“Irresponsible Speech: Clarifying the Differences
Between Behavior and Identity in Sexuality Research”
Cindy Cain, Jason Crockett, Karen Gordon, Sarah Strand, Monika J. Ulrich, Megan Wright
1
Department of Sociology
University of Arizona
Please address correspondence to:
Cindy Cain
Department of Sociology
400 Social Science Bldg.
PO Box 210027
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721 ccain@u.arizona.edu
1 Working Paper: Please do not cite this paper without written permission by the author

When applying for a grant to fund research that examines the safer-sex discourses among women who have sex with women (WSW), the administrative official responsible for signing off on our paperwork expressed concern with our word choice (WSW rather than “lesbian” or “bisexual” women) and referred to such phrasing as “awkward,” “sensational,” and “unprofessional.” We were somewhat dismayed and surprised at this reaction because the nature of our research required us to examine sexual behavior rather than sexual identity. And we didn’t expect this sort of reaction from a professional sociologist. After being forced to change our wording to continue with the application process, we searched for relevant literature on our topic and had to consult medical databases because sociologists and other social scientists have neglected to study safer-sex issues among this specific population and have empirically neglected this population more generally.
A cursory search of Sociological Abstracts for the term “women who have sex with women” in the abstract reveals three articles from peer reviewed journals—the earliest from 2000.
Similarly, a search for “men who have sex with men” returns forty peer-reviewed journal results—the earliest from 1999. In contrast, when searching for “lesbian,” there are 1,343 results from peer-reviewed journals. And when searching for “gay,” 2,047 results from peer-reviewed journals are given.
The vast disparity between search terms that identify sexual behavior and those that refer to identity may potentially be problematic. It appears that sociologists have been slow to realize that identity is not always the most appropriate measure of sexuality. This is particularly troubling since contemporary research demonstrates that identifying in terms of sexual orientation is not as prevalent among the younger cohorts (Savin-Williams), and perhaps also because at least for women, sexual identity switches throughout the life course and is not static/fixed (Diamond). These findings suggest, among other things, that by focusing solely on identities in sexuality research (e.g. heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, and gay), researchers may be silencing or overlooking those who choose not to identify in terms of sexual orientation. Thus, research that focuses on sexual behavior rather than sexual identity may accomplish feminist objectives of giving voice to understudied and silenced populations.
We submit that researchers should clearly define the terms they are using in their studies and generally adhere to social and cross-disciplinary usages. If researchers are using the term
“lesbian” or “gay,” they should be referring to people who explicitly identify as such individuals.
If, however, what researchers are actually studying is sexual behavior, then they need to use descriptors such as WSW and MSM. As part of linguistic awareness, sociologists would do well to pay attention to terminology trends. For example, it appears that the medical field is more open to recognizing people who don not identify as sexual minorities or who have different sexual preferences throughout their life course, yet have sexual relationships with people of the same sex.
One of our research questions is whether there is a lack of continuity in sexuality research over what people think they are addressing and what they are actually addressing because researchers are not clear about the terms they are using (e.g. identity, behavior, attraction, attitudes, community, etc.). We thus propose to sample articles dealing with sexuality from a selection f

top-ranked sociology journals as well as journal with a focus on specialty areas likely to deal with sexuality research (sexuality, gender, family, life course, health). We will then examine the articles for definitional clarity and consistency.