A Dynamical Systems Approach to the Development and Expression of Female Same-Sex Sexuality

Abstract

Researchers have documented substantial variability in the development and expression of same-sex sexuality, especially among women, posing challenges to traditional linear developmental models. In this article, I argue for a new approach to conceptualizing the development and expression of female same-sex sexuality over the life course, based in dynamical systems theory. Dynamical systems models seek to explain how complex patterns emerge, stabilize, change, and restabilize over time. Although originally developed by mathematicians and physicists to model complex physical phenomena in the natural world, they have increasingly been applied to social-behavioral phenomena, ranging from motor development to cognition to language. I demonstrate the utility of this approach for modeling change over time in female same-sex sexuality, reviewing extant published research and also introducing data collected from an ongoing, 10-year longitudinal study of young nonheterosexual women. I provide evidence that female same-sex sexuality demonstrates the emblematic features of a dynamical system: nonlinear change over time, spontaneous emergence of novel forms, and periodic reorganizations and phase transitions within the overall system. I highlight the specific contribution of a dynamical systems perspective for understanding such phenomena and suggest directions for future study.

Stability of Self-Reported Same-Sex and Both-Sex Attraction from Adolescence to Young Adulthood

“…For example, subsequent studies found that LGB youth report shifts in their sexual attractions, behaviors, and identities over time (Diamond, 2005;Ott, Corliss, Wypij, Rosario, & Austin, 2011;Savin-Williams & Ream, 2007). Also, individuals who self-identified as lesbian do not always exclusively report same-sex attraction and some state that their sexual attractions changed over time (Diamond, 2007).…”

“…Diamond (2007) explored this question asking a sample of women to self-identify their sexual identity over a 10-year period. Diamond found that many of the women changed their identity labels but that the majority did not make such changes in a transitional fashion of going from a bisexual to lesbian identity.…”

The Desire Disorder in Research on Sexual Orientation in Women: Contributions of Dynamical Systems Theory

“…For example, adult women appear likely to report sizeable discrepancies among their attractions, romantic feelings, and sexual behaviors; to report a markedly late and abrupt onset of same-sex sexuality, often after heterosexual marriage (Cassingham & O'Neil, 1993;Walsh, 2010); to report fluctuations in their sexual behaviors and identities over time, sometimes triggered by single relationships (see reviews in Baumeister, 2000;Diamond, 2003bDiamond, , 2007Diamond, , 2008Hyde, 2005;Mustanski et al, 2002;Peplau, 2001;Peplau & Garnets, 2000).…”

“…In light of these robust sex differences, some have gone so far as to argue that sexual orientation might not even exist in women (Bailey, 2009), whereas others have argued that it unfolds and operates in a less deterministic fashion for women than for men (Peplau, 2001) or interacts dynamically with a general propensity for female erotic plasticity or fluidity (Baumeister, 2000;Diamond, 2007). In essence, the''compass''analogy for sexual orientation does not work well for women: What, then, is the right model?…”

New Trends in Same-Sex Sexual Contact for American Adolescents?

“…As we noted in our article, studies have shown considerable fluidity in the development and expression of sexual behavior and orientation over time, particularly in young women (Diamond, 2005(Diamond, , 2007(Diamond, , 2008Diamond & Butterworth, 2008). The current comparison of 17-year-olds in the 6th and 7th cycles of the NSFG suggests that further exploration of factors that may be contributing to changing patterns of same-sex sexual behavior in American adolescents is warranted.…”