Although female homosexual practices are believed to occur less widely than male, and have never been thought to constitute so grave a danger to society, they may nevertheless cause anguish in that many such relationships come under social pressure and may lead to blackmail or intimidation.
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The latest British sex survey (reported in 1994) showed that of nearly 19,000 people aged 16-59, 3.4% of women had had some kind of homosexual contact; 0.6% had had a same-sex partner within the past five years; and 0.2% of married women reported homosexual experience. Over half of a sample of 40 lesbians had been involved with men before deciding they were lesbian, and over 25% were married, most with children (all hid their lesbianism for fear of losing custody). In the USA, 32% of lesbians have been married, half with children.
Homosexual activity in women is not age-related. But unlike gay men, lesbians often feel under pressure to stay invisible, particularly older and married women. Compared with male homosexuals, lesbians are more faithful; the majority of them have less than 10 partners. An investigation conducted in France found that 56% of the formed a permanent couple, compared with on 36% of male homosexuals. They more often meet their partners at the houses at friends, some 60.6% according to the same investigation; whereas, 62.7% of male homosexuals found their partners in specialized premises. Lesbians are usually less despised and less persecuted, because they are less visible and because what happens among women is considered less important in a male-oriented society. Unlike male homosexuals, lesbians are rarely suspected of paedophilia.
Unconscious female homosexuality causes sexual problems in marriage.
A collection of accounts by lesbians in Belgium reveal that, as girls or young women, they were afraid of, or had experience of, the selfishness and brutality of men; in the company of another woman they were then able to discover, like others since adolescence, bodily pleasure and to have a love life without constraint or domination. Lesbians, to generalize, are women who are in love, and less interested in the sexual act than in a general affective relationship. The more this relationship is equal and reciprocal, the more the couple is durable, as it often is.