Women’s rationales and perspectives on “mostly” as a nonexclusive sexual identity label.

Abstract

The sexuality labels of "mostly straight" and "mostly gay" are used by men to understand their nonexclusive sexualities, yet the value of these labels in understanding women's sexuality has not been investigated. The current qualitative study addresses this issue by examining how women with nonexclusive sexualities view the term "mostly" to understand their sexual desires and identities and explores their experiences as women with nonexclusive sexualities. Participants were 30 cis-gendered women who indicated having gender nonexclusive desires yet did not identify as bisexual. Semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis. Participants reported mostly lesbian and mostly straight identities as meaningfully different to bisexual identities, citing sexual, romantic, and intellectual reasons as rationales for their nonexclusive orientations. Participants viewed "mostly" as more indicative of sexuality as a fluid construct, serving to deemphasize sexual identity labels. Participants' narratives support the notion that sexual identity labels "mostly lesbian" and "mostly straight" are useful to understand nonexclusive sexual desires and provides support for sexuality understood as a continuum interpreted through multiple overlapping categories. Implications for the understanding of women's sexuality as fluid and flexible and how this relates more broadly to their identity are considered. Public Significance StatementThe study uses the experiences of women who identify as sexually nonexclusive to provide support for the sexuality labels of "mostly straight" and "mostly lesbian." Participants highlight complex rationales behind identifying as sexually nonexclusive, describe how identifying as sexually nonexclusive differs from bisexuality and provide support for the sexuality label of mostly. The study provides support for sexual fluidity and for sexuality understood as a continuum with multiple overlapping categories.

‘Welcome to my world’: a thematic analysis of the lived experiences of people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis during the UK COVID-19 lockdown

“…These codes were then combined and condensed into more focused codes, with the potential for these to become sub-themes and themes (Joffe, 2011). Potential sub-themes were discussed with the first and second authors, who conducted the interviews, with labels and descriptions adjusted to ensure the inductive analysis aligned with the interviewer's understandings of the data, which helped to form overarching themes (Clarke & Braun, 2013;Wignall & Driscoll, 2020).…”

The psychology of sexual and gender diversity in the 21st century: Social technologies and stories of authenticity.

“…The conception of sexuality as flexible has allowed a wider spectrum of individuals to engage in sex with people of multiple genders without identifying with a minoritized sexual identity. For example, the language of “mostly straight” or “heteroflexible” has accommodated those individuals whose sexual desires include same-gender attraction but who do not identify with a label signifying plurisexual attraction such as bisexual or pansexual (e.g., Savin-Williams, 2017; Wignall & Driscoll, 2020). A new discourse of heterosexuality as a more “elastic” category (Carrillo & Hoffman, 2018) has benefitted those whose sexual desires are predominantly directed toward a different sex but who have some desire for same-sex sexual contact.…”

“…Rather, the current era calls into question ideas about normative thinking that historically emphasizes discrete categories and binaries when it comes to the experience and expression of gender and sexuality. The clearest examples come in the form of rising identification with nonbinary gender and sexual identities (e.g., Hammack et al, 2022) and the increased documentation of same-gender desire and experience among individuals who identify as “mostly” straight or gay (e.g., Silva, 2021; Wignall & Driscoll, 2020). Yet, as the ever-expanding acronym suggests, there are numerous ways in which the identity-based language of gender and sexuality inherited from the prior century fails to fully accommodate diversity (see Cover, 2022).…”

Friendship dynamics of young men with non-exclusive sexual orientations: Group diversity, physical intimacy and emotionality

“…One study estimated that 52.4% of American men aged 15–44 who report some level of same-sex sexuality identify as straight (Silva & Whaley, 2018). Men report using the “mostly” label for sexual reasons (they have a preferred gender and some sexual attraction to their non-preferred gender), romantic reasons (they have romantic attachments or “crushes” to their non-preferred gender) and internalized homophobia (where the mostly label is a way of retaining a heterosexual identity and/or privilege) (McCormack & Savin-Williams, 2018); with similar rationales evident for women (Wignall & Driscoll, 2020). As Savin-Williams and Vrangalova (2013, p. 59) argue, there is increasing evidence that “this tri-category system has outgrown its usefulness and that more groups are necessary to accurately describe the sexuality of current cohorts of adolescents and young adults” (see also Savin-Williams, 2014).…”