News: SELF DISCOVERY - About Lesbians
Sunday, July 25, 2010
| Why some women are late-blooming lesbians 'Biological Fluidity' Makes In Their 30s Swithch Sexual Orientation The phenomenon, whose discovery has taken researchers by surprise, suggests lesbianism could be more widespread than previously though. While many women could be future lesbians without knowing it, others may already have switched but be concealing their sexuality to keep their families together. Most textbooks assume, as with men, women's sexual preferences are partly genetic and become fixed in teens and early twenties, with relatively few changing sexutality later in life. Now studies have shown that in reality women's sexual orientation becomes more fluid as they grow older, with many developing lesbian or bisexual tendencies after the age of 30. Researchers believe the phenomenon of fluid sexuality is far more common in women than men. "Women have a uniquely female potential for periodic shifts in sexuality over time," said Christan Moran, of Southern Connecticut State University who has conducted a study of women who were married with families when they fell in love with other women. She found that, rather than being a joyful experience, many such women initially went through psychological agonies as they tried to reconcile their loyalities to their families with their emerging attraction to women. Historically, some women have found a way to reconcile their sexuality with social norms. Among them is author Virginia Woolf who, aged 40, began a love affair with Vita Sackville-West despite both being married, The phenomenon was also illustrated by Portia de Rossi, the actress whose marriage to Mel Metcalfe, amale filmmaker, brole up in 1999 after which she "married" the comedian Ellen DeGeneres. |
