|
WINDY CITY TIMES
|
|
|
Health & Fitness: Lesbian Identities
by CHLEW STUDY ORGANIZERS 2004-04-21
|
|
This article shared 4792 times since Wed Apr 21, 2004
|
|
What does it mean when a woman calls herself a lesbian? On the one hand, the answer may seem pretty obvious: a woman who identifies as lesbian loves and has intimate relationships with other women. But once we start asking more in-depth questions, the answers may not be so clear-cut: is a lesbian a woman who is only attracted to other women? Is a lesbian a woman who has never had sex with a man? Or a woman who doesn't want to have sex with a man, even if at some point in her life she did? Is a lesbian simply a woman who calls herself a lesbian?
These are just some of the complex questions that the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women study (CHLEW) explores. The nearly 450 women who are part of CHLEW offer some very interesting answers. Nearly all identified as lesbian when they were first interviewed—this was the major criteria for being in the study. However, once we asked questions about sexual attraction and behavior, answers tended vary, indicating that 'lesbian' means different things to different women.
For example, about one-half of the participants said they could be attracted to 'only women,' but most of the remainder (40%) chose the response 'mostly women,' indicating some level of attraction—or at least potential attraction—to men. The remaining 10% indicated they could be equally attracted to men and women. In contrast, most CHLEW participants (75%) have had at least some sexual experience with men. Nearly one-half (44%) of women in the study reported that their sexual partners have been mostly women and about one-fourth (27%) reported having had sex only with women; 14% reported sexual experiences with an equal number of women and men and another 14% reported sex with mostly men in their lifetimes. Reports about gender of sexual partners in the past five years were more consistent with sexual attraction, although a full third of respondents had at least one male sex partner in the past five years.
African-American lesbians were more likely than white and Latina lesbians to report sexual activity with a man in the past five years. In addition, younger lesbians (18-29 years old) were more likely to have had only female sex partners in their lifetime—38% compared with 16% of women who 50 to 59 years old. However, women under 30 were also much more likely to report sexual activity with a man in the past five years. This seeming inconsistency may have to do with older lesbians being more likely to be in long-term committed relationships and the greater tendency of younger women, especially younger women today, to be open to a broader range of sexual experiences.
These results from the first round of CHLEW interviews provide a brief glimpse into the complexity of women's sexuality. The information we gather in the second wave of interviews should provide even more insight into how sexual identity is shaped and experienced by our sample of Chicago lesbians.
chlewstudy@yahoo.com .
|
|
|
|
This article shared 4792 times since Wed Apr 21, 2004
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | Queer activism through photography: Exhibit spotlights a 'revolutionary' moment in Chicago history 2024-04-23 By Alec Karam - Artists hosted a panel at Dorothy, 2500 W. Chicago Ave., on April 20 to celebrate the debut of Images on Which to Build in Chicago, a snapshot of queer history from the '70s to the '90s. The exhibition, now at Chicago ...
|
| | City Council passes Lesbian Visibility Week proclamation 2024-04-17 - Chicago alderwomen Maria Hadden (49th) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) introduced a resolution at Chicago's April 17 City Council meeting to declare April 22-28 as Lesbian Visibility Week in Chicago. This is part of a nationwide effort ...
|
| | 'United, Not Uniform': Lesbian Visibility Week starts April 22 nationwide 2024-04-17 --From a press release - San Francisco — Lesbian Visibility Week (#LVW24) kicks off on Monday, April 22 with a private event at the London Stock Exchange USA headquarters in New York City. This exclusive gathering marks the beginning of a ...
|
| | Brittney Griner, wife expecting first baby 2024-04-15 - Brittney Griner is expecting her first child with wife Cherelle Griner. According to NBC News, the couple announced on Instagram that they are expecting their baby in July. "Can't believe we're less than three months away ...
|
| | Lesbian prime minister steps down 2024-04-09 - Ana Brnabicthe first woman and the first lesbian to hold the office of prime minister of Serbia, or to be a leader of any Eastern European countryhas stepped down after seven years in power, in a ...
|
| | Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame seeks nominations for 2024 induction 2024-04-09 --From a press release - The Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame has announced a call for nominations for the 2024 class of inductees into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame. Those wishing to may nominate individuals, organizations, businesses, or "Friends of ...
|
| | HRC president responds to NAIA vote to ban transgender women from playing sports 2024-04-08 --From a press release - WASHINGTON Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, responded to the National Association of ...
|
| | Ella Matthes, award-winning publisher, editor of Lesbian News Magazine, dies at 81 2024-04-05 --From an ILDKMedia press release - Los Angeles, CA - Ella Matthes, longtime publisher and editor of Lesbian News Magazine, passed away from a heart attack on March 16, 2024 at The Little Company of Mary hospital in Norwalk, California. She was ...
|
| | WORLD Lesbian sniper, HIV research, marriage items, Chinese singer, Korean festival 2024-04-05 - A lesbian Ukrainian sniper and her machine-gun-toting girlfriend are taking the fight to Russia President Vladimir Putin, according to a Daily Beast article. Olga—a veterinarian-turned-soldier—said her comrades don't care about ...
|
| | Kara Swisher talks truth, power in tech at Chicago Humanities event 2024-03-25 - Lesbian author, award-winning journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher spoke about truth and power in the tech industry through the lens of her most recent book, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, March 21 at First ...
|
| | Almost 8% of U.S. residents identify as LGBTQ+ 2024-03-16 - The proportion of U.S. adults identifying as LGBTQ+ continues to increase. LGBTQ+ identification in the U.S. continues to grow, with 7.6% of U.S. adults now identifying as LGBTQ+, according to the newest Gallup poll results that ...
|
| | Women's History Month doesn't do enough to lift up Black lesbians 2024-03-12 - Fifty years ago, in 1974, the Combahee River Collective (CRC) was founded in Boston by several lesbian and feminist women of African descent. As a sisterhood, they understood that their acts of protest were shouldered by ...
|
| | No 'explanations' needed: Affinity remains a haven for Chicago's Black queer community 2024-03-12 - Back in 2007, Anna DeShawn came out while she was studying for her undergraduate degree. At around the same time, she searched online for "Black lesbians in Chicago." Her search led her to Affinity Community Services, ...
|
| | Affinity Community Services' Latonya Maley announces departure 2024-03-06 - Latonya Maley, executive director of Affinity Community Services, announced March 6 that she would be stepping down from her post. The announcement came from a statement with Affinity board members. Maley said that, "It has been ...
|
| | LPAC celebrates historic wins for LGBTQ+ candidates in Super Tuesday primaries 2024-03-06 - From a press release: Washington, DC—Today, LPAC,the nation's leading organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary candidates to public office, proudly announces the outstanding victories of 67% of endorsed candidates ...
| |
|
|
|
|
| New Title IX rules protects LGBTQ+ students...to a point | | NATIONAL Ohio law blocked, Trevor Project, Rev. Troy Perry, ICE suit, Elon Musk | | SHOWBIZ Celine Dion, 'The People's Joker,' Billy Porter, Patti LuPone, 'Strange Way' | | LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project set to hold its second annual exhibition | | WORLD Nigeria arrest, Chilean murderer, trans ban, Olivier Awards, marriage items | |
|
|
|
|