I asked Paula Rust, a professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Geneseo, who has conducted research on bisexuality ever since shewas a graduate student. All of a sudden I could see heterosexual privilege everywhere. The world looked different. But once I was in the lesbian community, I began to see the same kinds of dynamics.
Some people reject other people because of their social location.
At a personal level, Rust began having an affair with a man and identifying as a lesbian. I was keeping that relationship hidden the same way that most heterosexual women keep their relationships with other women hidden. The similarity really struck me. The relationship ended, but the result was that Rust began to study prejudice and boundaries within the lesbian community. These are the women who came out in the1970s.