Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity - Lecture 3 PDF

Preview

Summary

Lecture 3...

Description

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Simon LeVay; Janice I. Baldwin 'Human Sexuality' 2012 4th Ed Chapter 14

https://rl.talis.com/3/essex/lists/C7779F20-06FA-F06D-EF36E47B23D874F8.html 3 Sexual Orientation Handout Big.pdf

Reading Notes

Percentages of Homosexuality in Population (1990s)

Percentages of Homosexuality in Population (2010s)

This is a cultural phenomenon Homosexual experiences effect women more than men

Kinsey Scale: Which ONE of the following most accurately describes your current understanding of yourself? 0 = Only sexually attracted to the opposite sex 1 = Mostly sexually attracted to the opposite sex and occasionally attracted to the same sex 2 = Primarily sexually attracted to the opposite sex and definitely attracted to the same sex 3 = More or less equally sexually attracted to the opposite and same sex 4 = Primarily sexually attracted to the same sex and definitely attracted to the opposite sex 5 = Mostly sexually attracted to the same sex and occasionally attracted to the opposite sex 6 = Only sexually attracted to the same sex

In the 60's homosexuality was illegal so there were neighbourhoods where people were gay in order to flock together So high numbers in gay percentages may be down to doing studies in primarily gay metropolitan areas

Distribution of Non-Heterosexual Kinsey Scores

Women are more undecided about exclusive attraction to the opposite sex Men are more sure if their straight or gay Bisexual men are more rare

To Be Distinguished Sexual identity.... can be affected by social desirability (how you wish to be seen by society) Sexual behaviour.... are affected by opportunity Sexual orientation.... your true feelings, regardless of social desirability and opportunity Sexual orientation can be measured objectively, although not perfectly, by investigating its physiological correlate sexual arousal - genital arousal to pornography or sexual stimuli (search names for the two devices used) Either a single man or woman orgasming - not two people as they are not sure what you are attracted to

There has been a debate as to whether male bisexuality exists Men, even though they may be attracted to different sexes, their patterns are identical Either completely attracted to men and not women or vice versa

Bisexual men should have higher sexual arousal levels to the less arousing sex than straight men or gay men do to their less arousing sex Their subjective arousal was pretty consistent with this but... Most bisexual men don’t appear to show bisexual arousal in their genitals similarly to straight men and gay men A lot of these bisexual mens were more attracted to men However, unlike Rieger et al. (2005), later studies (e.g., Slettevold et al., 2019) confirmed a bisexual arousal pattern in bisexual men, but they focused on selected samples When we reanalysed data of over 500 men in 2020 we found clear signs of bisexual arousal in bisexual men (Jabbour et al., 2020)!

Clear evidence that bisexual men show more arousal to the less arousing sex than straight or gay men So we have to change our minds. Bisexual men can (but don’t necessarily do) show bisexual arousal Penis arousal tends to show orientation with a very high correlation What happens in most women?.... They look pretty bisexual in their arousal across all sexual orientations

Women of all sexual orientations were aroused substantially to both sexes perfect bisexual arousal Lesbian women were a bit more attracted to women then men Male sexual orientation is a sexual arousal pattern Female sexual orientation is an unconfirmed hypothesis, at least with respect to heterosexuality No clear orientation can be seen through sexual arousal in women

Evidence that sexual orientation is innate: Developmental Neuroanatomical Neuroendocrine Genetic

Developmental Indicators of Childhood Gender Non-Conformity Gender non-conforming: showing behaviour typical to the opposite sex Reputationas “queeny” or “tomboy” Cross-sex affiliations Atypical interests in hobbies Cross-dressing Wish to be opposite sex Retrospective studies link childhood gender nonconformity with sexual orientation (review by Bailey & Zucker, 1995) - gender non-conforming can predict homosexuality A few prospective studies also suggest this link (Li et al., 2016; Xu et al., 2021; Singh et al., 2021) Retrospective studies rely on self-reports/memories - there are many issues with this:

Prospective studies looked a children with pretty extreme gender conforming behaviours that not all gender non-conforming individuals would present New studies combine both: show old childhood home videos of homosexual individuals to people who are not aware of these children's sexuality and ask what they think of the behaviour presented

Gender nonconformity of homosexual people develops early, tends to be consistent, and is probably independent of certain social treatment This non-conforming behaviour tends to become significant at around 4, but this can start earlier These traits may be partially innate Similar conclusions may be drawn for the gender conformity of heterosexual people

Reiger et al. (2010; 2020) Gender nonconformity differences apply on average, but it varies, especially within homosexual people Some are very gender non-conforming but some are not at all - this contradicts the correlation between gender non-conformity and sexual orientation (some people who conform to their gender can still be homosexual) Androgenisation at different time frames during prenatal development possibly affects sexual orientation independently of gender behaviour

Gender nonconformity is a sign of masculinity-femininity and composed of: Movements Voice Patterns Appearance Interests

Casual Sex Contrast

Gay people are gender-conforming when it comes to casual sex - men want more casual sex than women Gay people have a lot more casual sex, not because they are hyper sexual, they have more of chance

Consequences of Gender Nonconformity: Attractiveness Flaming

Masculine

Queen

Butch

Femme

Bull Dyke

Nellie

Stone Butch

Swish

Soft Butch

Straight Acting

''Seeking'' Gay men and lesbians are problematic for their own groups Gay people are more likely to be attracted to conforming men and women than non-conforming men and women

''Don't bother me if you are''

Gay men, in particular, can be obsessed with gender conformity and worried about gender nonconformity Gay men would rather have masculine men

Why Gay Men Often Fetishize Straight Men

https://www.vice.com/en/article/mbz9ny/why-gay-men-

Gender nonconformity makes many people uncomfortable

Neuroanatomical LeVay (1991) The interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus is a structure likely responsible for regulating androgenisation and sexual behaviour in mammals

The interstitial nucleus is smaller in homosexual men than heterosexual men, and more similar in size to the one found in heterosexual women

Roselli et al. (2004; 2009) A similar nucleus is found in sheep that are exclusively homosexual when mounting other sheep – not 100% comparable to what you see in most gay men though The gay sheep are obsessed with mounting (being tops) A lot of gay men are bottoms

Neuroendocrine (hormonal) Cloacal exstrophy Ablatio penis These examples from last class indicate that at least in males, sexual orientation is innate

Genetic Twins can help us understand Shared Genetic Influences: The effects of genes that we share with our relatives Shared Environmental influences: Anything that is shared but not genetic. This does not need to be shared social environment, but, for example, the effect of shared hormones Environment is not just social influence Unique Environmental Influences that make one sibling different from the other sibling

If one twin is gay, what is concordance (%) that the sibling is gay? Assume this is solely due to the shared environment

If one twin is gay, what is concordance (%) that the sibling is gay? Assume this is solely due to their genes

If one twin is gay, what is concordance (%) that the sibling is gay? Assume this is due to their genes and random factors (most accurate)

Each twin’s unique environmental influences diminish any other influences (generic or otherwise)

If one twin is gay, the concordance (%) that the brother is gay (study)

Each twin’s unique environmental influences diminish any other influences (generic or otherwise) Adoptive brother concordance was unexpected - potentially a recruitment bias

If one twin is gay, the concordance (%) that the sister is gay

What makes us similar to siblings is more due to our genes but our differences may be may due to our environment

Watts et al. (2018) Because it is not all in our genes, there can be identical twins who report discordant sexual orientations? But are they objectively different, for example, in their observed gender–related behaviours? Looked at photos and asked people which was more masculine and which was more feminine

They appear to be different, but the difference is not as strong as between unrelated straight and gay individuals Hence, unique environmental differences must contribute to differences between genetic identical individuals with discordant sexual orientations, but perhaps of their shared genes they are still more similar to each other than those who are completely unrelated

More Environment: Fraternal Birth Order Effect

If a man has older brothers, his chances of being gay increases with how many older brothers he has Men only not women 1 in 7 gay men Not a social effect but an innate one

Maternal immune hypothesis: At birth, when blood is exchanged, mothers respond to their first son (which has male-typical proteins: Y proteins ) with antibodies - this wont effect the first son as he has been born These antibodies are fully developed by the second pregnancy with a son, possibly attacking his brain tissue (which includes male-specific proteins) foetus might not have the typical development of most males potentially becoming more feminine and thus changing sexual orientation

Mechanism of Maternal Immunisation Boegart et al. (2018) Finally in 2018: First time evidence that mothers of gay sons, only of gay sons with older brothers, have antibodies against Y-linked proteins (which are usually

not found in females), and these antibodies could attack the brain of a male foetus!

Can we change our sexual orientation? How would we show it? Can we rely on someone’s word they have changed? How plausible is change (in males) given what we know about ablatio penis and cloacal exstrophy? - male change in sexual orientation is very unlikely It may be completely different for women, and we are not even sure how we can know with them - also probably unlikely in women

Can we change our sex? Yes, you can change your outer form What does this say about your sexual orientation? Are all transgender people (secretly) gay?

Male-to-Female Transgender Two dimensions

First dimension: Femininity: Heterosexual male, Homosexual male, Drag Queen (Gay Cross-dresser), Homosexual Male-to-Female Second dimension: Autogynephilia: Straight men who cross dress as women, Non-homosexual male-to-female transgender

Auto-Gyne-Philia Self-Woman-Love Straight guys that they can dress/look like the women they are attracted to - they wrap the woman around themselves Primarily attracted (almost exclusively aroused) to women, but most to the women the present themselves Erotic cross-dressing in private during adolescence (fetish) Gay people cross-dress for fun, straight do not it as it is a fetish - they are aroused by this Cross-dressing cyclical (purges and relapses) Masturbating while cross-dressing Other sexual preferences beyond cross-dressing

Autogynephilia is a paraphilia What are paraphilias?...