Pop culture tells us there are two kinds of gay. There is the cool fun kind of gay, two girls kissing and then there’s weird scary gay, two dudes kissing. When girls have sex with each other, it’s hot. When guys have sex with each other, it’s funny.
How we got to such a place in culture has a lot to do with who makes TV and movies and who they make it for: The thick, white American middle. But times are changing and more of what we see on our screens is a reflection of ourselves. But one thing does have the ring of truth. When it comes to swinging both ways, girls tend to do it more.
Now some evolutionary biologists in the UK think they have some thoughts:
Many more women than men say that they experience same-sex attraction or have had a sexual experience with someone of the same gender. Last week research revealed that 1 in 4 women who self-identify as heterosexual have had a sexual experience with another woman. Other research has shown women who identify as heterosexual are more likely to experience arousal when shown pornographic material featuring women than heterosexual men are when they are shown similar material depicting men.
Dr Satoshi Kanazawa has advanced a new theory that this is due to older cultures, in which men often had multiple wives, using sex between them to form bonds and diffuse conflict. This subsequently increased harmony within familial units and benefited wider communities.
In other words, there might be something deeply evolutionary about women’s desire for women. The good Dr. Kanazawa puts it this way: “Rather than being straight or gay, to whom women are attracted may depend largely on the particular partner, their reproductive status, and other circumstances.”
Of course, this could hold true for men too but they just don’t talk about it as much because of social stigma. Masculinity, femininity and homosexuality are wrapped up in power dynamics. Men don’t want to seem weak and they are taught that women are the weaker sex and therefore homosexuality is an expression of that that weakness in men. But as has been shown time and time again sexuality, like gender, is dynamic and complex and various. So science says anyway.
h/t Independent UK