Human sexuality as a bell curve

October 16, 9:29 AMAtlanta Lesbian Relationship ExaminerLeslie Davis

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Human sexuality is often compartmentalized within the succinct labels of heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality. Yet, within each of those groups, the behavior, preferences and interests vary substantially from individual to individual. There is no sexual behavior or activity that has not been explored by a large number of people throughout time. How behavior is defined, or perceived, has varied.

Sexuality seems to be a topic that immediately causes great anxiety for a large number of people. They become so vocal about their discomfort that the rest of us operate according to the same taboo, each believing that there is validity to all of the rigid categories and labels. Even those who reject labels are reacting to being defined. As a result many people define sexuality in narrow terms publically, while exploring every dark corner and crevice of potential sexual behavior when the opportunity arises. Regardless of your preferences, fetishes, level of interest, experiences or thoughts, there have been many others before you who have walked that same path. Internet voyeurism, electricity and creative use of plastics merely exacerbated an ongoing preoccupation with sex.

Humans are sexual creatures. We are mammals that have sex recreationally. We have given a lot of thought over the centuries to the creative pursuit of sex. It has never been solely for procreation, though that has certainly been an ongoing fortuitous by-product of our instinct to copulate. When the flood gates of adolescence release a torrent of hormones into your system as a teenager, life is never quite the same again. To suggest that any human chooses sexual attraction is to intellectualize behavior that is reaction and response. Does anyone really know why they are attracted to one person and not another?

I think that if human sexual identity was graphed accurately, it would look like a standard bell curve with bisexuals in the middle. I think that bisexuals are the largest group. Anyone not leaning strongly to the gay end of the spectrum may elect to pursue a long term heterosexual relationship due to social stigmatization. For example, people who fall within the 90/10 to 70/30 range on the heterosexual side of the curve may not be inclined to act on those feelings due to social stigmatization and fear of reprisal. I believe that some people are truly 50/50, though I have no idea what kind of standard deviation the curve would have or the number of people at 50/50, because homophobia makes it impossible to properly test my hypothesis.

J. Michael Bailey, a researcher of human sexuality at Northwestern, would probably disagree. For some reason he believes male homosexuality is genetic (rather than chosen), lesbianism IS chosen, male bisexuality doesn’t exist and Transsexuals are anomalies.
I agree that males do not ‘choose’ to be homosexual, but female sexuality has not been explored enough for any individual to establish a final conclusion on the nature of attraction for women versus men.

I don’t purport to study male sexual behavior, but casual observation suggests that the male of our species is often highly sexually motivated, visually stimulated, pleasure seeking and opportunistic. Men do not necessarily equate ‘getting off’ with a sense of self, identity or love. Based on input from my male friends, sexual appetite is just that…appetite, like for food. If society had no stigma associated with same sex liaisons, I would not anticipate a huge increase in homosexuality, though widespread disclosure would probably be perceived as an increase. I would expect a huge increase in male bisexuality. I think stigmatization of homosexuality and social pressure amongst men keeps a lot of bisexual men ‘in the closet.’

I think sexual orientation and human relationships go beyond a few simple labels. To view sexuality from such a black and white perspective negates what is more natural, which is to simply follow your heart (or hormones) and hope you meet someone who makes your time on this planet more interesting, fun and worthwhile.

E: meanderingmuse@comcast.net
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