R/D/C

Results

When I first came up with the “Are You A Lesbian” questionnaire I decide to send it as an email to X, Y, Z so I could get decide if there were the right participants for my research. I wanted this questionnaire to be very straight-forward but I didn’t want to scare X, Y, Z away. I decide to start with some basic questions that weren’t to detail but could give me and idea about their current lifestyles. When I received the feedback I was happy with all the response I got.  X, Y, Z were honest and didn’t mind being ask that caliber of questions which made me feel at ease. What was very surprising is how much X, Y, Z answer interconnected in some strange way. Could this be because they are all friends or could it be that some lesbian women “mentally” think alike?

Here are a few questions from the “Are You A Lesbian” questionnaire. These are all sample of 5 questions out of 10 that X, Y, Z answered:

1. 1.     Are you a lesbian? If not do you date women?

X: I do not consider myself a lesbian but I do date women.

Y: I date women

Z: YES, I AM A LESBIAN..

1. 2.     Do you think your current lifestyle is temporary or permanent?

X: Being as though I don’t just date women I say my current lifestyle is permanent. I was in 1 serious relationship with a woman and based on the things that I experienced I do not think I can do that all over again.

Y: I really can’t say. I like what i like right now.

Z: MY LIFESTYLE, AS IN MY SEXUAL ORIENTATION?? YES..IT’S PERMANENT..I MEAN OF COURSE I WANT A BETTER LIFESTYLE..BUT THT DOESNT CHANGE MY SEXUAL PREFERENCE

1. 3.     Do you think this lifestyle has or will affect your children?

X: My lifestyle was no affect on my kids at all. I make it my business to keep me personal life and my family life very separate.

Y: No because I don’t bring it around my child.

Z: ABSOLUTELY NOT..I AM A SINGLE FULL TIME MOTHER..I DNT THINK SO AT ALL..

1. 4.      Are your parents affected by your lifestyle?

X: Well my father is very supportive of my lifestyle, but my mother absolutely despises it and has since stopped speaking to me.

Y: they don’t know. (at least I don’t think they do)

Z: YES, MY FATHER DEFINITELY IS. WE HAVE LOST OUR WHOLE RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE OF MY LIFESTYLE..IT’s ALMOST AS IF ME OR MY SON DONT EXIST TO HIM BCUZ OF IT.

1. 5.     Have you ever thought about how your lifestyle could determine your children sexual orientation?

X: No not really because all my children see is their mother and their father. They never see me with females.

Y: 50/50. I think some people are born curious.

Z:  YES, I THINK ABOUT THAT ALL THE TIME. HOWEVER, JUS BECAUSE IM ATTRACTED TO THE SAME SEX DOESNT MEAN THT MY CHILD WILL AS WELL. BUT IF THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT HE TURNED OUT TO BE, THEN I WOULD ACCEPT IT..AS A PARENT OUR CHILDREN DO THINGS WE DNT LKE ALL THE TIME, AND I WOULD NEVER PUSH HIM AWAY THE WAY MY FATHER DID ME.

Discussion

While X,Y,Z had similarities in some of their answer to the questions, overall each of their situations were different and when I got a chance to sit down and conduct “face to face” interviews I began to realize.  The first individual I spoke to was X. As you can see from the above question X was very open up front about her sexuality. Even though she doesn’t consider herself a “lesbian” she states she does sate women. This is where I beginning to draw a blank, but I decide it was better to ask then to wonder. Even though I didn’t recorded then information everything I asked were pertaining to the question from above. As X, walks in the room I couldn’t help but noticed the rainbow bracelet she was wearing on her arm. The rainbow flag or pattern is one of the most generally used and recognized symbols of the gay pride movement as of today. This was strange to me because as you can see above the first question I asked X, was r u a lesbian and she answered no. I began to ask X, if there was anything or anybody new in her life, just to break the ice and make her at ease. Even though this was the least of what I wanted to asked after reading her responses to the questionnaire.  We began chatting and what I did notice is every time I would bring up something gearing towards a female X, would light up like the sun. Then when I would ask X, things about if her children ever found out about her lifestyle she would seem to get nervous or act unsure. Could this be a sign of uncertainty or could she have not put as much thought into how her lifestyle may affect her children, as she did these women.

Next I talked to Y, who was really happy about doing the interview. Y talked about how she loved being asked questions about her sexuality and how she so happy with her life right now. In as stated in my literature review most lesbians are mentally happy. Well she looked happy and when Y walked in the room, she was glowing. I immediately asked why you are so happy and Y replied I just met someone. I knew in my mind it had to be women, because in her questionnaire she said she doesn’t really have an attraction to men anymore. So I was right all Y, wanted to talk about was what she was doing tonight. After I got Y to come back down to earth, I asked her, what makes her think people were born curious? Y replied with a slight grin on her face because I was.  I than said so do you think that’s a normal thing, for people to be born curious? Y, replied “hell yeah, everyone should explore both sexes, you never know what you want could be on the other side of the gate.” The fact that she was smiling the whole time while saying this puzzled me.

Finally I talked to Z, who has been a lesbian for 6 years and believes this is her permanent lifestyle. Yet Z has a 3 year old son, who was born while she was taking a break from her lesbian lifestyle. When Z, walked in she told me she didn’t have that much time to interview but she would stay as long as she could. So I got right to it, I asked Z, would she ever stop speaking to her child if he chose to deal with the same sex. I could tell right away that Z was very uneasy with this question. She begins to crack her knuckles and bit her lip. I immediately asked “did I offend you in any kind of way?” Z stated this was a sensitive subject because no parent should ever turn away their child no matter the situation. What seems strange is how emotional Z became while answering my question.  Was being an emotional wreck a sign of a healthy and satisfying life, I don’t think so.

After talking to X, Y, Z for about 10- 15 minutes I decide that my last question would be the point of my research paper.

Conclusion