Researchers at the University of Essex have suggested Women who think they are heterosexual are actually bisexual or gay and “never straight”.
The research, led by Dr Gerulf Rieger in the Department of Psychology, involved a sample of 345 women who had their physical responses to sexual stimuli monitored, with experts concluding that most women are either lesbian or bisexual, with very few actually heterosexual.
Women were shown videos of “attractive” men and women while researchers noted subconscious responses including pupil dilation.
Participants who identified as exclusively heterosexual were aroused by both men and women, whereas those who identified as lesbian showed much stronger sexual responses to women in the clips shown than to men.
Dr Rieger explains:
Although some lesbians were more masculine in their sexual arousal, and others were more masculine in their behaviours, there was no indication that these were the same women.
This shows us that how women appear in public does not mean that we know anything about their sexual role preferences. Men are simple, but women’s sexual responses remain a mystery.”