Psyc 3845 10-18

Feb 6

Same-sex sexuality and relationship configurations

“To be sure there is diversity, but there are only a few recurring patterns…despite the tradition of anthropologists and other travelers of stressing “exotic” differences.. There are not hundreds or even dozens of different social organizations of same-sex sexual relations in human societies...only a few categorization systems recur across space and time.”

- Stephen O. Murray (2000)

Same-sex attracted individuals form two primary types of relationships:

• homogendered and heterogendered

Homogendered relationships

• homogendered sexual/romantic relationships involve two partners who share similar gender roles and gender identities

• The most common expression of these relationships between two cisgender males or two cisgender females

• When partners in homogendered relationships are the same age, they often trat eachother as social equals (hence, such relationships are sometimes called egalitarian)

Some homogendered relationships are uncommon

• homogendered relationships involving two masculine/transgender gynephilic females exist, but they are relatively rare

• Homogendered relationships involving two feminine/transgender androphilic males are very rare

Heterogendered relationships

• Heterogendered sexual/romantic relationships involve partners who have different gender roles and gender identities and thus, do not treat each other as social equals

• Transgender male androphiles & transgender female gynephiles typically form heterogendered relationships with cisgender, same-sex partners

Butch-femme relationships

• Relationships between “butch” and “femme” women could be characterized as a type of heterogendered relationship

Certain heterogendered relationships are uncommon

• Heterogendered relationships involving two androphilic males are rare

Homogendered relationships can be age-graded

• Age-graded relationships involve two partners who differ in age by at least one generation (i.e. 10 years)

• When partners in homogendered relationships are age-graded, they sometimes do not treat each other as social equals

Heterogendered relationships can be age-graded

• “Marriages” among Mpondo men in South African gold mines often involve significant age differences, where younger men may marry older women, leading to complex dynamics influenced by economic factors and cultural expectations.

Why are some types of relationship configurations relatively rare while others are relatively common?

• Why can’t my famous gender nonconforming friends get laid

Androphilic males prefer masculinity

• 98% of MSM described themselves as masculine, not feminine

• When desirable traits were mentioned, masculinity was listed 96% of the time

• When undesirable traits were mentioned, femininity was listed 100% of the time

Gynephilic females prefer femininity

• Lesbians were more likely to characterize themselves as feminine (53%), than masculine (38%) but this bias was much less pronounced than in gay men

• When describing preferred traits, femininity was listed 76% of the time

• If interest in sports was not coded as masculine, preference for femininity jumped to 89%

• When describing undesirable traits, masculinity was mentioned 95% of the time

“Nature is a hard taskmaster. It is the hammer and the anvil, crushing individuality. … Nature is no respecter of human identity.” - Camille Paglia (1990)

Gynandromorphohiles are more like gynephilic men, than androphilic men

Feb 11

Sexual Orientation & Identity

“We are all now socially pressured to privately believe in and publicly proclaim our ‘sexual identities’ as the defining truth of who we are.” - Katz (1995)

Westerners draw upon sexual orientation to construct their identities

• 99.7% of American men and 99.9% of American women report having sexual orientation identity they endorsed that they identify as hetero,bi, or homosexual

Life course theory of sexual orientation identity development

“ A subjective understanding of one’s desire in the context of a specific cultural model of human sexuality leads to behavioural practice and identity assumption”

- Phillip L. Hammack (2005)

Sexual Orientation Identities

• The members of a culture inter-subjectively share beliefs about what sexuality means

• These inter-subjective beliefs impact how individuals subjectively interpret what their sexual feelings, fantasies, attractions and desires mean

  • if you are a same-sex attracted male, the pool of intersubjective belief channels you into a certain category (gay), but in a different place like samoa gay is not a category instead there is fa’afafine

  • Intersubjective phenomenon: variable, arbitrary, possibly infinite

• Based on this process of subjective interpretation, individuals then adopt sexual orientation identities from the pool that are culturally (inter-subjectively) available

• Once a sexual orientation identity is adopted, it influences the type of behaviour an individual expresses

• Why? Because the individual believes that such behaviour is consistent with the identity that they have adopted

  • Once you adopt the identity it influences the behaviour

• The expression of this behaviour can, in turn, reinforce the identity because the individual believes the two are consistent with each other

DL identity

• men who identify as Down Low (DL) regularly engage in sex with other men, but they do not identify as gay

• To understand why we have to first understand: what does “gay” mean to DL men?

• DL men describes “gays” in extremely negative terms as:

  • fearful

  • sad

  • lonely

  • clingy

  • effeminate

  • not fathers (this is important for DL men because families are important in their communities)

  • white (being associated with white would be shameful as it would suggest you are devaluing your own culture for another)

    • None of the descriptions include not preferring to have sex with same-sex partners; rather, they focus on the cultural implications and societal pressures that influence sexual identity and expression.

“Doing” & “Being” Gay

• DL men do not perceive homosexual behavior as indicative (an indexical particular) of gay identity, provided they behave in certain ways

  • you can engage in homosexual behaviour but that doesn’t make you gay

• They believe same-sex behaviour is something one does whereas being gay is something someone is

• In other words, in their minds, a conceptual distinction exists between behaviour (doing) and identity (being)

• Homosexual behaviour might be defined as “not gay” if (reconceptualize homosexual behaviour)

  • If it is defined as “work” and the individual is paid

  • Some specific act is not engaged in (e.g., bottoming, kissing)

  • If the individual acts in a hyper-masculine manner

  • If the individual does not have same-sex relationships or fall in love with same-sex partners

DL Identity

• If individuals hold certain indexical particulars for being gay, but do not see these indexical particulars (certain ultimate particulars) as characterizing themselves, then they will not identify as gay

• To maintain a positive and emotionally consistent sense of self, such individuals do two things

• First, they develop a new identity (DL) characterized by indexical particulars that are different from the identity they seek to distance themselves from (gay)

  • Black and you don’t participate in mainstream, white culture

  • Hyper-masculine and cultivate a “ thug” image

  • sex with men, but lead “heterosexual” lives

• Second they reinterpret the meaning of any aspects of their identity that they share with the one (gay) from which they are seeking distance (gay men and DL men are tied together by sex with men)

  • I’m just “freaky”

  • I have sex with men because “I’m bored”

  • Bottoming can be masculine, aggressive. You can do it and not be a “bitch”

• Once a “DL” identity is adopted, this, in turn influences their behaviour

  • No coming out process

  • No verbalization of same-sex attractions

  • Sex occurs in secret

  • Dating and marrying women

  • No kissing

  • No condoms (maybe to help maintain a certain identity, putting on condom might give you pause to actually think about what you’re doing )

• Engaging in these identity specific behaviours, in turn, reinforce the identity

In sum:

• Inter-subjective (cultural) ways of thinking about sexuality exist

• These ways of thinking channels how individuals subjectively interpret their sexual desires

• This results in individuals adopting culturally-specific identities

• This, in turn, prompts individuals to behave in certain ways, which, in turn, reinforces their identity

Can individuals develop (subjective) identities based on their sexual orientations when (inter-subjective) identity categories that describe them don’t exist?

“Because it is revealed rather than chosen, sexual preference is felt as deeply rooted and deriving from one’s nature. To the degree that sexuality is valued, one’s sexual “nature” will be experienced as more or less central to one’s personality. To the extent that an individual’s sex print “deviates” from the culture’s prescription for sexuality, may be experienced as even more central to identity…” - Pearson (1980)

• suggest that having sexual feeling or desires that deviate from mainstream will form the base of an identity that is felt very strongly

Anne Lister

“I love and only love the fairer sex and thus beloved by them in turn, my heart revolts from any love but theirs.” (1821) This quote reflects Lister's deep conviction in her sexual identity, reinforcing the notion that her love for women is intrinsic and fundamental to her sense of self.

Absence of Sexual Orientation Identities

• In some cultures, sexual orientation is not a basis for identity formation

• In such cultures, cisgender same-sex attracted individuals do not construct identities based on sexual orientation

• Instead they simply identify as “men” or “women” with no additional qualifiers (not a gay man, queer man, fa’afafine man)

• So, these individuals are not marked as different from opposite-sex attracted men and women

Feb 13

Paradise Bent

-fa’afafine: in the manner of a woman

• a recognized gender identity in Samoan culture, often embodying both masculine and feminine traits.

gynandromorphophiles - attracted to feminine men

Jeanette Mageo's claim that fa’afafine is a recent phenomenon (since the 1940s)
Mageo argues that fa’afafine as a distinct social category is relatively new, emerging due to Western influence and changes in Samoan society. She suggests that before the 1940s, there was no explicit recognition of a third gender role.
Evidence against this claim:

• The documentary presents older Samoans who recall fa’afafine existing well before the 1940s, suggesting it has deep cultural roots.

• Anthropologists and local testimonies indicate that fa’afafine have long been integrated into Samoan society, often taking on domestic and caregiving roles.

• Traditional Polynesian gender fluidity contradicts Mageo’s argument, showing that non-binary gender expressions were historically accepted.

Whitam’s (1987) concept of androphilic males and gender role presentation in the documentary

• The documentary showcases fa’afafine as individuals assigned male at birth who present in a range of gender expressions, from feminine to androgynous.

• Some fa’afafine adopt traditionally female roles (e.g., domestic work, caregiving), while others engage in activities blending both masculine and feminine traits.

• There is a diversity in how fa’afafine express their identity, supporting Whitam’s idea of a spectrum rather than a rigid binary.

Whitam’s (1987) discussion of cross-culturally universal interests in androphilic males

• The documentary shows fa’afafine engaging in artistic and caregiving professions, which Whitam identifies as common among androphilic males across cultures.

• Many fa’afafine work in fashion, entertainment, and beauty industries, mirroring patterns seen in other societies.

• Their roles in Samoan society reflect a broader trend where androphilic males often contribute significantly to culture, caretaking, and performance arts.

Peter’s sexual orientation

• Peter, a key individual in the documentary, identifies as a fa’afafine but expresses romantic and sexual attraction to men.

• Given his attraction to men, Peter would likely be considered androphilic (attracted to males), which aligns with a gay or queer identity in Western terms.

• However, in the Samoan context, Peter’s identity as fa’afafine transcends Western labels, as gender and sexuality are understood differently in the culture

The Rogers Documentary 

Fa’afafine as Trans Women – Is this accurate, or a form of Western colonialism?

• While some fa’afafine may identify as trans women, many do not see themselves within a strictly Western transgender framework.

• The fa’afafine identity is culturally specific and deeply embedded in Samoan traditions, differing from Western gender binaries.

• Labeling fa’afafine as trans women could be considered a form of Western colonialism, as it imposes Western gender norms onto a non-Western cultural identity.

Are fa’atama and fa’afafine part of the same community? Is the idea of a gay and lesbian community a Western construct?

• The film visually suggests unity between fa’atama (masculine-presenting individuals assigned female at birth) and fa’afafine, but in Samoan culture, they have distinct experiences.

• The concept of a unified LGBTQ+ community is largely a Western idea, as traditional Samoan gender roles and identities do not necessarily align with Western queer categories.

• The filmmakers may have imposed this idea to make the documentary more accessible to Western audiences or to highlight solidarity among gender-diverse individuals.

Ice (fa’atama) identifying as a trans man – Evidence of cultural diffusion from the West?

• The term fa’atama has historically existed but was not widely recognized until recently, coinciding with global conversations about transgender identities.

• Ice’s self-identification as a trans man reflects Western influence, as Samoan culture traditionally did not conceptualize gender identity in the same way.

• Ice defines fa’atama as individuals assigned female at birth who take on a masculine role, which contrasts with fa’afafine, who are assigned male at birth and take on a feminine role.

Comparison of social acceptance between fa’afafine and fa’atama

• Fa’afafine have been historically integrated into Samoan society, often taking on respected caregiving and performance roles.

• Fa’atama, however, face more social challenges, likely due to the patriarchal nature of Samoan society, where women assuming masculine roles may disrupt traditional gender hierarchies.

• This illustrates that social acceptance of one minority group does not guarantee acceptance for another, even when they share similarities.

Who are the Rogers and how did they emerge?

• The Rogers are a group of fa’afafine who formed their own community and social support network.

• They emerged due to the need for a safe space where they could express themselves and find camaraderie, highlighting both social challenges and resilience within the fa’afafine community.

Did the emergence of the Rogers require distancing from traditional culture?

• To some extent, yes. The Rogers created a community separate from traditional Samoan society, which did not always fully accept or support them.

• However, this does not mean traditional Samoan culture was entirely hostile to gender-diverse individuals. Romanticizing pre-colonial acceptance of gender variance can overlook the complex realities of marginalization.

Why did Ice’s partner refer to them as a “girl,” and was Ice offended?

• Ice’s partner may have used the term “girl” out of habit, societal conditioning, or because her family may not recognize transgender identities.

• Ice does not appear visibly offended but may have experienced discomfort, reflecting the challenges of navigating personal identity within a traditional cultural framework.

Feb 25

Is homosexuality a recent invention?

“Homosexuality appeared as one of the forms of sexuality when it was transposed from the practice of sodomy onto a kind of superior androgony, a hermaphroditism of the soul. The sodomite had been a temporary sinner; the homosexual was now a species.” - Michel Foucalt

the invention of the word homosexual created homosexuals as a type of being, whereas in the past no such beings were recognized, instead the behaviour sodomy was recognized but individuals who engaged in the act of sodomy were not grouped

In 1869, the word “homosexual” was coined by Hungarian journalist and human rights activist Karl Maria Kentbeny

Social Constructionist Claims

• The concept of sexual orientation was invented in the West in 1869, primarily by medical practitioners who created the idea of heterosexual and homosexual individuals through their research on the topic (this discourse among medical practitioners created these terms)

• Prior to this, same-sex sexual acts existed (sodomy, tribadism: genital-genital contact between two women), but homosexuals were not recognized by other as a distinct category of human beings

• Personal or group identities based on same-sex sexuality did not exist and thus, neither did sub-cultures of same-sex attracted individuals

• Because sexual orientation categories did not exist, everyone was bisexual only once these words were created individuals started to behave in ways that were consistent with these identities

• radical shifts in social constructionist literature are known as ruptures (shifts from one form of thinking to another)

Unambiguous archaeological evidence of homosexual behaviour that predates historical records (written records) is rare

• Naj Tunich cave, Guatemala, 1320 years old

• archaeological evidence may be interpreted as ritualistic

Portuguese Fanchonos

• Late 16th and 17th century records of the Portuguese inquisition in the National Archives in Lisbon

• Portuguese Fanchonos: same-sex attracted males, many of whom were effeminate word Fanchonos translates to sissy or fairy or queen

• 1652: “There is also the priest Barreto, 44 years old. When he arrived in a place, the young people were warned: “Take care with this cleric because he is a Fanchono and a somitigo [sodomite].” the average person could distinguish between an act or behaviour (sodomy) and a type of person who existed based on their sexuality (Fanchonos)

• 1645: People referred to “assemblies of Fanchonos”

• They employed nicknames such as Rafael Fanchono (1570) very clear from this that people were adopting identities from this term Fanchonos

A Fanchonos subculture

• Fanchonos organized themselves in physical and social space in the manner of a subculture

• Subculture is a subgroup of individuals within a larger culture that has unique traditions distinguishing it from the larger group

• Wore distinctive clothing and hairstyles (bright tunics and ribbons, style hair in locs)

• Often employed overtly feminine nicknames (for comedic purposes and used in an endearing way)

• Employed specialized slang (when they spoke to eachother they spoke about being on the “job” which indicated they were Fanchonos)

• Fanchonos spoke about themselves as a “jurisdiction” while outsiders were referred to as “ugly”

• Frequented certain taverns, inns, and cruising grounds (no exclusively Fanchonos places but were places that Fanchonos were accepted and were cruising grounds for them to pick up men other cruising grounds were ports, cathedral, markets)

• Shared houses where they would have noisy, campy parties (also did drag and had sex at these parties lots of camp behaviour at these parties)

  • Camp: theatrical, exaggerated

• Fanchonos created dance troupes

• Motts teaches us that the idea that homosexual individuals didn’t develop group and individual identities before 1869 is incorrect

English mollies

• 18th century documents including records from London’s central criminal court — The old Baily

• English mollies: same-sex attracted males who lived in 18th century London

• record shows that most mollies were working class guys (butchers, brewers, upholsters, tailors etc.) and were exclusively same-sex attracted

• “….The vile practices of sodomy, and the effeminate Actions of our modern mollies,…” (Philogynus,1726)

• Individuals employed nicknames for themselves like Black Molly, Green Pea Molly or Flying Horse Molly (this tells us that the status of being a molly was so core to how they view themselves that they adopted these nicknames)

A molly subculture

• Mollies organized themselves in physical and social space in the manner of a subculture

• “There are a particular Gang of Sodomitical Wretches, in this Town, who call themselves the Mollies” (Ward, 1710)

• Often employed overtly feminine nicknames

• They specialized slang and gestures (signaled interest by sitting in park bench and tapping hand)

• They patronized “molly houses”, taverns, coffee houses, sketchy parts of town

• Mothers Clap’s most famous molly house

  • there were about 30 molly houses in London during the course of a century

• Camp was an important part of the subculture

• Mollies weren’t imitating ladies they were imitating whores

• Festival nights, mock weddings, mock births, and christenings (mollies would be christened with female names and instead of holy water gin was thrown), drag balls

• Cruising grounds

17th century Japan

• Ihara Saikaku’s, The Great Mirror of Male Love (1687)

  • stories of men who didn’t marry women and rejected women as sexual partners

• Onna Girai (woman hater): identity based on sexual orientation

• Nascent subcultures?

  • “We’re such a couple of onna girai”

  • suggested that they socialize together and recognizes they are from unique population

Indonesian Ludruk

• Evidence for a subculture of ludruk performers dates back to 1822

• ludruk type of camp performer

• not historically recent phenomenon but is dying out in modern days

Same-sex attracted women as a distinct category

• not alot of info about same-sex attracted males and even less about same-sex attracted females

• Pierre de Bourdeille, Abbe Brantome (1614), Lives of Gallant Ladies

• “…such is the character of lesbian women, which will not suffer men at all. Now such women as love this practice will not suffer men, but devote themselves to other women and are called tribads…”

• 19th century is when the term lesbian came about

Ancient Indian medical texts

2600-1600 years before present

• Recognition and labeling of same-sex attracted females as distinct “types”

• characterized on what they like “tribadism” and do not like “Man haters”

• “ on the exhaustively debated.. question of the essentiality versus the social construction of homosexuality.. the clasical Indian literature clearly opts for congenital organic etiology” — Sweet & Zwilling (1993)

stophanes in the Symposium

Personal Identity

• “ I love and only love the fairer sex and thus beloved by them in turn, my heart revolts from any love but theirs.” (1821) Anne Lister

Personal Identity and lesbian subcultures prior to 1869?

• based on research it doesn’t look like there was, lister was not able to create a lesbian network let alone a subculture

• post 1870,in the 1890s in Paris you started to have taverns that were primariliy patronized by lesbians and serviced lesbians

“ Anne Lister was not able to create a lesbian network, let alone a subculture” - Clarke (1996)

Aristophanes in The Symposium

“…they who are a section of a male follow the male, and while they are young, beling slices of the original man, they have affections for men and embrace them, and these are the best boys, because they have a manly nature.”

“When they [halves of the double male] reach manhood they, in turn, are lovers of boys, and are not naturally inclined to marry or beget children. If they do so, it is only in deference to customs; If allowed to do so, they would just as Aristophanes (2 soon live with one another unwedded...”

Tomb of the Diver

• eromenos

• erastes

Males value youth in mates

Age-graded relationships

March 4

The Prevalence of Sexual Orientations

“In general, it can be said that where homosexuality is lauded, or even merely approved, it tends to be prevalent, and that, where there are strictures against it, it is less prevalent.”- Tripp (1976)

The prevalence Rates of Sexual Orientations in the west

• Savin-Williams & Valentova (2013) N=117,717

• Exclusive heterosexual far outnumber non-heterosexuals

• Men are more likely to report that they are exclusively heterosexual than women

• heterosexuals far outnumber nonheterosexuals

• Individuals who are “mostly heterosexual” (Kinsey 1) are much more common than those with stronger same-sex feelings (kinsey 2-6)

• More women rate themselves as “mostly heterosexual” compared to men

• Individuals with mostly or only homosexual feelings (kinsey 5 & 6) comprise a small minority of adults (<5%)

• Exclusive homosexuality is more common among men than among women

• male androphilia is more common than female gynephilia

• Exclusive homosexuality is more common in men than is substantial bisexuality

• Substantial bisexuality is more common in women than is exclusive homosexuality

• Bisexuality is more common among women than among men

Prevalence of Sexual Orientation

• Sexual orientation in women appears more continuous than in men

• Negative exponential curve (suggest that differences are a matter of degree rather than a matter of kind )

• Sexual orientation in men appears more bimodal than in women

• Bimodal J-curve (rare in nature and suggest that heterosexual and homosexuals are different categories)

Sexual orientation rates are relatively stable across nations

Sexual orientation rates are unrelated to various sociocultural variables

Sexual orientation rates are unrelated to a variety of socio-cultural variables across 28 nations

• Gender equality (health, longevity, standards of living, knowledge, education)

• Gender empowerment (power of economic resources, participation in economic decision making, political decision making)

• Economic development (GDP, life expectancy)

• Individualism/collectivism (no impact on findings of prevalence in sexual orientation categories)

  • Cultures that are high on individualism (e.g., Canada) encourage individuals to enact personal identity

  • Cultures that are high on collectivism (e.g., Samoa) encourage individuals to conform to society and fit in with the collective cultural identity

What about prevalence rates in the past?

“…there are more of us than 100 years ago” because ‘ideological conditions’ have made it “easier for people to make the choice to be gay.” – John D’Emilio (1993)

• In 1901, Lucien von Römer conducted a study on his fellow male university students in Amsterdam in the Netherlands

• He found that 1.9% were homosexual.

• In 1903, Magnus Hirschfeld conducted a study in Berlin, Germany, which placed the prevalence rate for homosexuality at 1.5%

• He conducted a second study in Berlin in 1904 and obtained a prevalence rate for homosexuality of 1.7%

Does the population prevalence rate for male androphilia differ depending on whether one is transgender or cisgender?

2013 study (N = 172): 3%

2017 study (N = 382): 2.1%

Fa’afafine and gay men exhibit similar population prevalence rates

Inter-subjectivity: Different Categories

• Gay men

• Fa’afafine

Objective reality: Same category?

• Same natural kind (male androphiles), but different culturally-specific expressions

“Homosexuality does not exist in all cultures.”

• Hewlett & Hewlett (2010)

Is homosexuality absent in some cultures?

“Several years ago we asked Aka men about homosexuality...and were surprised that they were not aware of [this practice], did not have terms for [it] and how difficult it was to explain…. They laughed as we tried to explain and describe the sexual activities. We thought that maybe they were shy or embarrassed individuals, but this would have been uncharacteristic of the Aka we had known so long. The Aka…had a difficult time understanding the concept and mechanics of same sex relationships. No word existed and it was necessary to repeatedly describe the sexual act.”

Why it’s unlikely that homosexuality is absent among the Aka

• Insufficient sample size to detect male or female homosexuality

• Asked about behavior, but not about feelings

• Demographic constraints on the expression of homosexual behavior

• Absence of a word for homosexuality is not evidence for absence of the phenomenon

• Aka males will engage in heterosexual behaviours when they leave their bands and are in the city

A Sulu islands example - The Tausug

• Premarital heterosexual sex taboo

• Transgender male androphiles accepted and public

• Male homosexual behaviour is tolerated and routine

• Believe homosexuality is bilogically innate

A Sulu islands example - The Bajau

• Premarital heterosexual sex accepted

• Male homosexual interactions highly taboo and described as “absent”

Is homosexuality absent in Bajau Culture?

• Some Bajau men seek out Tausug males for sex (they seek out cisgender male androphiles or transgender male androphiles)

• These Bajau men have access to female sexual partners

• Feminine males exist among the Bajau who are described as resembling Tausug homosexuals

Is homosexuality cross-culturally universal?

• For demographic reasons, male androphilia and female gynephilia may really be absent in small groups because both are low frequency traits that are only expressed in larger populations

• For demographic reasons, male androphiles and female gynephiles may be present, but appear absent, because such individuals never come into contact with others like themselves and thus, they have no sexual outlet, so same-sex sexual behavior is never expressed

• For cultural reasons, male androphilia and female gynephilia may be present, but appear absent because both are taboo and thus, never expressed behaviorally or in terms of open declarations of identity

• The existence of same-sex sexual orientation (feelings) appears to exist in a context independent manner, but its actual expression (behavior, open declarations of identity) is context dependent

“It’s highly probable that a small group of homosexual people exist in all societies ….” – Frederick L. Whitam (1994)

March 6

Childhood correlates to same-sex sexuality

“It was 1969. My father was watching the evening news. The announcer said that Judy Garland had died. I fainted. I was nine.” – Andrew Freedman from the book When I Knew (2005)

Childhood Sex Typical Behaviour

To determine whether someone is sex-atypical, one has first to first establish what counts as a sex-typical patterns

This can be done by asking boys/men and girls/women about their preferred childhood activities

• conducting prospective studies

• conducting reterospective studies

• Likert scale set up with some numerical distribution

Childhood Sex Typical Behavior

• How often did you play with girls?

• How often did you play with boys?

• How often did you play with dolls?

• How often did you engage in rough & tumble play?

• How often did you pretend to be a girl?

• How often did you pretend to be a boy?

• How often did you wear dresses?

• How often did you cut your hair short?

o= Never, 1 = Less than half the time, 2 = Half the time, 3 = More than half the time, 4= Always

when talking about sex typical behaviours we are talking about what the average man or woman boy or girl report about themselves

there will be exceptions to the rule some women will engage in typically male behaviours more and vice versa

the vast majority of individuals are heterosexual so they are driving the averages

Childhood Sex Typical Behavior

• How often did you play with girls? 4

• How often did you play with boys? 2

• How often did you play with dolls? 4

• How often did you engage in rough & tumble play? 1

• How often did you pretend to be a girl? 4

• How often did you pretend to be a boy? 0

• How often did you wear dresses? 4

• How often did cut your hair short? 0

  
  Average FTB score = (4+4+4+4)/ 4=4
  Average MTB score = (2 + 1 + 0 + 0)/4 = 0.75

1= Never, 2 = Less than half the time, 3 = Half the time, 4 = More than half the time, 5 = Always

*magnitude of difference: the amount of space between female typical and male typical behaviours in bar graph

socialization can not erase or reverse these average differences

Childhood sex typicality

• "Always felt different"

• Long before individuals experience any sexual feelings, they exhibit behavioral correlates of their adult sexual orientation

• Children who grow up to be non-heterosexual exhibit substantially more sex-atypicality, then those who group up to be heterosexual

• Childhood sex-atypically usually emerges at a young age

• (as early as 2) despite conventional socialization

Childhood Sex Atypicality

CSA can manifest in the following ways:

• Cross-dressing and simulating the appearance of the other-sex

• Desire to engage in play behavior typical of the other-sex

• Adopting the role of the other sex during make-believe play

• Preference for the opposite-sex as playmates

• Fantasizing about being the opposite-sex

• Desiring/wishing to be or believing that they are-the opposite-sex

Childhood Sex Atypicality

In boys

• Aversion to competitive sports and rough play

In girls

• Aversion to wearing feminine clothing and make-up

Retrospective studies of childhood sex atypicality

• 89% of homosexual men recall being more sex-atypical in childhood compared to the average heterosexual man

• Only 2% of heterosexual men recall being more sex-atypical than the average homosexual man

• 81% of lesbians recall being more sex-atypical in childhood compared to the average heterosexual woman

• Only 12% of heterosexual women recall being more sex-atypical than

"the average lesbian

Male androphilia & childhood sex typicality in Canada

• Canadian gay men are shifted in a sex-atypical direction

Male androphilia & sex-atypicality

Retrospective studies

• Repeatedly replicated in multiple different non-Western cultures

Male androphilia & childhood sex typicality in Samoa

• Fa'afafine are sex-reversed exhibiting a female-typical pattern

Female gynephilia & childhood sex typicality

Female gynephilia & childhood sex typicality

As a child were you interested in cars, soldiers, balls and other kinds of boys' toys and hobbies?

Female gynephilia & childhood sex typicality

As a child were you interested in dolls, sewing, and other kinds of girls' toys and hobbies?

Childhood sex type behavior in Iran

transgender gynephilic males are largely absent in non Canadian cultures

Prospective General Population Studies of Childhood Sex Atypicality

Melissa Hines study

• UK study of 2,382 girls and 2,141 boys surveyed at ages 2.5, 3.5, 4.75 &
  15

• Girls (n = 16) who grew up to be lesbian were 12-19 times more likely to be sex-atypical compared to heterosexual controls

• Boys (n = 24) who grew up to be gay were 20-26 times more likely to be sex-atypical compared to heterosexual controls

Transkids?

• "It should be noted that feeling that one has been born the wrong sex is not limited to trans-sexuals" (Whitam, 1987)

  • Individuals who endorsed this but grew up to be cis gender are lesbians and gay

• 139 boys with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) - clinically diagnosed, marked sexual behaviour (including desire to be other sex)

• 88% desistence rate

• 125 reported sexual fantasies

  • 65% androphilic/bisexual

  • 35% gynephilic

• most of them grew up to be androphilic/bisexual males

Transkids?

A Follow-Up Study of Girls With Gender Identity Disorder

• 25 girls with GID

• 88% desistence rate

• 23 reported sexual fantasies

  • 35% gynephilic/bisexual

  • 65% androphilic

• most ended up androphilic (attracted to men, and a small amount grew up attracted to women)

• Same desistence as the boys but different outcomes

What have we learned?

• Sex differences in childhood behaviour & psychology exist, on average, between males & females

• Marked sex-atypicality in childhood behavior and psychology is a strong predictor of homosexuality in adulthood, especially in males more variability in females

• Retrospective studies demonstrate that this pattern holds for many different cultures

• Prospective research corroborates the retrospective research

• Childhood sex-atypicality in homosexual individuals manifests despite conventional socialization (behaviour is going against socialization)

• Cross-cultural universality in certain childhood sex and sexual orientation differences suggests that biology plays a role in their manifestation

• The vast majority of children who exhibit sex-atypical behavior do not grow up to be transsexual

Mar 11

Can sexual orientation be socialized in infancy and childhood?

“If one cannot reliably make a male human become attracted to other males by cutting off his penis in infancy and rearing him as a girl, then what other psychosocial intervention could plausibly have that effect?”- J. Michael Bailey et al. (2016)

Behaviorist theory

• Behavior is the product of input-output systems in the brain that can be modified

• Environmental input → Perceptual systems → Innate reflex pathways → Behavioural output

Operant conditioning

• Innate Reflex Pathways can be modified through operant conditioning

• Modification of behavior occurs through rewards and punishments

• process where behavioural output can be modified through rewards or punishments (like carrot vs stick with horses)

John Money

• An influential sex and gender researcher (70s,80s,90s)

• in 1948 began phd on psychosexual development

Psychosexual neutrality at birth

• Individuals could be socialized into being boys or girls, regardless of their sex

• in order to be able to socialize boys or girls into a specific gender 2 things had to happen

  1. Their genitals had to matched their assigned-gender

  2. If raised in a sex-atypical manner, they could never be told the truth

John money published paper that stated babies were psychosexual and could be socialized into any gender

Intersexuality

• Individuals for whom the various biological parameters (that denote or determine sex) that are associated with sex (e.g., genitals, chromosomes, etc) are a mixture of male-typical and female typical

A nearly perfect experiment

• The Bruce/Brenda Reimer (John/Joan) case

• Penis ablatio

• initially they were brian and bruce they were going in for a routine circumcision they accidentally burned bruces penis off

A more nearly perfect experiment

• Cloacal exstrophy

• Intestine and bladder exposed at birth

• Genitals undeveloped

• Socialized as girls

Cloacal exstrophy: outcomes

• Rejection of assigned gender 600,000 times higher than expected

• Most others socially withdrawn & depressed

• All attracted to women and masculine

5 reductase deficiency in the Dominican Republic

• Genetic condition involving absence of functional enzyme (5-∝ reductase) required to convert testoster0ne into 5-∝ dihydrotestoster0ne

• Genital morphology appears female-typical at birth and throughout childhood

• Raised as girls

• At puberty, testosterone masculinizing the body

• With few exceptions, affected individuals reject their sex/gender of rearing and go on to identify and behave as men

• With few exceptions, all are oppositesex attracted

• Guevedoce

Teaching homosexual behaviour in boys in New Guinea

• The “Sambia”

• Boys (age 7-20) are required to engage in fellatio with older male partners and ingest semen

• This practice is believed necessary for boys to mature physically

• Very few of these boys ever become androphilic in adulthood Colapinto, J. (2000).

What about girls?

• Bacha posh, Afghanistan

  • socially created boys

  • grow up to be gynephilic

  • stops once they start menstrual cycle

  • for the most part does not cause them to continue acting like boys once they transition back

• Engadine Valley, Italy, 1886

  • Apatropaic cross-dressing