Change in Sexuality Noted in England in Country-Wide Study
by Debra Baty
Photo by Pixabay
A number of times in R4R, we’ve covered the findings of Dr. Lisa Diamond, a researcher at the Univ. of Utah. She has reviewed longitudinal studies (covering 10 years or more) of tens of thousands of individuals regarding their sexuality, finding exclusive attractions to the same sex to be rare. These findings are consistent with a survey taken in England as well.
Rev. D. Paul Sullins, PhD, presented on the Third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles on Oct. 15, 2022.[1] Dr. Sullins is the Research Professor of Sociology at the Catholic University of America and Senior Research Associate of the Ruth Institute. His work was previously highlighted in R4R last Oct.[2]
This presentation was based on a paper he was preparing with Steph James,[3] which, as of the date of this writing, has not yet been published. He began with this question and answer:
Why study representative population study data?
A nationally representative sample is a country’s testimony to itself.
Large scale population studies are often commissioned to show population’s needs to those that govern it, but today the government, representatives and scholars show little interest to know or acknowledge the actual experience of persons in the population.
…Careful, detailed examination of the actual reported sexual experience of persons in the population can present empirical truths that witness to the identity of human embodiment in ways that are hard to deny.
• It can expose the falsehoods put forth by anyone who would deny these truths in the interest of imposing a top-down ideological agenda on human sexual behavior.
• And to those whose lives do not conform to that agenda, it can comfort them with the knowledge that they are not alone.
As we’ve often noted in R4R, studies covering larger numbers of people carry more weight than smaller sample sizes. These smaller samples are frequently hidden by the report of percentages rather than actual numbers in the abstracts and conclusions of reports.
The Study
Here is how this study was conducted:
From September 2010 to August 2012, Natsal-3 interviewed 15,162 household residents aged 16-74 in England, Scotland, and Wales, selected using a stratified multi-stage cluster sampling frame that was probabilistically representative of the British population. The contact response rate was 57.7%.
…During the interview, male (female) participants were shown three cards related to the dimensions of sexual orientation, with options associated with random letters of the alphabet, and asked to tell which letter best represented them to the interviewer who entered the letter into a computer.
• One card, labeled “Sexual identity,” asked “Which of the options on this card best describes how you think of yourself.?” The response options, conforming to the guidelines of the Office of National Statistics (13), were “Heterosexual / Straight; Gay / Lesbian; Bisexual; Other.”
• Earlier in the interview, participants were presented a card that read, “I have felt sexually attracted. . . (1) Only to females (males), never to males (females) (2) More often to females (males), and at least once to a male (female) (3) About equally often to females (males) and to males (females) (4) More often to males (females), and at least once to a female (male) (5) Only to males (females), never to females (males) (6) I have never felt sexually attracted to anyone at all.”
Another card presented six similar response options for sexual experience, defined as any form of sexual contact. Respondents who did not indicate an absence of sexual experience (i.e., all responses except option 6) were then given a computer and asked to enter directly, without telling the interviewer, whether the sexual experience involved genital contact and about the number and sex of their sex partners in the past year, the past 5 years, and ever.[4]
So, we see a large, random sample of a wide age range of people taken with some degree of privacy provided to those responding to surveyors' questions. Questions were separated into recording attractions, behavior, and identity.
The Findings
Dr. Sullins pointed out 85% of women and 79% of men who identified as lesbian/gay “had changed partnership type from before five years ago.” About two-thirds of these (67% women and 62% men) “changed to opposite-sex partners only. 17%-18% changed to same-sex partners only. No one changed from opposite-sex only to same-sex only.”
This reveals a significant trajectory towards opposite-sex partnerships among those who identify as lesbian or gay. In addition, 97% those who identify as heterosexual reported opposite sex partners, while only 41% of those who identified as gay/lesbian reported same sex partners. And 93% of those who identified as heterosexual reported attractions to the opposite sex, while only 43% of those who identified as gay/lesbian reported attractions to the same sex.
Other Studies
Dr. Sullins also passed along this helpful summary of findings in other major longitudinal studies, as reviewed by Dr. Lisa Diamond:
Here we see four studies in the left column (Add Health, GUTS, MSMD, & DMHD) representing 32,000 people. All note changes in attractions, the majority from attractions for the same sex to those for the opposite sex. Fluidity in the opposite direction was relatively small in comparison.
All of this information reveals that experiencing attractions to the same sex at one point in your life does not guarantee these will be the only attractions you’ll experience later on. There is solid evidence that fluidity of attractions exists, and it flows mostly toward attractions for the opposite sex. Another way of thinking about this is that we have been created with a heterosexual reproductive system, and most people will end up with desires in harmony with this design. It is OK to pursue support and encouragement to explore attractions to the opposite sex.
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