The experience of self-labeling and fluidity in self-identified non-homosexual women

Abstract

The hypothesis that female sexuality orientation is fluid is greatly supported by data (Goode and Haber, 1977; Rust, 1992; Baumeister, 2000; Kinsey, 2010). Regardless, the common understanding is that a woman's attraction to the sex opposite to which she is most commonly attracted to is rare. In 2008, Diamond published a study where she addresses the concept of sexual fluidity and the factors that invoke this phenomenon. The aim of this qualitative research is to explore and understand sexual fluidity in a sample of Maltese non-heterosexual adult women between the ages of 30 to 40. This information was then analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis and compared for similarities and differences of sexual fluidity in comparison with Diamond's (2008) results. Data analysis was gathered from five interviewees who look back at their past attractions thought their lifetime. The main conclusions drawn from this study are that the results demonstrate sexual fluidity in three of the five participants of this study. The other two participants do not show sexual fluidity.