Sometimes, you just pick up the strangest bits of information. In most cultures, there is a certain level of silent understanding that women can compliment and gush over another woman’s looks without being labeled as homosexual. Some radical thinkers have taken this as a sign that women, by nature, have strong tendencies to become bisexual. Many have regarded this as wishful thinking on the part of the males observing this sort of behavior, but a recent study aimed towards women’s sexual health and orientation has found that there might be some grain of truth to the perception. A survey conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research has found that most women who are neither heterosexual nor homosexual have a tendency to stay that way.

Most observers have difficulty identifying the concept and accepting the existence of bisexuality – the capacity to be sexually attracted to members of both genders. Some have commented that this "preference" is merely a phase, with the female in question inevitably becoming attracted solely to males or females if given enough time. However, the recent study on women’s sexual health has found that this is not the case. After a 10-year observation period that included numerous surveys and questionnaires regarding their sexual preferences, the University of Michigan’s research team discovered more than a few startling results. The first finding that caught their attention was the odd mix of fluidity and consistency in attraction for women who labeled themselves as bisexual, with their attractions shifting from males to females, but with one gender never really dominating the other.

The study also found other interesting results regarding women’s sexual health and psychology. Unlike lesbians, women who were bisexual or considered themselves unlabeled were more likely to shift their sexual identities over a given period of time. However, bisexual and unlabeled women showed that their shifts tended to revolve around the two aforementioned identities. This is in contrast to lesbians, who generally shift from homosexuality to heterosexuality and only rarely shift into the "middle option" of bisexuality. It was notable that, within the given time period of the study, an estimated 17% of the women involved switched from one identity to another, but also switched back.

Another interesting finding involved the nature of relationships. There has been a long persistent myth that bisexuals – male and female alike – are not the type to settle down. There has really been no scientific evidence for this, but the myth persists. However, the study produced results that could easily shatter this misconception. Of the women who took part in the decade-long research, most were involved in long-term monogamous relationships by the end of it, with most of those relationships having started within the timeframe. The team found that 70% of the lesbians involved, 89% of the bisexuals, 85% of those who considered themselves unlabeled, and 67% of those who were heterosexual became part of a monogamous relationship by the end of the study.

The female perception of bisexuality and lesbianism also seemed more flexible for women than heterosexuality, though the study is not quite certain of this. For example, according to the data found by the study, none of those who considered themselves heterosexual had any sort of sexual contact with another woman within the last two years of the study. However, those who were listed as lesbians had sexual contact with members of the male gender within that same time frame, yet female contact was still preferred.