Are You Bisexual? Same-Sex Relations 3 Times More Common In Women

First Posted: Jan 07, 2016 04:05 PM EST
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New information from the 2011-2013 National Survey of Family Growth found that more adults are identifying as bisexual.

The survey, which looked at more than 9,100 adults aged 18-44, found that women were three times more likely than men to report same-sex sexual interactions. 

"As bisexuality is becoming more visible, it appears more women with bisexual behavior and attractions are embracing that label over a lesbian one," said Stephanie Sanders, an associate director of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University, via Health Day. Sanders was not involved in the research.

Close to 5.5 percent of female respondents identified as bisexual when compared to 2 percent of male respondents, who entered their answers on a computer.

However, researchers noted that the wording of the survey may have had something to do with how respondents chose to answer. Casey E. Copen, demographer at the CDC National Center for Health Statistics and lead author of the study, noted that the survey may have given women more of an opportunity to report same-sex sexual contact than men; about 17.4 percent of women in the survey reported having sexual contact with other women while only 6.2 percent of men reported the same activity, according to CNN.

The survey asked women if they had engaged in oral sex or any other sexual experience with other women, while it asked men if they had engaged in oral or anal sex with other men. 

On the other hand, men were more likely to identify strictly as straight, or having feelings of attraction for just members of the opposite sex--with 92 percent of men identifying as straight compared to 81 percent of women, according to the AFP. 

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