Confirmed: There’s no such thing as a ‘straight’ woman

This is one study that will turn every stereotype on its head. According to a new research, women are either bisexual or gay but ‘never straight’.

Experts from the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex found straight women were strongly aroused by both sexes, even though they said they were only interested in men. In contrast, lesbians showed far stronger responses to women and barely any when shown the men, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

The researchers said lesbians were the most like men in their responses because it is usually men who show distinct sexual responses to their favourite sex.

Researcher Gerulf Rieger said that even though the majority of women identify as straight, the research clearly demonstrates that when it comes to what turns them on, they are either bisexual or gay, but never straight. Rieger also said his study showed that lesbians who may dress in a more masculine way may not have more masculine behaviours.

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The study showed a set of videos of naked men and women to 235 women and recorded their responses. According to the data, 82% of the women in the test group were aroused by both sexes, based on indicators such as whether their pupils dilated in response to sexual stimuli. Of the women who identified themselves as straight, 74% were strongly sexually aroused by videos of both attractive men and attractive women. In contrast, lesbians showed much stronger sexual responses to women than to men. “Even though the majority of women identify as straight, our research clearly demonstrates that when it comes to what turns them on, they are either bisexual or gay, but never straight,” Dr Riegler said. He noted that this shows that how women appear in public does not mean that we know anything about their sexual role preferences.

First Published: Nov 07, 2015 00:00 IST