1. Sexual Orientation

2. Definitions Sexual Orientation Sexual Identity
Whom we are sexually attracted to
Capable of falling in love with
Sexual Identity
Ones’ self identity
Usually seen as a dichotomy
Homosexual
Heterosexual
Bisexual

3. Definitions The scientific study of homosexuality Frequency
Who is?
Need a definition
Self-label
Behaviour
How often?
When?
Tea room men, Indonesian men
Causes

4. Definitions Kinsey 1 – 10% of the population
37% of all males had at least one same sex experience to orgasm in adulthood
1 – 10% of the population
Canadian Community Health Survey
National Health and Life Styles Survey
Twice as many men as women

6. Definitions Asexual category: Not attracted to either sex
Non-existent sex drive
Hormonal deficiency
Central nervous system misconnection
Possible early trauma

7. Definitions Bisexuality 33% - if based on one encounter
Higher sex drive
More sexual activity in general, including masturbation.
More high risk behaviour
Majority married (heterorole)
Sexual pleasure oriented
Few cultural images

8. Definitions Danger Adolescent males Difficulty
71% of bisexual men do not tell their female partners
STDs – AIDS
Adolescent males
Very common transitional stage
Difficulty
Rejected by both hetero and homo
Called fence-sitters, some feel pressured to go in either direction
Many gays reject the concept, saying that bi’s are misguided homosexuals

9. Attitudes Heterosexism Homophobia Homonegativity
Heterosexual = normal
Homophobia
Strong, irrational fears of homosexuals
Homonegativity
Negative attitudes and behaviors toward homosexuals
Cultural attitude based on religious teachings

10. Attitudes Same sex marriage Equal rights Minority group Stereotypes
Many negative consequences
Assault
Rejection
Discrimination
Suicide

11. Attitudes Same-sex sexual activity illegal in Canada
Decriminalized in 1969
Criminal code still discriminates
Age of consent for anal sex is 18 (14 for vaginal)
Charter of Human Rights
Sexual orientation prohibited ground for discrimination

12. Research
Adams, Wright and Lohr (1996) gave test to measure homophobia to male college students
Group 1: high scores
Group 2: low scores
All participants were hooked to plethysmograph that measured erection
They all watched film clips of hetero, gay and lesbian sex
Group 1: 54% had increased penile errection
Group 2: 24% had increased penile circumference

13. Gender Differences
In an experiment heterosexual and homosexual males and females watched videos of
Heterosexual sex
Male gay sex
Lesbian sex
Nude males
Nude females
Bonobos having sex
The participants were hooked to a plethysmograph and were asked to report verbally when they were aroused

14. Gender Differences Heterosexual males became aroused when watching
Heterosexual sex
Lesbian sex
Nude females
Homosexual males became aroused when watching
Male homosexual sex
Nude males
100% concordance between plethysmograph results and self report

15. Gender Differences
Both heterosexual and homosexual women were aroused by all the videos according to the plethysmograph
Self reports were at odds with objective data
Women are not aware when they are aroused
Another gender difference:
More women self-label bisexual than males
More women switch sexual orientation over their life times

16. Development of Sexual Orientation
Several possible ways to acquire sexual orientation
Basic human needs shared by all
Sensual/sexual fulfillment
Socio-emotional connection

17. Development of Sexual Orientation
Possible variables involved
Genes
Hormones in utero
Subtle intrauterine interactions
Brain: timing
Early influences
Identity problems
Social stereotypes, prejudice

18. Development of Sexual Orientation
Cannot look for THE cause
INTERACTIONS
Individual differences in etiology
Circumstances:
Jail, boarding school
Cross-cultural evidence:
Prescribed homosexuality at certain age-stage
Definition found in many cultures:
gay man is the one that is penetrated

19. Development of Sexual Orientation
Genetic:
Twin Studies
Monozygotic
Dizygotic
Adopted
Genetic Similarity
100%
50% 0%
Concordance Rate
52%
22%
11%

20. Development of Sexual Orientation
Prenatal factors
Sexual differentiation and innappropriate hormones
Severe maternal stress (animal studies)
Maternal stress is retrospective
No tally of stressed expectant mothers who had heterosexual children

21. Development of Sexual Orientation
Prenatal factors
Very high levels of estrogen
Lesbian offspring
Birth order (Canadian):
Males with several older brothers
2D:4D finger-length ratio
Handedness
No agreement in different studies, contradictory data

22. Development of Sexual Orientation
Brain differences
Hypothalamus
Small sample
Non-comparable
Cause of death
Difference due to orientation or to disease and its treatment?
Other differences found, but all in adults after the fact (chicken/egg)
Endocrine imbalance
No differences found

23. Development of Sexual Orientation
Learning:
Possible in some cases
Polymorphously Perverse
Personal negative experience could override social reinforcement patterns
Also, peer group can provide more reinforcement than society at large.

24. Development of Sexual Orientation
Sociological theories:
Importance of labels
Labels affect perception
Perception affects behaviour
This can influence self-perception
Leading to self-labelling.

25. Development of Sexual Orientation
Reiss
Negative pathway
Rigidly polarized societies have higher incidence of male-male sex
High maternal involvement; Low paternal
Little opportunity to learn
Positive pathway
Very permissive societies
Experimentation OK.

26. Bem: The Exotic Becomes Erotic
Boys more active and aggressive
Different = exotic

27. Bem’s Theory – Criticisms
There is NO abundant evidence of inborn aggression and activity levels by gender
Contaminated by culture.
Homosocial activities are mostly a cultural phenomenon.
Children who don’t fit the gender stereotypes are clearly told they are odd and wrong.

28. Bem’s Theory – Criticisms
Many gays are “gender typical” in their interests, appearance, etc. Bem fell for the effeminate guy/macho woman stereotype of gays.
Many atypical (i.e., boys who played with dolls, girls who played with trucks) kids do not go on to become gay.

29. Bell and Weinberg Typology
Sample of 979
Close coupled
One long-time partner
Marriage type relationship
Few problems
Few sex partners
Infrequent cruising

30. Bell and Weinberg Typology
Open coupled:
steady live-in partner
Also many outside partners
Frequent cruising
More likely to have problems
More likely to regret being gay

31. Bell and Weinberg Typology
Functional
Not coupled
High number of sex partners
Few problems
Younger
High sex drive
Few regrets

32. Bell and Weinberg Typology
Dysfunctional
Not coupled
High number of partners
Many sex and psychological problems
Tense
Unhappy
Depressed

33. Bell and Weinberg Typology
Asexual
Low in sexual interest and activity
Less exclusively gay
Very secretive
Loners
Highest incidence of suicidal thoughts

34. Bell, Weinberg and Hammersmith
In depth interviews comparing gays/ lesbians and straights.
No support for psychoanalytic, learning or sociological (labelling) theories.
They speculate a biological basis but have no data.