INTIMACY, FUSION AND FREQUENCY OF SEXUAL CONTACT IN LESBIAN COUPLES

It is generally accepted in the literature that, of all couple types, lesbian couples tend to have the lowest frequencies of sexual contact. It has been hypothesized that a reason for this is that lesbian coupl es are more subject than others to fusion. This study examines the rel ationship between frequency of sexual contact and fusion in lesbian re lationships of duration longer than one year. The concept of fusion ha s, however, not been clearly defined. Although Mencher (1990), for exa mple, states that fusion is akin to, but not the same as, intense inti macy, fusion is treated within the literature as if it lay on a contin uum of intimacy. In the design of this study, fusion was thus defined as a very high level of intimacy, as measured on the Personal Assessme nt of Intimacy in Relationships (PAIR) Inventory. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated and scatter graphs plotted to explore th e possible existence of significant linear and non-linear relationship s between fusion and frequency of sexual contact. The results of this study indicate that the conceptualization of fusion as very high intim acy should be questioned. The results suggest that fusion is not synon ymous with intense intimacy and this article argues for a clearer defi nition and operationalizatian of the important concept of fusion.