Are Lesbians Less Into Casual Sex Than Hetero Women?

Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere

Mae West

Everyone knows gay men like casual sex. But lesbians? Lesbians don’t do illicit assignations, do they?? If you live a Second Life where sexual boundaries tend to extend well beyond the social norms of everyday real life, you may very well disagree.

Back in the real world, the occasional lesbian may complain that other lesbians don’t do the “no strings attached” thing however, with the advent of apps like FindHrr there may be greater transparency but is there a need, does casual sex exist in the lesbian community?

The invisibility of lesbian casual sex is not just a pop culture thing. Academic research on uncommitted sex among lesbian women is almost non-existent too. Search PsycINFO (the most extensive psychology research database) for studies on heterosexual or gay male casual sex, and you’ll get about 100 articles for each. Search the same database for research on lesbian casual sex, and you’ll find a total of five such papers.

So, are lesbians not at all into casual sex? Or are they similar to heterosexual women in their casual sex interests and experiences?

A recent study published in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour provides a (partial) answer. Minna Lyons of Liverpool Hope University and her colleagues recruited 126 hetero and lesbian women (mean age = 27) from various online sources (discussion forums, social networking sites, and university students) for a study on “gaydar”. Among other things, participants were asked about three aspects of their orientation toward uncommitted sex (also known as sociosexuality in academic jargon):

Desire for casual sex. Eg. “How often do you have fantasies about having sex with someone you are not in a committed romantic relationship with?” on a scale of 1 (Never) to 9 (At least once a day).
Attitudes toward casual sex. Eg. “Sex without love is OK” on a scale of 1 (Strongly disagree) to 9 (Strongly agree).
Experience with casual sex. Eg. “With how many different partners have you had sexual intercourse on one and only one occasion?” on a scale of 1 (Zero) to 9 (20 or more).

The outcomes of the study were interesting and two clear conclusions could be drawn;

Firstly, heterosexual and lesbian women did not differ on how much they desired, approved of, or had prior experiences with casual sex (none of the averages were significantly different).

Secondly, whilst women’s approval of casual sex was slightly above the midpoint of the scale, neither group was particularly yearning for or experienced with casual sex.

These findings replicate the results of an older study (from 1994) which also found virtually no differences between the casual sex inclinations of 140 heterosexual and lesbian women (aged 20-40) recruited using advertisements in a free urban (alternative) publication.

Finally, in a 2009 study, 946 young women (mean age = 20) were asked about the “type” of their most recent sexual partners and relationships. The women were recruited five years after they had participated in a study of Minnesota public high school students, and were therefore a fairly representative sample of the Minnesota young adult population.

Again, the results were interesting. The percentage of women whose most recent sexual experience was with a casual acquaintance or a close but nonexclusive partner was almost identical for hetero and non-hetero women: 14% vs. 15%. (Granted, non-hetero in this study combined bisexual, lesbian, and questioning women, but it’s the only data of this kind that exists!).

All in all, although sexual orientation matters for some aspects of female sexual psychology, casual sex is not one of them. Lesbians desire, approve of, and engage in one night stands just as much (or as little) as heterosexual women do. Not more, not less.

And both groups of women show significantly less interest and acceptance of casual sex than either gay or heterosexual men. But that’s a story for a different post!

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