| Chapter 1: | Operationalizing Fidelity |
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Chambers 2001; Ringer 2001; Adam 2006; Pawlicki and Larson 2011). Considerable literature on gay relational structures, especially vis-à-vis nonmonogamy, has emerged over the past decade (Adam 2006; Bonello and Cross 2009; Ramirez and Brown 2010). However, lesbians exhibit the lowest rates of sexual nonmonogamy and usually favor monogamy (Macklin 1980; Blumstein and Schwartz 1983; Munson and Stelboum 1999; Gotta et al. 2011). Some scholars have suggested that lesbian nonmonogamy is less common because women are socialized to expect some sort of emotional connection with sex; therefore, nonmonogamy and casual sex are difficult to negotiate between women. Further, polyamory as a relationship model or identity is not common within specifically gay and lesbian communities.
Bisexuals have been stereotyped as the most sexually nonmonogamous (Weinberg et al. 1994; Rust 1996; Haeberle and Gindorf 1998). There are, however, insufficient data on bisexual nonmonogamy because researchers have categorized bisexuals with gays and lesbians or heterosexuals. Some studies show bisexuals in long-term monogamous relationships (Coleman 1985; Rust 1996), and others show bisexuals involved in nonmonogamous relationships (Weinberg et al. 1994). My 2002 qualitative study of bisexual women found that some choose to engage in nonmonogamy in order to simultaneously fulfill same-sex and other-sex desires. Several also practice gender monogamy, which involves restricting extradyadic sexual behavior with a certain gender (Wosick-Correa 2006). Bisexuals, especially bisexual women, do have higher rates of polyamory than do individuals of most other sexual orientations (Rust 1996; Sheff 2005; Klesse 2005; Weitzman 2006). This could be a result both of overlapping marginalized groups and of a tendency for bisexuals to legitimate a need or desire to be involved with both men and women sexually and emotionally. It could also be another way to subvert heteronormativity in theory and practice.
Ultimately, gender and sexual scripts are inextricable from one another. Further, they continually temper perceptions of and decisions