Straight People Don't Exist, Research Says

[beenherebeforeagain]

Do you think such information will have an effect on our deeply held cultural beliefs about sexuality? For example, that the notion of a "real man" will eventually fade away? Why or why not?

​

Or

Do you think the recognition of a continuum of sexuality rather than sexual end points with several sexual "anomalies" between them by which one can pigeon-hole sexuality, will have an effect on how these "anomalies" are regarded?

1) any one study such as the linked will have little effect either way. Rafts of studies, over time, might have a little effect. What will have more effect is social discussion about the various sex and gender positions on the continuum that has been largely recognized by those who study sex and gender for decades. Such discussions have been happening, and having an effect, since I was young.

2) see #1.

 

[YmirGF]

You can find the full study here. It has not been often cited by other scientists, which could be a sign they don't regard it very highly.

There are several studies -- dating back at least twenty or more years -- to the effect that women's sexuality is more complex than men's. So far as I know, most of those studies have found that straight women tend to be "mostly straight", straight men tend to more strictly straight.

I'm usually a bit leery of anything on VICE just from a quality standpoint, Kudos on spotting the fact that the study is hardly setting the world on fire.

 

[Nakosis]

"We show straight men a picture of a woman masturbating and they respond just like a straight guy, but then you also show them a guy masturbating and their eyes dilate a little bit. So we're actually able to show physiologically that all guys are not either gay, straight, or bi." The various parts of Savin-Williams' study collectively address sexuality in both men and women, showing that boring ideas, such as that people are either 100 percent straight or gay, don't endure under objective, scientific scrutiny.
​

I don't know that this means anything. Guys masterbate. Maybe seeing another guy masterbate just means they start thinking about getting themselves off. Not that they suddenly want homosexual sex.

Why can't people leave the sexual preference of other folks alone? Why try to fit everyone into the same mold?

 

[Sunstone]

I don't know that this means anything. Guys masterbate. Maybe seeing another guy masterbate just means they start thinking about getting themselves off. Not that they suddenly want homosexual sex.

Excellent point.

The article doesn't say much about the study or studies done on guys, other than the methodology was to observe pupil dilation. That's a common measure of someone's interest in something, but as you point out, it doesn't get at why they were interested in something.

I mean, I don't often come across pics of guys masturbating, but when I do, my eyes get wide and the first thought through my head is inevitably, "Jeez! They make 'em that big? I thought my three fulsome inches of thrusting love rocket was top of the line. My whole worldview is shattered now."

 

[YmirGF]

I don't know that this means anything. Guys masterbate. Maybe seeing another guy masterbate just means they start thinking about getting themselves off. Not that they suddenly want homosexual sex.

Why can't people leave the sexual preference of other folks alone? Why try to fit everyone into the same mold?

I can only assume it is the desire to make Gender a 100% construction. This is an uphill battle due to the simple fact that for the vast majority of human animals, gender and sex just happen to coincide and the only construction needing work is in the area of conquest notches.

 

[savagewind]

I am 100% straight. I would never look at guys, guys dont interest me in any shape or form.

But, you're still young.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I can only assume it is the desire to make Gender a 100% construction. This is an uphill battle due to the simple fact that for the vast majority of human animals, gender and sex just happen to coincide and the only construction needing work is in the area of conquest notches.

What? Sexual orientation being a social construct has nothing to do with gender identity or trans issues.

 

[Spirit of Light]

But, you're still young.

I am in relationship with a woman, and no that will not change.

 

[savagewind]

As for myself, the only people's sexualities that I know better than they know themselves are the world's women. They all want me -- all of them -- even though they all say they don't -- all of them.

That's not true.

 

[Sunstone]

I can only assume it is the desire to make Gender a 100% construction. This is an uphill battle due to the simple fact that for the vast majority of human animals, gender and sex just happen to coincide and the only construction needing work is in the area of conquest notches.

So far as I can find out, the push to regard gender as 100% a social construction is not so much based on science, as it is on politics. I expect the notion to be weeded out over the decades by the sciences. My own hunch is that gender is -- like all human behaviors rooted in human instincts -- partly biological, partly learned, and partly created by the individual. Tool use is an instinct, saws are a cultural artifact, and the way Stan uses one is in part due to his own eccentricities.

 

[WalterTrull]

I am 100% straight. I would never look at guys, guys dont interest me in any shape or form.

Ooohhh! What a hunk!!

 

[Curious George]

As for myself, the only people's sexualities that I know better than they know themselves are the world's women. They all want me -- all of them -- even though they all say they don't -- all of them.

You have that same problem? Me too. Except all then men in the world also want me, so I guess i can attest to Skwim's post. That they all want me--to leave is irrelevant. Bottom line is they all want me, and if they are a dude that makes them at least a little gay.

 

[Audie]

"A 2015 study shows that human sexuality is fluid and women are hornier than you think.

A 2015 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology undermines long held beliefs about heteronormative sexual orientation. The study looks at gender expression in women and measures their physiological response viewing a variety of pornographic material. It found that, regardless of how women self report their sexuality, their bodies respond positively to both hetero- and homosexual sex. Meaning, women's sexuality is complex and not within the bounds of strict hetero- or homosexuality.

Following popular logic, sexuality is thought of as straight or gay. Bisexuality has only recently begun to be taken seriously. The idea of separate, static, and neatly defined sexual orientations is woven into the fabric of American society and is part of our cultural conception of gender itself; real men are masculine and attracted to women.

The results of Savin-Williams' study challenges deeply held cultural beliefs about sexuality, but he's not surprised to find that sexuality is more complex than gay and straight. "I'm certainly not surprised," he says. "We're trying to get at the way people really are. Sometimes, it seems people are one way but believe they have to report themselves in another way, and that's not good."

Savin-Williams explains that the motivation for individuals to inaccurately self report their desire is a consequence of restrictive social influence: the norms that determine how individuals are perceived and treated. He's been working on an idea that he calls the mostly straight male. "We've always recognized mostly straight women, that is, women who mostly are straight but if the right woman comes along, well maybe she'll try it out. We used to think that was only a female phenomenon."

"We show straight men a picture of a woman masturbating and they respond just like a straight guy, but then you also show them a guy masturbating and their eyes dilate a little bit. So we're actually able to show physiologically that all guys are not either gay, straight, or bi." The various parts of Savin-Williams' study collectively address sexuality in both men and women, showing that boring ideas, such as that people are either 100 percent straight or gay, don't endure under objective, scientific scrutiny.

"I do see this loosening of the boundaries," [Savin-Williams ] says. "I think that's happening for both sexes. It's probably a good thing, because it gives kids growing up more diversity, more options, so they don't feel like they have to fit in [at all costs]. Straight women and straight men feel much more comfortable than ever before in going into the realm of the other sex in terms of gender role and how they act."

Even though an individual with an LGBT gender or sexual identity may endure undue social discrimination and prejudice, from the perspective of one's humanity, it may be a privilege to be queer, because you've been given cause to question the norms that govern identity in a way heterosexual, cisgender individuals may not have. Repressive gender culture might cause material harm to people who fall closer to the queer part of the continuum, but those boundaries limit everybody by disallowing the individual to explore the depth, breadth, and scope of their humanity.

"If you look at women, the self esteem of lesbian women tends to be higher than that of straight women," Savin-Williams explains. "Maybe they feel like they have more freedom [to be who they really are]. Granted, society may not always like it, but it is your own authentic self."

source

.​

And here I thought I am a bit
weird. Turns out it is everyone else.

 

[Audie]

Or so you don't think you do.

.

It is what they all say.

 

[Revoltingest]

"A 2015 study shows that human sexuality is fluid and women are hornier than you think.

A 2015 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology undermines long held beliefs about heteronormative sexual orientation. The study looks at gender expression in women and measures their physiological response viewing a variety of pornographic material. It found that, regardless of how women self report their sexuality, their bodies respond positively to both hetero- and homosexual sex. Meaning, women's sexuality is complex and not within the bounds of strict hetero- or homosexuality.

Following popular logic, sexuality is thought of as straight or gay. Bisexuality has only recently begun to be taken seriously. The idea of separate, static, and neatly defined sexual orientations is woven into the fabric of American society and is part of our cultural conception of gender itself; real men are masculine and attracted to women.

The results of Savin-Williams' study challenges deeply held cultural beliefs about sexuality, but he's not surprised to find that sexuality is more complex than gay and straight. "I'm certainly not surprised," he says. "We're trying to get at the way people really are. Sometimes, it seems people are one way but believe they have to report themselves in another way, and that's not good."

Savin-Williams explains that the motivation for individuals to inaccurately self report their desire is a consequence of restrictive social influence: the norms that determine how individuals are perceived and treated. He's been working on an idea that he calls the mostly straight male. "We've always recognized mostly straight women, that is, women who mostly are straight but if the right woman comes along, well maybe she'll try it out. We used to think that was only a female phenomenon."

"We show straight men a picture of a woman masturbating and they respond just like a straight guy, but then you also show them a guy masturbating and their eyes dilate a little bit. So we're actually able to show physiologically that all guys are not either gay, straight, or bi." The various parts of Savin-Williams' study collectively address sexuality in both men and women, showing that boring ideas, such as that people are either 100 percent straight or gay, don't endure under objective, scientific scrutiny.

"I do see this loosening of the boundaries," [Savin-Williams ] says. "I think that's happening for both sexes. It's probably a good thing, because it gives kids growing up more diversity, more options, so they don't feel like they have to fit in [at all costs]. Straight women and straight men feel much more comfortable than ever before in going into the realm of the other sex in terms of gender role and how they act."

Even though an individual with an LGBT gender or sexual identity may endure undue social discrimination and prejudice, from the perspective of one's humanity, it may be a privilege to be queer, because you've been given cause to question the norms that govern identity in a way heterosexual, cisgender individuals may not have. Repressive gender culture might cause material harm to people who fall closer to the queer part of the continuum, but those boundaries limit everybody by disallowing the individual to explore the depth, breadth, and scope of their humanity.

"If you look at women, the self esteem of lesbian women tends to be higher than that of straight women," Savin-Williams explains. "Maybe they feel like they have more freedom [to be who they really are]. Granted, society may not always like it, but it is your own authentic self."

source

.​

Are you seeking to justify something to us here?
I wouldn't judge you for loafer lightness anyway.

 

[YmirGF]

I am in relationship with a woman, and no that will not change.

As a gay male I am disturbed by stories like your own where suddenly you are made to feel weird because you are, like most people of the planet, comfortable in your physical body and your sexuality. Welcome to 2018 where being cis-gender means permanently having to say you are sorry.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

As a gay male I am disturbed by stories like your own where suddenly you are made to feel weird because you are, like most people of the planet, comfortable in your physical body and your sexuality. Welcome to 2018 where being cis-gender means permanently having to say you are sorry.

Why are you bringing gender and trans stuff into this when it has literally nothing to do with the topic??? Seriously, it has nothing to do with this and is going off topic.

 

[Spirit of Light]

As a gay male I am disturbed by stories like your own where suddenly you are made to feel weird because you are, like most people of the planet, comfortable in your physical body and your sexuality. Welcome to 2018 where being cis-gender means permanently having to say you are sorry.

I dont judge you as a human being or your sexual gender, so you should not feel weird toward me. I just say that i am not a gay person and will never become one. As a buddhist i see that sexual intercorse with same sex is not how we was created, sex is for making kids to make our heritage go on. Being gay or lesbian in it self is how some people are, it is the sexual part with same gender that is explained in buddhism as misconduct. But we should never judge a person who are gay or lesbian out of their sexual gender.

So if i have offended you by anything i said in my answer here i want to say i never meant to hurt you or other people.

 

[Salvador]

There lots of pretty dudes who might just be a little bit bi-curious...Nuttin' wrong wit dat....Right?

 

[Skwim]

No, I mean that as the original poster in a thread, posting links and quoted texts is not sufficient as I understand the rules of RF. Most of the time, you DO ask a question or do something else to elicit comments. An article by itself? Not so much.

Current events is not a "Debate" forum, but rather a "Discussion" forum, and if you don't find anything to discuss you don't have to. You can merely ignore it or read what others have to say. The choice is yours.

.