Being absolutely straight has now been scientifically proven to be a sham. No one, no matter how strong their heterosexuality, is not completely devoid of arousal towards members of their sex, a new sexuality study has discovered.
Researchers at Cornell University in the United States have stated that sexuality is a spectrum and cannot be categorized, or restricted to a hundred percent straightness, or gayness. Findings of their research show that the heterosexual and homosexual divide is not at all accurate, and most self-proclaimed straight people should start referring to themselves as 'mostly straight.'
The study was conducted by studying reactions of people – specifically dilation in their eyes – while watching pornography of both the heterosexual and homosexual kind. The conclusion revealed that people who claimed to be straight also had physical responses to same-sex porn.
Study author Ritch Savin-Williams believes that people are 'not either gay, straight or bi' and instead there's a 'continuum' of sexual response from both the sexes. "Men have gotten so much cultural crap put on them that even if a man does have some sexual attraction to guys, they would never say it," he said.
"We're trying to get at the way people really are. Sometimes, it seems people are one way but believe they have to report themselves in another way, and that's not good."
The female participants involved in the study were seemingly excited by watching porn featuring men with women and women with women. Men, on the other hand, seemed to have more effect by watching both female and male masturbation scenes.
Savin-Williams who's also the director of Developmental Psychology and the Director of the Sex and Gender Lab in the Department of Human Development at Cornell University, spoke to Broadly, explaining his study.
He said: "It's basically a study that assesses sexual orientation by looking at the eyes and whether they dilate or not. You can't control your eye dilation. Essentially, that's what the whole project attempts to get at, another way of assessing sexuality without relying on self-report. Another way, of course, is genital arousal, but that gets a little invasive."
Speaking about gender-fluidity in the masses, Savin-Williams referred to the societal 'norms' of heterosexuality and how women are considered more flexible in the department.
"We've always recognized mostly straight women, that is, women who mostly are straight but if the right woman comes along, well maybe she'll try it out. We used to think that was only a female phenomenon," he said.
"We show straight men a picture of a woman masturbating and they respond just like a straight guy, but then you also show them a guy masturbating and their eyes dilate a little bit. So we're actually able to show physiologically that all guys are not either gay, straight, or bi."
The study also opens doors for potential, significant changes in our perspective of self and our own sexuality. "I do see this loosening of the boundaries," said Savin-Williams, whose book "Mostly Straight: Sexual Fluidity Among Men" deals with the same ideologies.
"I think that's happening for both sexes. It's probably a good thing because it gives kids growing up more diversity, more options, so they don't feel like they have to fit in [at all costs].
"Straight women and straight men feel much more comfortable than ever before in going into the realm of the other sex in terms of gender role and how they act," says Savin-Williams.
