Bisexuality in girls can be a lifetime sexual orientation, it’s not a phase, recent research shows. The discoveries run counter to the thought that bisexuality is a transitional or experimental period for girls who, for example, are unsure or are scared of commitment. Additionally to disclosing stereotypes about bisexuality, the study speaks about the complex nature of sexual orientation in girls.

Lisa Diamond, the University of Utah psychologist, said in the January issue of the Developmental Psychology journal that these discoveries showed that the distinction between bisexuality and lesbianism is a matter of level rather than kind.

To some, a discovery of bisexuality as a separate sexual orientation seems like a no-brainer. But lots of researchers and member of the public think that bisexuality has been defined by unfounded assumptions and stereotypes. M. Paz Galupo, the director of LGBT Studies at Towson University (Maryland) said that there were distinctly some theorists who supposed that bisexuality was a transitional phase, but that was greatly based on rather anecdotal than empirical information. This view is popular, also, thanks to the stereotypes that our culture holds regarding bisexual persons.

Galupo added that this notion that bisexuality was simply a transition identity hasn’t been challenged much in the study literature, partially while there are only several scientists investigating sexual orientation who totally take bisexual identity/experience into account. Galupo wasn’t involved in the current study, but he reported that Diamond’s research is one of the first thorough views at bisexuality using a kind of gold-standard method in which persons are followed over a long period of time.

Diamond asked 79 girls aged from 18 to 25 who identified themselves as bisexual or lesbian, or who denied any label for their sexual orientation. Lisa interviewed the girls five times over a ten-year period from 1995 through 2005. Participants told in details about their sexual identities, behaviors and attractions and their familial and social relationships.

Diamond discovered unlabeled and bisexual girls were more likely than lesbian women to alter their sexual identity over the ten years. The bisexual or unlabeled girls tended to switch between unlabeled and bisexual rather than to heterosexual or lesbian. Around 20% of participants switched from an unlabeled or bisexual identity to straight but more than half of these girls switched back to unlabeled or bisexual. By ten years of researching work, the majority of women told being involved in a long-term, monogamous relationship for more than a year.

The results show that girls’ definitions of lesbianism permitted more flexibility in sexual behavior than did their definitions of heterosexuality. For example, 15% of the girls who identified themselves as lesbian in the last round of interviews said having sexual affair with a guy during the prior two years. Nevertheless, girls who settled on a straight label in the last interviews said having no sexual contact with a girl within the previous two years. Diamond reported, this causes further support for the notion that women’s sexuality is relatively fluid and that the distinction between bisexual and lesbian girls isn’t a rigid one.

Probably even more so than lesbian women, bisexual girls have more hurdles to clear before they are at the very least accepted by people. Galupo said that one challenge facing bisexuality identified girls is that their identity is challenged by other people and that identity gets assumed based on the relationships that they form –either lesbian if in a same-gender relationship or straight if in an opposite-gender relationship.

Galupo notices other misconstrued attitudes about bisexuality, for instance, the idea that it is accepted because it is trendy, or while bisexual persons can’t make up their minds, that they are promiscuous, or that they have to be having multiple relationships with both girls and guys in order to maintain their identities. Additionally to nixing on-the-street prejudices, a more accurate notion of bisexuality, Galupo said, could have implications for the research area.

He said that bisexuality is frequently defined by the default – in terms of what it isn’t – bisexual persons are neither straight nor lesbian or gay. So understanding bisexuality can tell people much about our common definitions of sexuality.