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Christan Moran, a researcher at Southern Connecticut State University, looked at more than 200 married lesbians and found “great potential for heterosexual women to experience a first same-sex attraction well into adulthood.” But aren’t these women just born gay and refusing to acknowledge their sexuality until later in life?
Not according to Moran, who, the Telegraph relays, says “late-blooming sexuality was often wrongly dismissed as repressed lesbians finally coming to terms with their true feelings. Most research ignored ‘the possibility that a heterosexual woman might make a full transition to a singular lesbian identity … in other words change their sexual orientation.'”
Drewsa
I wonder if it has anything to do with menopause & the babymaking chemicals/instincts shutting down.
L.
@Drewsa: I wouldn’t be surprised if it was, actually. If one believes in the selfish-gene theory, then it makes sense for women to feel attracted to the opposite sex until their genes have passed over to the next generation, but nothing could prevent them from switching then.
Plus, I like the idea of choice better than the one of repression.
Shade
It’s never too late to upgrade
L.
@Shade: Arf 🙂
Plus – it frees up a bunch of DILFs for us, so it’s a win-win if there ever was one.
Kart
If this is a real psychological phenomena, and not backed by biased data, it would be very interesting. My only concern would be that it would cause a lot of radical christians (and others) to continue discrimination and conversion therapy based on the idea that being gay is a choice.
Boston Lesbian
I didn’t come out (to myself) until almost 50. I thought I was just very bad at relationships with men . Now I’m married to my wife. I know of many women who came out of the closet later in life. There’s a lot of societal pressure to be heterosexual. How can you determine whether it is repression or “switching teams”? I have no idea.
jason
This study by Moran is questionable at best. I take exception to the notion of a change in sexual orientation. The automatic feelings that I refer to as “sexual orientation” don’t change.
Sexual behavior, on the other hand, does change. Sexual behavior can depend on the personal beliefs of the person, their religion, their vulenerability to stigma, the difference in availability of the genders, and basic lifestyle commitment such as the desire to reproduce.
L.
@Kart: As opposed to causing a lot of radical christians (and others) to switch their stance on abortion based on the idea that being gay is genetic?
The “born/bred” issue is one that scares me endlessly because it’s one we can never win with the nuts. They don’t want us and will say anything that appear to sustain their hateful ideas, even at the expense of internal coherence.
SusanGabriel
I think it takes a lot of courage to live an authentic life, whatever that looks like. I am a professional writer and wrote a novel called Seeking Sara Summers about a woman who falls in love with her best female friend. From the feedback I get from readers, a lot of women–both gay and straight and in-between–can relate.
Susan Gabriel
author of Seeking Sara Summers
(a novel about falling in love with your best friend)