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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Social relationships of lesbian and heterosexual feminist women Henderson, Patricia

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between sexual preference and friendship amongst lesbian and heterosexual feminist women. Seventy respondents, 35 heterosexual and 35 lesbian feminist women between the ages of 20 and 40 participated. Respondents were initially screened by use of the Feminist Identification Rating Scale, and included in the study if they rated themselves at 7 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10. They were then administered the Personal Data Sheet (Lustig, 1982), The Close Friendship Scale (Frum, 1979), and the Social Provisions Scale, 1982). This was an ex post facto comparison study with one independent variable (sexual preference) and twelve dependent variables which were the twelve subscales on the instruments. The data was analyzed by means of analysis of variance and chi-square techniques. The main conclusions of this study were: 1. There is no relationship between the qualities of close friendship and sexual preference. 2. There is no relationship between the provisions of close friendship and sexual preference. 3. There is evidence which suggests that women tend to experience their close friendships similarly, regardless of sexual preference. The findings of the study support an approach to understanding the friendships of lesbian women which focuses on the similarities between lesbian and heterosexual women. The study thus contributes to the process of understanding the lesbian experience.

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