Studies have shown that although lesbians obviously are more attracted to the female form that straight women were aroused by both images of naked men and naked women. 82% of the women tested in a study involving 345 were aroused by both sexes. This shows that even women that identify themselves as straight could possibly be bisexual.

Women’s sexuality is, therefore, more fluid than men’s. According to an evolutionary psychologist, this fluidity is due to a mechanism that women have to reduce conflict and tension with co-wives in polygynous marriages. Being sexually fluid meant women could still have sex with their co-wives as well as successfully reproducing with their husband.

It has been shown that both genders are able to be sexually fluid and can switch between being heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual. However, it has been shown to be more common in women.

Sexual fluidity is how we identify our sexual preferences; such as gay or straight; our sexual behaviour; sexual thoughts and fantasies; and genital and brain responses to sexual stimuli. Another evolutionary theory is that sexual fluidity kept women reproducing with their husbands, even when their sexual preference wasn’t strictly heterosexual.

Women’s sexual fluidity has been defined as “situation-dependent flexibility in women’s sexual responsiveness”. What this means is depending on the circumstances a woman might feel attracted to either a man or a woman.

Beforehand women only noticed their attraction to other women later on in life. However, nowadays younger women are a lot more comfortable with how they feel and more open to their fluid sexuality. Some women even reject labels such as bisexual as they find them too limiting but instead choose to come out as pansexual. Being pansexual means not being limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender or gender identity.

Another reason straight women are more likely to admit about having lesbian encounters is because it is socially acceptable. Women are already in a position where they are seen as very sexualised and experimental. Whereas you would never have a situation where two straight men admit to making out.

Even though fluidity is getting a lot of attention, it isn’t new. As people grow up they change and learn new things. I discovered my attraction to girls when I was in the first year of college, about 16, 17 years old, but for some women, they don’t find out until a lot later on. A lot of women are also told it’s a ‘girl gone wild’ phase but it isn’t. From my research you can see we were born to be this way, it just sometimes takes a while for us to come to terms with it.

Grace Hemphill x