Discordant sexual identity and behavior occurs when a person reports one sexual identity (e.g., heterosexual) but different sexual behaviors (e.g., same sex or bisexual behaviors). People may have discordant identity and behavior for many reasons, including internalized heterosexism (
Szymanski, Kashubeck-West, & Meyer, 2008), homophobia (
Frost & Meyer, 2009), or simply not perceiving themselves as homosexual. Societal pressures such as heteronormativity may increase discordant sexual identity and behavior. Heteronormativity is a construct that endorses heterosexual partnering as the norm for society (
Rich, 2004;
Warner, 1991). Sexual minorities may feel discrimination, stigmatization, and intense pressure to present an outwardly heterosexual orientation (
Sandfort & Dodge, 2008;
Siegel & Schrimshaw, 2000) while still engaging with same sex partners. Among women, little research has been done to describe this phenomenon although some qualitative studies have examined concepts like “heteroflexibility” (
Marrazzo, Coffey, & Bingham, 2005) and the theoretical exploration of a supposed “plasticity” of female sexual attraction and behavior (
Baumeister, 2000;
Diamond, 2007).
More men than women self-identify as homosexual or bisexual yet more women report same sex activity. Previous studies in the U.S. estimate that 2–4% of men and 1–2% of women self-identify as homosexual (
Gates, 2010;
Xu, Sternberg, & Markowitz, 2010a,
2010b). Estimates of lifetime same-sex behavior among women range from 8–20% in the United States. In the most recent round of the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG 2006–2010), some form of same-sex sexual behavior was reported by 12.0% of women aged 25–44 over their lifetime, twice the proportion reported among men in this age group (
Chandra, Mosher, Copen, & Sionean, 2011). The trend existed among younger women too, with nearly 2.0% of boys and 10.0% of girls aged 15–17 years reporting any lifetime same-sex sexual behavior.
The number of women reporting either sexual minority identities or discordant sex behavior has increased. In the 2002 NSFG, 4.4% of American women 15–44 years of age reported having a female sex partner in the previous 12 months (
Chandra, Martinez, Mosher, Abma, & Jones, 2005); by the current round, 12.0% of women 15–44 years of age reported having had a female sexual partner in the past year (
Chandra et al., 2011).
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The estimates of prevalence of both discordant sexual identity and behavior among American women were in line with previous studies (
Chandra et al., 2011;
Marrazzo, 2000;
Mosher, Chandra, & Jones, 2005;
Schmidt, 2010). Our findings were consistent with the notion that while some women may exclusively self-report a heterosexual identity, it is possible for them to have non-concordant partners at the same time, as well as to move from sexual orientation identity categories over time (
Baumeister, 2000;
Diamond, 2003,
2007;
Thompson & Morgan, 2008;
Vrangalova & Savin-Williams, 2012). There is a growing acceptance of female same-sex sexuality, couched in the theory that female sexuality is malleable (
Baumeister, 2000;
Diamond, 2007). This fluidity may have far reaching implications for women’s sexual health.