Sexual Correlates of Female Homosexual Experience

Abstract

The study, conducted by Erich Goode and Lynn Haber (1977), investigated the correlates of female homosexual experience among college women. The primary objective was to determine if and to what extent women who reported having engaged in homosexual behavior differed in their overall sexual histories and activities compared to those who had not. The researchers utilized a comprehensive 66-item questionnaire covering a wide range of sexual behaviors, including age of first heterosexual intercourse, total number of partners, experiences with fellatio and cunnilingus, and masturbation frequency. The findings, based on a sample of 160 female college residents, suggested that homosexually experienced women generally exhibited a significantly wider range of heterosexual experiences, including a higher number of partners and earlier onset of intercourse, compared to their homosexually naive counterparts. The study was descriptive and exploratory, aiming to map behavioral differences rather than establishing definitive causality.

Keywords

Sexual behavior, Homosexual experience, Female sexuality, College students, SUNY Stony Brook, Sexual survey, Exploratory study, Heterosexual activity, Orgasm, Sexual Correlates

Authors

Erich Goode, Lynn Haber

Purpose

The principal purpose of this research instrument and the associated study (Goode & Haber, 1977) was to empirically investigate the relationship between female homosexual engagement and other facets of sexual experience. Specifically, the study sought to determine if women who had engaged in homosexual behavior possessed measurably different sexual histories and behaviors compared to women who had not. The investigation treated homosexual experience as the independent variable to identify differences across 66 dependent variables related to sexual practices, partners, frequency, and attitudes, thereby providing a descriptive profile of sexually diverse college women during the mid-1970s.

Construct

The instrument measures the construct of Sexual Experience and Behavioral Diversity, particularly focusing on self-reported history of specific sexual acts and associated psychological responses (e.g., feelings after loveless sex, enjoyment of fellatio, frequency of masturbation). The core analysis hinges on distinguishing between sexually experienced women based on their inclusion of homosexual activity in their history. Key variables examined include the age of sexual initiation, the total number of partners, involvement in oral sex (fellatio and cunnilingus), and patterns of achieving orgasm, both heterosexually and homosexually.

Validity

The authors explicitly stated that because the study was designed to be descriptive and exploratory, rather than explanatory and definitive, they did not conduct formal tests of validity. The findings are thus considered tentative and suggestive, reflecting patterns observed within the specific sample population of college students. The validity relies primarily on the assumption of honest self-reporting by the participants under conditions of promised confidentiality.

Reliability

As with validity, formal tests of internal consistency or test-retest reliability were not conducted for this instrument. The methodology relied on simple percentage differences to compare the two defined categories of respondents (homosexually experienced versus homosexually naive). The researchers utilized the magnitude of these percentage differences to identify key behavioral correlates, rather than statistical significance tests.

Factor Analysis

No factor analysis was performed on the instrument. The design of the study was primarily correlational and descriptive, utilizing 66 individual questions as separate dependent variables to profile the differences between the two groups of women. The analysis focused on item-by-item comparison using basic descriptive statistics.

Instrument

Test Type: Questionnaire/Survey Instrument

Format: 66 questions, primarily utilizing forced-choice checklists or requiring respondents to write in specific answers (e.g., numbers for age or frequency).

Language Available: English

Population Group: Female college students

Age Group: Young adulthood (Average age 19–20; range up to 23)

Population Details: The sample (N=160) consisted of female residents of several dormitories at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook in 1975. The response rate achieved was 64% after three distribution waves.

Test Methodology: Questionnaires were distributed door-to-door and returned sealed in envelopes to ensure confidentiality. Completion time ranged between 30 and 60 minutes.

Keywords

Sexual correlates, Gender studies, Lesbian experience, Sexual fantasy, Sexual initiation, Oral sex, SUNY Stony Brook, Survey research, Bisexual lifestyle, Sexual measurement

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in the source material (N/A)

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (Erich Goode)

Correspondence Address: Erich Goode, 3 Washington Square Village, Apartment 3B, New York, NY 10012

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1977 (Publication of initial findings)

Permissions and Fees: Information regarding current permissions or fees for academic use is not detailed in the source material. The instrument was developed for a specific academic research study.

Reference’s

• Goode, E., & Haber, L. (1977). Sexual correlates of homosexual experience: An exploratory study of college women. The Journal of Sex Research, 13, 12–21.

Items of the Sexual Correlates of Female Homosexual Experience

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Have you ever engaged in sexual intercourse with a man or a boy? (Please check one) Yes   No       (If no, skip to Question 2; if yes, proceed to Question 1a)

   1a. Please write the age when you first engaged in sexual intercourse with a man or boy        

   1b. Please write in the total number of men or boys with whom you have engaged in sexual intercourse        

   1c. Have you ever engaged in sexual intercourse with a man or boy you were not in love with? Yes   No        

   1d. If yes to Question 1c, how did you usually feel right after engaging in sexual intercourse when you were not in love? (Please check the alternative that comes closest to your feeling)

   Negative (sad, depressed, guilty, etc.)        

   Positive (It was what I wanted to do at the time)   Neutral (it didn’t bother me)        

   It depended on the man; I felt different with different men   It depended on my mood at the time       

   Other (please explain)                                                                                 

   1e. About what proportion of the time do you generally achieve orgasm during intercourse with a man? (Please check the appropriate category)

   Never        

   Rarely (less than 10% of the time)        

   Occasionally (less than a quarter of the time but more than 10% of the time)   About half the time, more or less        

   Usually        

   Always or almost always        

   1f. Please estimate the total number of times that you have had intercourse with any boy or man. (Please write in the number)

2. Have you ever engaged in fellatio with a boy or man (oral stimulation of a man’s penis) whether or not it led to his orgasm? Yes   No        

   2a. Could you estimate the number of times that you have engaged in fellatio, with any boy or man             

   2b. About what proportion of this number did your oral stimulation of a boy or a man’s penis lead to his orgasm? Please estimate about what percentage of the time this happened)         

   2c. With how many boys or men have you engaged in fellatio when it did not lead to his orgasm?    2d. With how many men have you engaged in fellatio when it did lead to his orgasm?         

   2e. How old were you when you first engaged in fellatio with a boy or man?         

   2f. How old were you when you first engaged in fellatio when it led to his orgasm?    2g. Do you usually enjoy fellating a man? Yes   No        

   2h. Do you usually fellate a man spontaneously, or does the man usually request you to do it?

   Usually spontaneously        

   At first, I was asked; later, it’s usually been spontaneous   It depends on how much I like the man        

   I usually have to be asked to do it   There’s no particular pattern to it        

   It’s some other way (please explain)                                                      

3. Has a man ever engaged in cunnilingus (oral stimulation of the woman’s genitals) with you? Yes   No        

   If no, have you ever wanted a man to engage in cunnilingus with you? Yes No ; if yes, how often has this happened and with how many men? ; If yes, a man has engaged in cunnilingus with you, could you please estimate the total number of times that this has taken place?                     

   (If no, a man has not engaged in cunnilingus with you, please skip to Question 4; if at least one has, please continue with Question 3a)

   3a. About what proportion of the time would you say you have achieved orgasm during cunnilingus with a man? (Please check the appropriate category):

   Never        

   Rarely (less than 10 % of the time)        

   Occasionally (less than a quarter of the time but more than 10% of the time)   About half the time, more or less        

   Usually        

   Always or almost always        

   3b. If you achieved orgasm during cunnilingus with a man less than half the time, why do you think this is so? (Please explain)                          

   3c. If a man engages in cunnilingus with you, do you usually ask him to do it or does he usually do it without you having to ask him?

   I always have to ask   I usually have to ask        

   It depends on the man        

   It happens both ways about half the time   The man usually does it without my asking   The man always does it without my asking        

   3d. How many men have performed cunnilingus with you?        

   3e. How old were you when a man first performed cunnilingus with you?        

   3f. How old were you when a man first performed cunnilingus with you when it led to your orgasm?         

   3g. Have you ever been afraid to ask a man to perform cunnilingus with you because you thought he wouldn’t like it?

   Yes   No        

   3h. If yes, about how many times has that taken place? (Please estimate the number of times)         

   3i. If yes, with how many men have you been afraid to ask? (Please estimate the number of men)         

4. Have you ever engaged in any of the following sexual experiences with another woman? Nude hugging and kissing and caressing without genital contact? Yes   No        

   Cunnilingus? Yes   No       

   Mutual pubic rubbing? Yes   No       Manual genital contact? Yes   No        

   (If you have not engaged in any of these activities, please skip to Question 5; if you have, please proceed with Question 4a) If you have engaged in any other sexual experiences with another woman, what were they?

   (Please explain)                                                                       

   4a. Could you estimate the total number of times that you have had sexual experiences with another woman asked about in Question 4—caressing, cunnilingus, pubic rubbing, and manual genital contact? (Please write in the total number)        

   4b. About what proportion of the time have you engaged in the following activities when you have engaged in sexual experiences with another woman? (Please write in the percentage)

   Nude hugging, kissing, and caressing, without genital contact     % Cunnilingus     %

   Mutual pubic rubbing     % Manual genital contact     %

   4c. How old were you when you had any of these sexual experiences with another woman?   4d. With how many women have you engaged in any of these experiences?         

   4e. Have you ever engaged in any of these sexual experiences with a woman, with a man present? Yes No       4f. If so, how often has this happened?         

   4g. About what proportion of the time that you had a sexual experience with another woman did you achieve orgasm?

   Never   Rarely    Occasionally    About half the time     Usually   Always or almost always         

5. Have you ever masturbated yourself? Yes   No        

   (If no, skip to Question 6; if yes, proceed with Question 5a)

   5a. How old were you when you first masturbated yourself?         

   5b. How old were you when you first masturbated yourself to orgasm?         

   5c. How frequently would you say you have masturbated yourself per month in the past year?         

   5d. About what proportion of the time would you say that you achieved orgasm when you masturbated yourself?

   Never   Rarely   Occasionally        

   5e. Do you feel that masturbation is a substitute for having orgasms during sex with another person, or do you think that it is an enjoyable activity in itself? A substitute   Enjoyable in itself   Something else (Please explain)                                  

6. Are some of your orgasms significantly more enjoyable than others, or are they equally enjoyable? Some are far more enjoyable than others           

   They are about equally enjoyable     I have never had an orgasm       

   Something else (Please explain)                                                                

   6a. If some of your orgasms are far more pleasurable than others, what do you think makes them this way? (Please explain)                                                        

   6b. Which of the following activities gives you the most pleasurable orgasm? Which one the least? Please rank all of the following activities in terms of how pleasurable your orgasms have been when you engaged in each one:

   Intercourse with a man   Cunnilingus with a man   Masturbating yourself   A man masturbating me        

   Sexual experience with another woman My orgasms are about equally enjoyable I have orgasms only one way        

   I have never had an orgasm Something else (Please explain)             

7. If you fail to achieve an orgasm with a man during intercourse, are you usually: Extremely disappointed and frustrated         

   Somewhat disappointed and frustrated         

   Indifferent; if it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t         

   I usually feel some other way (Please explain)                                              

8. How do you know you are having an orgasm? What are the signs? What happens to your body or mind that tells you that you are having an orgasm? (Please explain)                                                                                                

9. Are there any sexual activities that you have not participated in but you would like to try? Yes   No         If yes, what are they? (Write it/them out)                                                      

10. When you’ve been in bed with another person, have there been times when you would have liked to engage in a certain activity but didn’t because you were afraid to ask your partner? Yes   No         

    If yes, what were they? (Please explain)                                                  

11. When you have been in bed with someone for the first time, have you ever felt reluctant to take off your clothes, or to have your partner take off your clothes, because you were afraid the other person might not like your body? Yes   No        

12. About how many orgasms per week do you feel is ideal for yourself?           

13. In the best of all possible worlds, how often would you engage in sexual activity each week?                     

14. Do you fantasize during sex, any form of sex? Yes   No       

15. When you have sex, any form of sex, and have an orgasm, do you feel that one orgasm is satisfying for the next few hours, or do you feel that you would like to have more than one?

    One is usually satisfying        

    I usually would like to have more than one        

    It depends (If it depends, what does it depend on? ) Something else (Please explain) I rarely or never have orgasms        

16. If you could have things more or less exactly the way you wanted sexually, what would they be likeHow would you change your life? What would your sex life be like?                                                                                      

17. What is your age?           

18. What is your grandparents’ religion?                                           

19. How religious would you say you are? Very religious

    Somewhat religious Not very religious        

    I’m not religious at all        

20. Father’s education:                 Mother’s education:                   

21. Race: Black    White   Asian    Latino         

    Other (Please write in your race if it is Other)                                       

22. How influential do you feel your parents are now in your life? (Check one) Very influential now

    Somewhat influential now

    Not very influential now    Not at all influential now         

23. Have you ever smoked marijuana? Yes   No        

24. During the past six months or so, how often would you estimate that you have smoked marijuana? Not at all        

    Less than monthly        

    More than monthly but less than weekly   About once a week        

    Several times a week   Daily or so        

    More than once a day         

25. Are there any questions that we should have asked in this questionnaire but didn’t?