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Common sense might suggest that lesbian workers are doubly disadvantaged due to their gender and their stigmatized sexual orientation. But empirical research documents that lesbian workers earn more than their heterosexual women peers. This article considers two reasons for the economic advantage of lesbian workers. First, because lesbians must provide for themselves and their children, they may pursue nontraditional, higher-paying jobs and show increased work motivation. Second, stereotypes may depict lesbians, including lesbian mothers, as competent and committed workers. A review of available research is augmented with data from a study of 162 college students. Results indicate that motherhood detracts from the perceived work commitment and competence of heterosexual mothers but not lesbian mothers. Directions for future research are considered.

Major scientific findings about women’s sexuality and sexual orientation are reviewed. Sexual orientation is unrelated to mental health. There is no inherent association between gender conformity and women’s sexual orientation; masculinity and femininity are linked to sexual orientation in some social contexts but not in others. Research has so far failed to identify major biological or childhood antecedents of women’s sexual orientation. Women’s sexuality and sexual orientation are potentially fluid, changeable over time, and variable across social contexts. Regardless of sexual orientation, there are important commonalities in women’s sexuality. In particular, women tend to have a relational or partner-centered orientation to sexuality. Together, these findings provide the basis for a paradigm shift in the conceptualization of women’s sexual orientation. Scientific research on women’s sexuality and sexual orientation is still a young endeavor. Nonetheless, several basic findings have been supported consistently by empirical research. Taken together, these findings highlight the need to reject old models of women’s sexual orientation and to develop a new paradigm that is grounded in scientific research and sensitive to the realities of women’s lives. Too often, old theories have taken male experience as the norm for human experience. Yet there appear to be important differences in the sexualities of women and men that emerge when women’s lives are the central focus of investigation. Consequently, we believe that a necessary research strategy will be to develop separate analyses of women’s and men’s sexualities, each based on a

Researchers and theorists who attempt to generalize about sexuality and sexual orientation in both men and women simultaneously often take male experiences as the norm and ignore unique aspects of women's lives. The purpose of this issue is to focus attention on scientific research and theory about aspects of women's sexualities, with special emphasis on sexual orientation. A new paradigm is presented that recognizes the great diversity of women's erotic experiences and the many sociocultural factors that shape women's sexuality and sexual orientation across the lifespan. This introductory article highlights major themes and provides a brief summary of the articles in the issue. Four central topics are discussed: (1) the complexnature of women's sexualities and sexual orientations; (2) the importance of historical, social, and cultural contexts for adequately understanding women's sexualities; (3) the development of sexual orientation in women; and (4) implications for research and policy.

This longitudinal research investigated the personal and relationship correlates of sex role attitudes first during college and then 15 years later. The original sample of 231 college-age dating couples was studied intensively in 1972–1974, and individual participants were recontacted in 1986–1987. Results provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the 10-item Sex-Role Traditionalism Scale. In college, significant links were found between sex role attitudes and dating relationships, including patterns of self-disclosure, power, and cohabition, but not relationship satisfaction. Fifteen years later, sex role attitudes assessed while in college were largely unrelated to general patterns of marriage, childbearing, and employment for either sex, but did predict women's educational attainment and the long-term outcome of the college romances.

Research with the Just World Scale has indicated that many people believe that the world is a place where good people are rewarded and bad people are punished. Believers in a just world have been found to be more likely than nonbelievers to admire fortunate people and to derogate victims, thus permitting the believers to maintain the perception that people in fact get what they deserve. Other studies have shed light on the antecedents, correlates, and social consequences of the belief in a just world. Everyone may have a version of the just world belief in early childhood (Piaget's “immanent justice”), but some people outgrow the belief quickly and some apparently never do. Believers in a just world have been found to be more religious, more authoritarian, and more oriented toward the internal control of reinforcements than nonbelievers. They are also more likely to admire political leaders and existing social institutions, and to have negative attitudes toward underprivileged groups. Suggestions for modifying the belief in a just world are offered, focusing on the socialization techniques employed by parents, teachers, religious institutions, and the mass media.

The love relationships of lesbians were investigated as part of a questionnaire study of a diverse sample of 127 lesbians. The majority of women said their current relationship was extremely close, personally satisfying, and egalitarian. Differences among women's values concerning relationships reflected two distinct dimensions: dyadic attachment and personal autonomy. These relationship values were associated with women's social characteristics and feminist involvement. Relationship values were also related to such characteristics of women's current relationships as measures of love and satisfaction, future commitment, sexual exclusivity, and problems of independence/dependence.

The patterning of sexual interaction in male-female dyads and the links between sexual behavior and emotional intimacy were investigated as part of a two-year study of college dating couples. Despite generally permissive and egalitarian attitudes, traditional sexual role playing in which the man encourages intercourse and the woman limits the couple's sexual intimacy was common. Three types of couples were compared: sexual traditionalists who abstained from coitus, sexual moderates who had coitus only after emotional intimacy was established, and sexual liberals who had coitus prior to developing emotional intimacy. Findings are discussed in terms of the psychological meaning of sexual behavior for young adults.

Factors that predicted breakups before marriage, investigated as part of a two-year study of dating relationships among college students, included unequal involvement in the relationship (as suggested by exchange theory) and discrepant age, educational aspirations, intelligence, and physical attractiveness (as suggested by filtering models). The timing of breakups was highly related to the school calendar, pointing to the importance of external factors in structuring breakups. The desire to break up was seldom mutual; women were more likely than men to perceive problems in premarital relationships and somewhat more likely to be the ones to precipitate the breakups. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for the process of mate selection and their implications for marital breakup. (“The best divorce is the one you get before you get married.”)