No woman 'totally straight', study says
Gay women tend to be sexually attracted exclusively to women while straight women are more likely to be aroused by both sexes, a study suggests.
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Gay women tend to be exclusively sexually attracted to women, while straight women are more likely to be aroused by both sexes, a study says.
Researchers asked 345 women about their sexual preferences and compared these with their arousal levels when shown videos of attractive men and women.
They found 28% of straight women were mostly aroused by their preferred sex, compared with 68% of gay women.
The University of Essex study concluded that no woman is "totally straight".
Study findings 'amazing'
The new study, led by Dr Gerulf Rieger from the University of Essex and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, external, measured the arousal of women using eye tracking devices and direct measures of physiological sexual response.
Previous studies had already suggested that straight women were aroused by both sexes when tested, but researchers had never looked at whether the same was true for gay women.
Dr Rieger said the study's conclusion that women who identified as being completely gay were much more aroused by their preferred sex was "amazing".
He said their sexual arousal patterns were much more similar to men, whose responses tend to very accurately mirror their stated sexual preferences.
Dr Rieger said: "In the past we thought it was true of all women that they were aroused by both sexes. The fact that it appears this is not the case is amazing."
