Sexual preferences or orientation is fluid, reasons Shormita. The findings are startling. An exclusive for Different Truths.

Sexual preference or orientation is a kind of romantic or physical attraction to a person of opposite gender or the same gender or bisexual person. Now the question arises, do sexual preferences change after reaching a certain age? This is one of the major unanswered questions in the world, as one does not know the exact answer to this question. But surely, we can discuss the possibilities of such a situation by going through a few instances.

Sexual orientation differs from a person to person. We do not have the right to judge someone’s sexual preference. Also, it has been found that the sexual preference of a person changes with time, for example – a homosexual man loves a woman after being in a homosexual relationship or a heterosexual woman falls in love with another woman. Such strange situations give us an insight into the numerous changes in the Nature of habitats, which are constantly changing with the flow of time.

Prof. Lisa M. Diamond in her book, Sexual Fluidity, studies 80 non-heterosexual women and conducted her research on their sexual orientation. She has found out that a large number of women have changed their sexual orientation and fallen in love with a person of the opposite gender. She has observed that love has changed their sexual orientation and they ultimately start loving a person of the opposite gender whom they have ignored earlier. Also, this research shows less flexibility among men, though, there are cases that indicate that homosexual men unpredictably fallen in love with a woman. Thus, it points out the fact that sexual flexibility does exist in society.

Also, we can witness such kinds of themes in the web-series like Hello, Hello 2, Charitraheen, Twisted, etc. Hello starrer Raima Sen (Nandita) is the protagonist of the show, who is happily married with her husband (Ananyo) and has two children. The story is based on a thriller plot; a lesbian woman had an affair with her husband Ananyo. This is the turning point of the story in which the viewers came to know that the other woman is targeting Nandita (her childhood crush). Ultimately, Nandita moved out with her lesbian lover, leaving her husband, family, and children – to live her life with her woman lover. This shows that even after having a happy married life, a woman chose her lesbian lover out of love. Breaking all the stereotypical roles of being a wife, daughter-in-law, and mother, she realised her love for a woman and continued her later life with her.

Charitraheen (characterless) is based on the novel Charitraheen, 1917, by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. It was a controversial novel of that time. This web-series tells about the sexual exploration of a woman (Kiran), her bold life choices, and a tale of her realisation of her sexual choices. The character of Kiran is multi-layered, she is loyal to her husband but suddenly after a certain period of time, her choices changed. She constantly challenged her sexual choices. Therefore, it is somewhat difficult to understand the uncertainty of gender choices or sexual preference.

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Shormita Bose

Shormita Bose, is pursuing PhD in English literature from GLA University, Mathura. She has completed her M.A. & B.A. from University of Allahabad. She has contributed her research article in the edited book- Human Rights: Issues, Challenges and Present Status and also written an article in the anthology -Words That Stay Forever. Currently, she is working on her own edited book- Women and Queers: The Marginalized Gender.