ABSTRACT
In the studies cited in Chapter 1, men disclosed more same-sex feeling than women in the two Kinsey studies, while women had the edge in the study by Weinberg, Williams, and Pryor. The Three-Country Survey was a toss-up. In my own data, while a greater percentage of men than women acknowledged some degree of same-sex feeling, women were initially more candid about these feelings. Their candor helped me to surmise that what was true for them might be true for men as well, and to offer men the gentle encouragement they seemed to need to talk about their feelings. In this chapter, I look at what women said about their feelings for each other—what they meant to them, the fears surrounding them, and their relation to identity—as a baseline for comparison with men’s feelings in subsequent chapters. I also begin to try to put into place a broader psychological framework within which to view those feelings that go by the name of sexual attraction.
