The butch‐fem dichotomy in male homosexual behavior

Abstract

The popular stereotype of the homosexual is that of an extremely effeminate individual. Early psychoanalytic investigators, however, (e.g. Ferenczi, 1914) dichotomized the homosexual community in two types, the and passive. The type was assumed to be extremely masculine in otientation and was assumed to have an interest in young boys as sexual objects. The type was assumed to be somewhat effeminate. According to Ferenczi, the type actually think of themselves as women. Within the homosexual community, a masculine-feminine or butch-fem distinction does seem to be made on the basis of sexual behavior. Someone who takes the inserter role in oral or anal intercourse is thought of as taking the masculine role while someone who takes the insertee or recipient role is thought of as taking the more feminine role (Humphries, 1970). The basic question is whether sexual preference is in any way correlated with non-sexual forms of behavior. Research on this question has not provided clear cut answers. Terman and Miles (1936) developed a test to measure the degree of masculine or feminine orientation, the M-F test, and administered this test to a group of known homosexuals. The homosexuals were classified as being either or in orientation (although the criterion employed was not clearly spelled out). The so called passive homosexuals had M-F scores that were closer to women than men while the so called active7' group had scores that were more masculine than a comparable group of heterosexual males. The only difficulty in interpreting these results is that all of the passive homosexuals were drawn from civilian jails while 100% of the active group was drawn from military jails. The obtained results may thus not reflect a difference between and homosexuals but rather a difference between military and civilian homosexuals who get arrested. Recent surveys have cast some doubt on the conclusion drawn by Terman and Miles (1936). These surveys have shown that the majority of homosexuals do not have any clear cut and exclusive