Period.
But as Irene pointed out, is a Myth. As much as the "Most girls have pillow fights at sleep overs" myth.
However, I do believe because of todays culture, bicurious women can be OPEN about it, while bicurious men are FORCED to keep in the closet (believe me, even if the surveys are private, bi/gay men would still lie). Hence the myth gain strength.
PS: Dont get mad at me, Dr Lehmiller, i respect you and I like your blog, but as with most men on this matter, I think your opinion is still biased.
Thank you both for providing your comments. I always appreciate hearing readers' perspectives on my articles. I have written a new post in which I respond to the issues you both raised here: http://www.lehmiller.com/blog/2012/7/30/is-bisexuality-really-a-more-natural-tendency-for-women-than.html
As you'll see, I still stand by the conclusions of my original article. The notion that bisexuality may be a more natural occurrence for women than men is most certainly not a myth and has strong grounding in science (and I should add that much of this science was conducted by women, including the Chivers study).
Well, yeah, but...is not a bit of a stretch to use Chivers' study to support the idea that women are more inherently bisexual than men? As far as I know, what that study showed is that vaginal blood flow, as measured by a photopletysmograph, was the same for all stimuli, and also happened when the women viewed a video of bonobos mating (though to a lesser degree).
But blood flow to the vagina may not be related with actual arousal. It's quite possible that it's an automatic reflex, developed through evolution to protect women from rape injuries. Chivers herself stated this theory as a possible explanation, and seeing what happened with the bonobo video, seems more plausible (if not, we'd need to conclude that women are also, on average, more likely zoophiliac than men).
There's also a study made by Dr. Suschinsky, in which the women showed genital response to both descriptions of consensual sex, as well as descriptions of violent non-consensual sex. The men, on the other hand, were only genitally aroused by consensual sex. But that doesn't mean that those women were really aroused by rape, they didn't report any arousal. Their vaginas, however, seemed to respond automatically as protection.
I've also read somewhere (correct me if I'm wrong, because I don't remember well), that when researchers measure other variables of sexual arousal, such as clitoral blood flow, these are category-specific, just like men's.
In any case, I don't mean with this that your interpretation of the study is wrong or anything; of course, it's also a possibility. But maybe it's too early to draw those conclusions.
Ah! As a side note. When reading the Chivers' study I noticed something really weird. When women self-reported arousal to the videos (I mean subjective report, not genital measures), they rated the gay male video very low, even lower that the lesbian one. But on the other hand, it's not a secret that many women find gay male erotica quite arousing, to the point that there are entire genres dedicated to it, and made by women for women (for example, Japanese yaoi, or slash fiction). I've never heard that there was a similar phenomenon of lesbian pornography for straight women, however.
So, why do you think they gave the male/male erotica such a low rating?
Would it be possible that homophobic prejudices against gay men are as widespread among heterosexual women as they are among heterosexual men? Maybe women (at least the American) perceive straight and lesbian pornography as "normal" and acceptable, while gay pornography is perceived as"deviant"?
I am a bisexual man and have been very very fluid through out my life. Luckily I am in the art world where there has been some acceptance of bisexuality. Because of my dual attractions I just went with it to see where relationships go. I ended up 80% heterosexual in behavior. To live a gay life or a straight life would have been utterly artificial. But also I never fit in the gay community nor the straight community very well. Luckily I found other bi men and bi women over the years. However I also think that because of the stupid meme that "bisexual men don't exist", bisexual men will try to fit into either gay or straight. Many "gay" and "straight" men have admitted to me that they are actually bisexual but don't act on the other attraction (or if so on occasion). This may be due to another phenomenon amoung men, men are very tribal in their socializing. The creation of a "gay" tribe or a "straight" tribe is about creating social norms that members of that tribe adhere to. Most of the real bisexual men I know are very mutable not only in desires but in their character.