Predicting Women’s Engagement in Same-Sex Performativity: Individual Differences

Same-sex performativity (SSP) refers to public performances of sexuality between heterosexual women . SSP is prevalent, yet little is known about the women who engage in SSP. We examined individual differences between women who had and had not engaged in SSP on a number of sociodemographic, personality, and ideological variables. In a sample of heterosexual college women (N = 1444), we found that about twenty percent (n = 282) had engaged in SSP. Women who engaged in SSP were more liberal, more likely to be sorority members, and more likely to be sexually active than women who did not engage in SSP, but did not differ in age, ethnicity, or college year. High sexual permissiveness and communion beliefs, increased body shape dissatisfaction, and decreasing social distance from queer women, were associated with increased likelihood of engagement in SSP, while endorsement of traditional femininity was associated with decreased likelihood of SSP engagement. Our findings diversify understandings of SSP and suggest that contemporary SSP may be less oriented to a male audience and more situated in liberal understandings of gender and sexuality than previous studies suggest.