Originally Posted by jayeff

I don't think I ever got as far as thinking about the "technical details", as it were. I get stuck at wondering how far the impact of whatever short-circuit got someone interested in his/her own sex in the first place, extends to other aspects of gay/lesbian personalities and expectations.

I guess there are men and women who fit the popular stereotypes - queen, dyke, etc - but the usual male/female roles evolved, initially anyway, as much because of physical differences as for any other reason and then the socio-political stuff got laid on top. But neither the physical differences nor the current social norms apply to same-sex relationships, so is it a breeder assumption that gays and lesbians emulate a typical male-female relationship (if so, that in itself seems more than a little bizarre), or is the reality a lot more complex?