The results of a recent Bowdoin Student Life Survey show a slight (but noticeable) move away from students identifying as heterosexual.

The results are in: 91.3 percent of students identify as heterosexual, leaving a sizeable 8.64 percent of students non-heterosexual. This is a significant increase from last year’s survey, which found 6.5 percent of students identifying as non-straight. Although the slight change in terminology (“straight” to “heterosexual”) may have affected the results, the findings still prove intriguing.

8.64 percent of students have learned—”Just Say No to Compulsory Heterosexuality.” The question remains: what happened to the rest of us? The question of “visibility” always arises, but we feel this is slightly accusatory and a hinted-at request for flamboyance. This stereotypical and sensationalized imagery is not the ultimate goal.

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I’d be interested in finding out what a heterosexual identity means to those individuals who do identify as straight. Sexual identity politics seem non-existent in het culture. You never hear someone say “I’m not that kind of straight.”

Do you think there could be people identifying as straight who are sexually attracted to, and have sexual relations with, both men and women. I do. I actually think it’s a pretty large group. Just think of the college girls who “experiment” with each other but still hold a hetero identity. Their behavior is bi-sexual but, if neither of them identifies as such, that doesn’t seem to matter.