Sexual fluidity

Sexual fluidity is one or more changes in sexuality or sexual identity (sometimes known as sexual orientation identity). There is significant debate over whether sexuality is stable throughout life or is fluid and malleable. Scientific consensus is that sexual orientation, unlike sexual orientation identity, is not a choice. While scientists generally believe that sexual orientation is usually stable (unlikely to change), sexual identity can change throughout an individual's life, and may or may not align with biological sex, sexual behavior or actual sexual orientation. There is no consensus on the exact cause of developing a sexual orientation, but genetic, hormonal, social and cultural influences have been examined. Scientists believe that it is caused by a complex interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences.

Essentialism, in the context of sexual fluidity, is the belief that sexual orientation and sexual desire are fundamentally biological and therefore do not change throughout life. The results of a large-scale, longitudinal study by Savin-Williams, Joyner, and Rieger (2012) indicated that stability of sexual orientation identity over a six-year period was more common than change, particularly for men. While stability may be more common than change, change in sexual orientation identity does occur and the vast majority of research indicates that female sexuality is more fluid than male sexuality. This could be attributed to females' higher erotic plasticity or to sociocultural factors that socialize women to be more open to change. Due to the gender differences in the stability of sexual orientation identity, male and female sexuality are not treated as functioning via the same mechanisms. More research is needed to determine the fluidity of sexual orientation of subgroups (i.e., bisexual, lesbian, gay, etc.).

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