Correlates of early overt and covert sexual behaviors in heterosexual women.

We used data provided by 417 Kinsey-0 and Kinsey-1 heterosexual women using an anonymous computerized survey to determine the adult correlates of two female-female behaviors that occurred before age 18; 25.4% of participants reported engaging in one or both behaviors. Sexual experimentation with females and masturbating using images of females before age 18 were statistically significant predictors of four different female-female behaviors in adulthood: sexual contact with females, masturbating using images of females, preferring a female fantasy partner while having sex with a favorite (male) partner, and voyeurism directed at females; 27.3% of the participants reported engaging in one or more of the latter four behaviors. The analogous early female-male behaviors were not statistically significant predictors of female-female behaviors in adults. Conditioning resulting from participation in these early female-female behaviors might explain the correlations between the two early behaviors and the subsequent four adult same-gender behaviors. The earliest and latest ages that participants engaged in each early behavior and case-by-case analysis showed that the sequence of events leading to the female-female adult behaviors was initial sexual experimentation with similar age females (at a median age of 9 years) followed by masturbating using images of females (at a median age of 15). These results suggest that conditioning and other forms of learning play an important role in establishing coexisting same-gender orientations in heterosexual women.