Lisa M. Diamond is an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. She is a professor of

developmental psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, ...

health psychology Health psychology is the study of psychological and behavioral processes in health, illness, and healthcare. The discipline is concerned with understanding how psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors contribute to physical health and ill ...

and gender studies at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of ...

. Her research focuses on

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generally s ...

development,

sexual identity Sexual identity is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically and/or sexually attracted.
''Sex ...

, and Human bonding, bonding. She is best known for her 2008 book, ''Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire''. In this book, she discusses the fluidity of

female sexuality Human female sexuality encompasses a broad range of behaviors and processes, including female sexual identity and Human sexual activity, sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religio ...

, based on her study of 100

non-heterosexual Non-heterosexual is a word for a sexual orientation or sexual identity that is not heterosexual. The term helps define the "concept of what is the norm and how a particular group is different from that norm". ''Non-heterosexual'' is used in femi ...

women over a period of 10 years. She concluded that the term ''

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...

'' did not truly express the versatile nature of many of her subjects. Therefore, she calls "for an expanded understanding of same-sex sexuality".

Early life

Diamond became interested in

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

after

Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the sec ...

gave a talk at her high school. She studied feminist theory at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

and joined the board of the Chicago

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

. During this time, she

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a lesbian and decided to pursue research into same-sex sexuality instead of activism. In 1993, she received her B.A. in psychology from the University of Chicago. She then started graduate work with

Ritch Savin-Williams Ritch C. Savin-Williams, Ph.D., (born 1949) is professor ''emeritus'' of developmental psychology at Cornell University who specializes in gay, lesbian, and bisexual research involving adolescents. Education Savin-Williams earned his Bachelor of ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teac ...

, where she earned her M.A. in 1996, and her Ph.D. in 1999, both in

Human Development Human development may refer to: * Development of the human body * Developmental psychology * Human development (economics) * Human Development Index, an index used to rank countries by level of human development * Human evolution, the prehistoric ...

Work

At the

, Diamond was an assistant professor from 1999 to 2005, and an associate professor from 2005 to 2012. She became a professor of psychology and gender studies in 2012. She serves on the editorial boards of ''

Developmental Psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, ...

'', ''

Archives of Sexual Behavior The ''Archives of Sexual Behavior'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in sexology. It is the official publication of the International Academy of Sex Research. History The journal was established in 1971 by Richard Green, who served as its ed ...

'', and various other journals. Her research focuses on same-sex sexuality, adolescent females, and

human bonding Human bonding is the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship between two or more people. It most commonly takes place between family members or friends, but can also develop among groups, such as sporting teams and whenever ...

. In her studies of

sexual fluidity Sexual fluidity is one or more changes in sexuality or sexual identity (sometimes known as sexual orientation identity). Sexual orientation is stable and unchanging for the vast majority of people, but some research indicates that some people may e ...

, she has found that some women report variability in their

sexual orientation identity Sexual identity is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically and/or sexually attracted.
''Sex ...

. Diamond is clear that sexual orientation is not chosen, but that identity can shift non-voluntarily for some women. The sexually fluid women she studied did not "experience those changes as willful", and some even resist them. Diamond says that

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and clin ...

cannot remove same-sex attraction. Describing herself as a feminist scientist, Diamond says "there are a lot of scientists who just cling to the scientific method and believe they are totally objective and I think they are full of bunk. But, I have met a lot of feminists who say there is not a way to collect data without being oppressive, that data has no meaning, the world is socially constructed and I think that is bunk too." Diamond has also researched

attachment theory Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory concerning relationships between humans. The most important tenet is that young children need to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for normal ...

as the basis for love and sexual orientation, and the association between relationships and psychobiological health. Diamond was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award by the APA Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns in 2011; the Distinguished Book Award by the International Association of Relationship Research (IARR) in 2010; and the Distinguished Book Award for her book ''Sexual Fluidity'' by the American Psychological Association, Division 44 in 2009. ''Sexual Fluidity'' was also a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature.

Publications

*Diamond, L. M., Hicks, A. M., and Otter-Henderson, K. D. (2008). Every time you go away: Changes in affect, behavior, and physiology associated with travel-related separations from romantic partners. ''Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'', 95, 385–403. *Diamond, L. M., & Dickenson, J. (2012). The neuroimaging of love and desire: Review and future directions. ''Clinical Neuropsychiatry'', 9, 39–46. *Diamond, L. M. (2008). Female bisexuality from adolescence to adulthood: Results from a 10-year longitudinal study. ''Developmental Psychology'', 44, 5–14. *Diamond, L.M., Fagundes, C. P., & Cribbet, M. R. (2012). Individual differences in adolescent sympathetic and parasympathetic functioning moderate associations between family environment and psychosocial adjustment. ''Developmental Psychology''. *Diamond, L. M. & Wallen, K. (2011). Sexual-minority women's sexual motivation around the time of ovulation. ''Archives of Sexual Behavior'', 40, 237–246. *Diamond, L. M., Hicks, A. M., & Otter-Henderson, K. D. (2011). Individual differences in vagal regulation moderate associations between daily affect and daily couple interactions. ''Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin'', 37, 731–744. *Diamond, L. M. (2012). The desire disorder in research on sexual orientation in women: Contributions of dynamical systems theory. ''Archives of Sexual Behavior'', 41, 73–83. *Diamond, L.M. (2013). Concepts of female sexual orientation. In C. Patterson & A. R. D'Augelli (Eds.), The psychology of sexual orientation (pp. 3–17). New York: Cambridge University Press. *Diamond, L.M. (2013). Sexuality in relationships. In J. Simpson & L. Campell (Eds.), Handbook of close relationships (pp. 589–614). New York: Oxford University Press. *Diamond, L.M. (2013). Sexual-minority, gender-nonconforming, and transgender youths. In D. Bromberg & W. O. Donohue (Eds.) Handbook of child and adolescent sexuality: Developmental and forensic psychology (pp. 275–300). Oxford: Elsevier Press. *Diamond, L.M. (2013). Links and distinctions between love and desire. In C. Hazan and M. Campa (Eds.), Human bonding: The science of affectional ties (pp. 226–250). New York: Guilford. *Diamond, L.M. (2014). The biobehavioral legacy of early attachment relationships for adult physiological, emotional, and interpersonal functioning. In V. Zayas & C. Hazan (Eds.), Bases of adult attachment: Linking brain, mind, and behavior (pp. 79–105). New York: Springer. *Farr, R.H., Diamond, L.M., & Boker, S.M. (2014). Female same-sex sexuality from a dynamical systems perspective: Sexual desire, motivation, and behavior. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43, 1477–1490. *Diamond, L.M. (2014). Sexuality and same-sex sexuality in relationships. In J. Simpson & J. Davidio (Eds.), Handbook of personality and social psychology (Vol. 3, pp. 523–553). Washington, DC: APA. *Diamond, L.M. (2016). Female sexual orientation. In A. Goldberg (Ed.), The Sage encyclopedia of LGBTQ lives in context (pp. 551–556). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. *Mansfield, C.D., & Diamond, L.M. (2016). Does stress-related growth really matter for adolescents' day-to-day adaptive functioning? Journal of Early Adolescence. *Bailey, J.M., Vasey, P., Diamond, L.M., Breedlove, M., Vilain, E., & Epprecht, M. (2016). Sexual orientation, controversy, and science. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17, 45–101. *Diamond, L.M., & Rosky, C. (2016). Scrutinizing "immutability": Research on sexual orientation and its role in legal advoacacy for the rights of sexual minorities rights? Journal of Sex Research, 53, 363–391. *Diamond, L.M. (2016). Three critical questions for future research on lesbian relationships. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 21, 1–14. *Diamond, L.M. (2016). Sexual fluidity in males and females. Current Sexual Health Reports, 8, 249–256. *Diamond, L.M., Dickenson, J., & Blair, K. (2017). Stability of sexual attractions across different time scales: The roles of bisexuality and gender. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46, 193–204. *Diamond, L.M. (2018). Contemporary theory in the study of intimacy, desire, gender, and sexuality. In N. Dess, J. Marecek, D. Best, & L. Bell (Eds.), Gender, sex, and sexualities: Psychological perspectives (pp. 271–294). New York: Oxford University Press. *Spivey, L.A., Huebner, D.M., & Diamond, L.M. (2018). Parent responses to childhood gender nonconformity: Effects of parent and child characteristics. Journal of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 5, 360–370. *Diamond, L.M. (2018). The dynamic expression of sexual-minority and gender-minority experience during childhood and adolescence. In S. Lamb & D. Gilbert (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of sexuality: Childhood and adolescence (pp. 92–110). New York: Cambridge University Press.

References

External links

Diamond at University of Utah
(scientific articles to download)
Interview (hour-long) on Radio West focusing on Diamond's research on sexual fluidity, 2014List of Diamond's publications
The University of Utah {{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, Lisa M. American women psychologists 21st-century American psychologists American feminists American LGBT scientists Psychology writers on LGBT topics Cornell University alumni University of Chicago alumni University of Utah faculty American lesbian writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Lesbian academics Lesbian scientists American women academics 21st-century American women