A recent study suggesting women are more likely to engage in a sexual encounter with a member of their own sex points to a larger question of how sexuality is defined in our society.

Can you define someone in one sexual category?

Nearly twice the percentage of women, compared to men, said they had at least one sexual encounter with a member of their own sex.

The numbers suggest it might be more socially acceptable and accessible for women to explore their sexuality than men.

Two women engaged in a casual encounter or relationship might be more socially acceptable than if two men were in the same situation. The women could be considered drunk, whereas the two men would be considered homosexual, even if it is not necessarily the case. That's a double standard.

However, it is incorrect to make assumptions of sexual preference about a person based on a single instance.

In fact, it is wrong to try and force someone into a single sexual category. It is not always cut and dry to define someone as either gay, straight or bisexual.

This is especially true because many people who are just coming out will begin by telling people that they are bisexual, because it is considered more acceptable.

Women in casual encounters and relationships with women don't necessarily lose their femininity, but men in a same-sex situation might be considered less masculine by their peers.

Our society is one that largely upholds monogamous relationships as the only socially acceptable relationship between two people.

This makes it difficult for someone to be defined as bisexual, because it is obviously impossible to have a relationship with people of different sexes if you are in a monogamous relationship.

Societal constraints of this kind make it impossible for people who are bisexual to express both sides of their sexuality without being labeled as promiscuous.

People should be allowed to express their sexuality without being stereotyped. What defines people cannot be contained in only a few categories.

As sociology graduate student Julie Hartman said in "Study: Women open to bisexuality" (SN 10/17), "There is a myth of being promiscuous, disease carriers, you are riding the fence and you can't decide. People tend to make assumptions whether you are gay or straight and forget that (bisexuality) may be an option."