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Bisexuality is its Own Team, Study Shows

Should bisexuals just “pick a team?” Why don’t they just “get off the fence?” These are some of the common frustrations aimed at bisexuals from the straight and LGBT communities alike. But a new study finds that, at least in women, bisexuality is not a result of sexual confusion. Nor is it a transitional phase between homosexuality and heterosexuality. ABC News reports that a new study by Lisa Diamond, an associate professor of psychology and gender studies at the University of Utah, found bisexuality in women to be a “natural state.” Diamond told ABC that her findings suggest that bisexuality should be recognized as a distinct sexual orientation.

The small study followed 79 bisexual women for 10 years, and while some occasionally waivered in their sexual preference, few described themselves as “switching” to become either lesbian or straight. The research also challenged the notion that bisexual women are less likely to be successful in committing to a long-term relationship. The majority of the study participants were in monogamous relationships that lasted five years or more.

The study will be published in the January issue of the American Psychological Association’s journal, Developmental Psychology. Diamond has also written two books on female sexuality: Rethinking Positive Adolescent Female Sexual Development (2006) and the forthcoming book (to be published by Harvard University Press on February 15, 2008), Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire.

Bisexual Men More Rare?

Larry Craig and the “on the down low” phenomenon notwithstanding, other research has found that bisexuality is more common in women than men. Diamond’s research suggests that women have different patterns of sexual response than men do. But Diamond says her research should not be construed to mean that male bisexuality does not exist, but rather than more study is needed to define its unique characteristics.

In my experience, lesbians often struggle to describe how female relationships are different. It’s an emotional thing. It’s about the connection, as much or more so than sexual intimacy.

Biologists Say Bisexuality Smells; Gays are “Gender Blind”

A group of neurobiologists at the University of Illinois at Chicago have figured out how to put the “fruit” in fruit flies. Researchers at the Featherstone Lab have discovered that sexual orientation in fruit flies is controlled by a gene they named “gender blind,” or GB. If the fly’s GB gene is “mutated,” the fly is gay. The “mutation” causes the flies to overreact to pheromones, the chemical smell that identifies the gender of other flies.

Associate Professor David Featherstone, Ph.D. and his fellow scientists also found a way to turn homosexuality on and off in the fruity little flies using drugs. By spiking apple juice, the flies’ synapses could be weakened, causing GB-mutated fly fags to stop engaging in homosexual behavior. The scientists also achieved the reverse, giving hetero male files drugs that strengthened their synapses, causing them to court both males and females. Biologists can make flies bisexual.

Featherstone told the Chicago Sun-Times, “I never thought we’d be able to do that sort of thing, because sexual orientation is supposed to be hard-wired. This fundamentally changes how we think about this behavior.”

The significance of fly sex should not be dismissed: biologists say that fruit flies and humans share essentially all of the same molecules and mechanisms to build and operate our respective brains. Fruit flies are often used in research because they use something called “glutamatergic synapses” for brain function and controlling complex behavior, same as us. In an attempt to explain glutamate to the non-scientist, the Featherstone lab describes this amino acid as “the voice by which brain cells speak ” and their receptors as “the ears by which they hear.”

I am no scientist, but this research smells like trouble. I suppose there is good news and bad news when you extrapolate fly sexuality to human sexual orientation. On the one hand, Featherstone’s biology suggests that queerness is in our cells. It is nature, not nurture. On the other hand, it offends me that the study, and many of the articles written about it, are describing homosexuality as a “mutation.” This seems to me to imply imperfection or damage. Perhaps mutation has a slightly less sinister meaning for scientists, but it seems a dangerous word to inject into mainstream coverage of science. And in an audio interview with Dr. Featherstone, he describes heterosexuality as “the normal behavior.” I don’t mean to overreact, but it bugs me.

Of course, human brains are far more complex than the fruit fly, and this research may not ultimately have implications for human sexual behavior. But I would not be surprised to see social conservatives try to turn this science against us.

Perhaps queers should be prepared to leverage this biology to our advantage. If Christian Conservatives think there’s a gay agenda now, imagine the right-wing hetero fear of Homo Mutant Glutamate Sex. Queer smellers with the strong synapses. Gender blind with lust. How’s that for weird science?

To learn more, check the following links:

Gene Makes Fruit Flies Bisexual,” Chicago Sun-Times

In Fruit Flies, Homosexuality is Biological But Not Hard-wired,” Science Daily

The Featherstone Lab’s recently published scientific article on their research is not for the non-scientist. But for the scientifically inclined, you can see a free abstract of the research (or purchase the entire article) at the Website for the journal Nature Neuroscience: “A Glial Amino-Acid Transporter Controls Synapse Strength and Homosexual Courtship in Drosophila.”

Bisexual Conference Comes Back, Calls for Content

The Bisexual Empowerment Conference:  A Uniting, Supportive Experience (BECAUSE) is back after a three-year hiatus.  The 14th BECAUSE Conference will be held at the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota, March 28-30, 2008.  Workshops will be held on Saturday, March 29, and event organizers have just issued a call for proposals on workshop topics.  Organizers are looking for workshops on a variety of topics of interest to the bi community, including bisexuality 101, sexuality, BSDM, health, politics, spirituality and academic topics. According to BECAUSE organizer Lisbeth Kellogg, the primarily goal for the workshops is to help build the bisexual community.  The deadline for workshop proposals is January 2, 2008.

More information on the bisexual community conference, as well as how to submit a workshop proposal, is available on the BECAUSE 08 Website.