ABSTRACT
Sexual identity is often thought of as closely related to sexual behavior (D’Emilio & Freedman, 1988). Individuals who have intimate partners of the opposite sex are considered heterosexual while individuals who have intimate partners of the same sex are considered lesbian or gay. For individuals who have sex with both women and men, though, the relationship between behavior and identity is less clear (Firestein, 1996). Defining identity by behavior does not adequately reflect the experience of individuals who have sex with both women and men. If individuals who have both women and men as intimate partners base their identities on the sex of their current partners, then their identities would change as often as their relationships change. For individuals who have intimate partners of only one sex, though, their identities can remain stable across relationships.
