As a multi- decades lesbian turned bi...
Ooh, women who have transitioned from lesbian to bi intrigue me! Now I know you and Redpepper, there are probably others on this forum. Female sexual fluidity is something I spend absurd amounts of time thinking about, since I've moved a fair bit between identifying as a gay woman and identifying as a bi woman. Just now I'm comfortable with flexbian - primarily interested in women but willing to make exceptions for a few specific men. I find my 'man-phases' come and go, and more often than not probably become self-feeding cycles - opening yourself to one man leads to noticing others in a special way too, and then you allow other men a little more leeway, and sooner than you know it, you are on a man-binge!
I have been informed that nobody who likes cock as much as I do can be a lesbian. But to me, orientation is about emotional attraction first and foremost. If it were easier to meet women I'd probably stop actively dating men all together and just stick with my current sweetheart and any lovely ladies I could put under my spell. Maybe I'm one of those lesbians who end up married with a man after all.
I wonder how much of this emotional preference of mine has to do with having been brought up in a two-female-household. I've never lived with an adult male, related or unrelated, and was thus severely shocked by the discovery that although everyone calls them 'balls' or 'testicles', they are in fact located in the SAME bag! Like what is that about?! ATM I have a live-in mum and a live-in straight gf, and have one male friend who is as gay as a Swiss cuckoo clock. Like, how homo-social can one get, really?
Growing up I thought everyone was bisexual and was quite surprised to discover at the tender age of eleven that it was not so. I experienced my bisexual and feminist revelation pretty simultaneously, so I guess it's one of the reasons I feel so drawn to this quote by Alice Walker;
"A womanist is a woman who loves other women sexually and/or non-sexually. Appreciates and prefers women's culture, women's emotional flexibility (values tears as a natural counterbalance of laughter), and women's strength. Sometimes loves individual men, sexually and/or non-sexually."
So yeah, if the term had wider currency I'd love to be a womanist.
Midnight ramblings. Love 'em.