Exclusive Heterosexuality Research Articles

Homosexuality as a Phenomenon of Contemporary Society: Meanings and Psychosocial Dimensions

Of all the issues explored in anthropological, social and behavioral sciences, homosexuality perhaps is most controversial and has evoked more arguments and strong feelings in the general public. Homosexuality is often associated wit anger, love, intimacy, hostility, strong negative attitudes (e.g., severe discrimination and violence), and compassion. This subject involves many things: gender identity and orientation, a way of behaving intimately, a wide range of sexual preferences, a stigma, and a badge of pride and self-assertion. One objective of this paper is to clarify the meanings of homosexuality as well as its psychological, behavioral, and social correlates. Most research on homosexuality has taken the individual as the focus of analysis. A. C. Kinsey’s pioneering work investigated the sexual behaviors of the individual and used biographical information to locate the person on a continuum from exclusive homosexuality to exclusive heterosexuality. Other individualistic approaches include studies of the homosexual identity, personality characteristics, subjective well-being, and life histories of gay men and lesbians. Sociocultural analyses, typically undertaken by anthropologists, historians, and sociologists, focus on the societal patterns of homosexuality. Sociocultural researchers seek to describe and explain societal reactions to homosexuality, cultural and subcultural variations in homosexuality, social rules and institutions that regulate homosexuality, etc. In contrast, a relationship perspective takes as the central phenomenon of interest the sexual and romantic relationships that occur between same-sex partners. During the past decades, the prevalence of negative stereotypes against homosexuality has been reduced substantially in most Western societies. Nevertheless, concern remains about the occurence of negative stereotyping attitudes and homophobia in some segments of the general population. Therefore, homosexuality will be analyzed in relation to heterosexism, homophobia, and sexual prejudice.

Self-reported sexual orientation among undergraduates of 10 universities in Guangzhou, China.

Few studies have investigated the distribution of sexual orientation among Chinese university students and identified the socio-demographic factors associated with sexual orientation. For the present study, we administered a paper-based, 5-point, self-report, sexual orientation scale to a stratified, random sample of 9071 undergraduates across all 10 universities in Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou, China. Multivariable ordinal regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between demographic factors and sexual orientation. A total of 8320 respondents completed the survey. Of 8182 valid respondents, 80.6% self-reported as exclusively heterosexual, 12.6% self-reported as mostly heterosexual, 5.4% self-reported as bisexual, 0.7% self-reported as mostly homosexual, and 0.8% self-reported as exclusively homosexual. About one fifth of male students and one fourth of female students reported some degree of divergence from exclusive heterosexuality. This indicates that in China there are a large number of university students who are potentially involved in same-sex sexual attraction.

Rape Myth Acceptance Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Mostly Heterosexual College Students.

Although there is a wealth of existing research on various correlates and patterns of rape myth acceptance (RMA), including how RMA relates to homophobia (i.e., antigay and antilesbian perspectives) and negativity toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) men and women rape victims, no research to date has specifically focused on RMA among LGB and "mostly heterosexual" men and women. The current study examines how gender, sexual identity, personal experiences with rape (i.e., knowing/being a survivor), feminist identity, patriarchal gender norms, attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and the interactions among these relate to LGB college students' (n = 389; 24% gay/lesbian, 19% bisexual, 57% mostly heterosexual) RMA using the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale-Short Form. Findings show that being a woman, being LGB, identifying as a feminist, and knowing/being a survivor are all negatively related to RMA, whereas patriarchal gender norms are positively related to RMA. Attitudes toward LGBT people had differing effects whereby attitudes toward gay men were unassociated with RMA, attitudes toward lesbian women and trans men were negatively associated with RMA, and attitudes toward bisexual men and women and trans women differed depending on the comparison reference group (exclusive heterosexuals, n = 1,551, mostly heterosexuals, n = 222). Furthermore, the interacting effects of these identities, experiences, and perspectives also revealed significant findings that add complexity to these relationships. Overall, this research seeks to fill the gaps in the literature, expand our knowledge about rape myths, and contribute to new lines of inquiry that focus on LGB people's perspectives to work toward a deeper understanding of rape myths, so that ultimately, these damaging perspectives can be dispelled.

HP-03-008 Transphobia and homophobia levels in gender dysphoric individuals, general population and health care providers

To date,few studies have addressed attitudes toward transgender individuals. In addition, little is known about health care providers attitudes toward sexual minorities. The aims of the present study were to compare attitudes toward homosexual and transgender individuals between Gender Dysphoric individuals (GD), healthy controls (HC), and health care providers (HCP). A total of 304 subjects of similar age were considered, including 116 GD (59 transwomen and 57 transmen), 53 heterosexual HCP (26 males and 27 females) and 135 HC. Among the HC group, 38 males (hem-HC) and 40 females (hef-HC) reported exclusive heterosexuality and 28 males (ho-MHC) and 29 females (ho-FHC) homo- or bi-sexuality.Participants completed the Modern Homophobia Scale (MHS) and the Attitude Toward Transgendered Individuals Scale (ATTI) to assess attitudes towards gay, lesbians and transgender individuals, respectively. In addition, GD completed Gender Identity/Gender Dysphoria Questionnaire (GIDYQ-AA) and a reverse form of ATTI to measure respectively GD and internalized transphobia. Religious attitudes were assessed with the Religious Fundamentalism Scale (RFS). Finally, discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC-12) was used to measure perceived discrimination.

Models and better evidence needed to clarify causality: a response to Bailey, Ellingson, and Bailey (2014).

Models and better evidence needed to clarify causality: a response to Bailey, Ellingson, and Bailey (2014).

A Multidimensional Measure of Sexual Orientation, Use of Psychoactive Substances, and Depression: Results of a National Survey on Sexual Behavior in France

Using data from a large national representative survey on sexual behavior in France (Contexte de la Sexualité en France), this study analyzed the relationship between a multidimensional measure of sexual orientation and psychoactive substance use and depression. The survey was conducted in 2006 by telephone with a random sample of the continental French speaking population between the ages of 18 and 69 years. The sample used for this analysis consisted of the 4,400 men and 5,472 women who were sexually active. A sexual orientation measure was constructed by combining information on three dimensions of sexual orientation: attraction, sexual behavior, and self-definition. Five mutually exclusive groups were defined for men and women: those with only heterosexual behavior were divided in two groups whether or not they declared any same-sex attraction; those with any same-sex partners were divided into three categories derived from their self-definition (heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual). The consumption of alcohol and cannabis, which was higher in the non-exclusively heterosexual groups, was more closely associated with homosexual self-identification for women than for men. Self-defined bisexuals (both male and female) followed by gay men and lesbians had the highest risk of chronic or recent depression. Self-defined heterosexuals who had same-sex partners or attraction had levels of risk between exclusive heterosexuals and self-identified homosexuals and bisexuals. The use of a multidimensional measure of sexual orientation demonstrated variation in substance use and mental health between non-heterosexual subgroups defined in terms of behavior, attraction, and identity.

‘Voglio sedurre quelli che stanno di là’: Same-Sex Tourism and the Manufacturing of Queer Elsewheres

This essay examines queer writers’ representations of North Africa, focusing especially on Franco Buffoni’s novel Zamel (2009). In the Maghreb, the same-sex tourist sees a land of primal (s)excess where the norms of home — exclusive heterosexuality, homophobic violence, and monogomous coupling — need no longer apply. Crossing the Mediterranean, this subject hopes to flee the discursive borders (gay versus straight) that supposedly domesticate desire in Italy. Eros not bound by either/or labels is thought still to flourish in North Africa. Turning to the Maghreb, the Italian same-sex tourist longs to approximate the homoerotics Italy once housed. North Africans do not represent for the Italian tourist an impossibly distinct Other but rather are made to signify a return to Italy’s imagined erotic past. While certainly questioning the progressivist plots of Europe’s LGBT movements, where the act of coming-out is considered equivalent to the forward- movement of history, Zamel presents North Africa as a land of sexual surfeit and archaic eros. It continues, that is, to repeat colonial scripts. Who is allowed to travel? Who, instead, gets made into a ventriloquized metaphor of eros’ erratic stray?

Age at menarche and digit ratio (2D:4D): Relationships with body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and bulimia symptoms in women

This study examined the hypothesis that lower prenatal androgen exposure and earlier puberty are associated with more dysfunctional eating attitudes and behaviors. Relationships between both age at menarche (AAM) and 2D:4D (a marker of prenatal androgen exposure), and EDI-2-Body Dissatisfaction, EDI-2-Drive for Thinness, and EDI-2-Bulimia scores, were examined in women using correlations and regressions. Earlier menarche was associated with higher drive for thinness after controlling for BMI and negative affect, but only in women who were not exclusively heterosexual. Higher 2D:4D was associated with higher Bulimia and Body Dissatisfaction scores, but only in exclusively heterosexual women, and relationships disappeared when covariates were controlled. Later AAM and higher 2D:4D were unique predictors of higher Bulimia scores for exclusive heterosexuals when BMI was controlled. These findings suggest future research should examine sexual orientation as a mediator or moderator of prenatal and postnatal organizational hormonal effects on women's disordered eating attitudes and behaviors.

Models of Sexual and Relational Orientation: A Critical Review and Synthesis

Many frameworks exist to explain and describe the phenomenon of same‐sex sexuality as it applies to human development. This conceptual article provides a critical overview and synthesis of previous models to serve as a theoretical bridge for the suggested multiple continua model of sexual and relational orientations. Recommendations for how counselors can adapt the multiple continua model to improve their work with same‐sex sexual clients are presented, and future directions for research are discussed.

The “Religiously Mediated Change” of 11 Gay Men: A Case of Unexceptional Sublimation

This article addresses the current controversy in churches concerning homosexuality, especially the claim that the sexual orientation of homosexual males may be changed through religious interventions. Following personal accounts of the uses of “religiously mediated change” discourse in discussions of homosexuality in mainstream Protestant churches, the article focuses on the frequently cited article by Pattison and Pattison (1980) that evaluates 11 white males “who claimed to have changed sexual orientation from exclusive homosexuality to exclusive heterosexuality through participation in a Pentecostal church fellowship” (p. 1553). We evaluate the article in terms of its research design, findings, and conclusions; discuss its claim that the men “changed” in light of Freud’s concept of the sublimation of socially unacceptable psychic energies; and assess the Pentecostal church’s contention that homosexuality is an expression of psychological immaturity. We conclude that in light of the fact that the sublimation of sexual desires and impulses is a common experience among men, and homosexuality is not an expression of psychological immaturity, “religiously mediated change” discourse needs to go beyond claiming that change is possible and present a convincing argument that the change, if effected, will have demonstrable benefits to humanity that would not be realizable if the change did not occur.

Fluctuating Asymmetry and Sexual Orientation in Men and Women

The present study measured handedness and bodily fluctuating asymmetry (FA), two markers of developmental instability, in 89 heterosexual and 78 gay men and women. Asymmetry in ear breadth, ear length, ankle breadth, second digit length, fourth digit length, and two composite indices were calculated for each participant and a modified Edinburgh Inventory was used to assess handedness. Results showed that, for men, there was a significant positive correlation between three measures of FA and sexual orientation scores (SOS). As ear breadth FA and two composite FA scores increased so did SOS on a modified Kinsey scale (where 0 indicated exclusive heterosexuality and 6 indicated exclusive homosexuality). No significant relationships were found between SOS and FA for women. Similarly, sexual orientation was not related to handedness for either sex. The theoretical implications of the present results are discussed.

"Bisexuality" and the Politics of Normal in African Ethnography

Anthropologists have played a central role in documenting the diversity of human sexuality as it is understood and expressed in different cultures around the world. Scholars in many other disciplines, including my own of history, are often heavily dependent upon their research. However, as Lyons and Lyons (2004) among others have persuasively demonstrated, anthropologists at times conscripted select evidence and even fabricated facts about the people they studied in order to advance ideals and preferences around sexuality in their own societies. By conjuring idealized or exoticized Others, they helped to create an understanding of normal and by way of contrast. This has resulted in a body of purportedly empirical or scientific data that in retrospect we can see as deeply flawed, morally normative, and sometimes actually complicit in the construction and maintenance of racist colonialist structures. Indeed, to one African critic, the ethnography of African cultures generated by European and American scholars from the 1920s to the 1950s was so useless in empirical terms that it is only useful today to the extent that it sheds light on how those colonial structures could function (Owusu 1978).1Owusu was much too harsh in such a sweeping judgment. In at least one specific area, however, the critique is warranted to a significant degree. This is the commonplace assumption or assertion as an unqualified that Africans south of the Sahara either did not practice samesex sexuality in their traditional societies, or that they only did so so rarely that it was inconsequential. From the vast generalizations of late 18th- and 19th-century travellers, to colonial-era codifications of custom, to modern studies of sexually transmitted diseases, sexuality, prisons and masculinities, social science research has tended to portray Africans as virtually unique in the world in this respect. Same-sex issues meanwhile remain largely invisible in much of the resources available to HIV/AIDS educators in Africa, including what are otherwise frank discussions about sexual health and sexual cultures. The non-existence or irrelevance of homosexual transmission among black Africans is apparently such a given that it typically does not even warrant a footnote or a web-link in this material.2And yet, since Dynes (1983) and Aina (1991) first flagged hidden homosexuality and bisexuality in Africa as potentially important research questions, a growing body of research, activism, and art have comprehensively demonstrated the falseness of the fact of Africans' exclusive heterosexuality. Moodie (1994), Harries (1994), Gevisser and Cameron (1994), Murray and Roscoe (1998), Kendall (1999), Lockhart (2002), Njinje and Alberton (2002), Epprecht (2004), GALZ (2002), Epprecht and Goddard (In press) and Morgan and Wieringa (2005), for example, thoroughly document the presence of diverse expressions of same-sex sexuality in Africa-in traditional societies, in colonial institutions and in present-day settings. A growing, pan-African network of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) associations also attests to diverse, indigenous, same-sex and cultures and practices in Africa.3 A range of images written or produced by Africans in fiction, theatre and film further destabilizes the stereotype of the pure African heterosexual.4These sources on the whole do not propose a timeless, archetypal African gay or lesbian in opposition to that older stereotype. Rather, the women and men who have same-sex sexual relations most often also continue to marry, to have children, and to engage in heterosexual relationships. Whether this should properly be termed bisexual is a matter of debate. However, whether men who sometimes have sex with men but do not identify as homo- or (MSM), and whether women who sometimes have sex with women but do not identify as lesbian or (WSW) exist in Africa in greater numbers that commonly assumed or asserted cannot in good scholarship be disputed. …

Black skin, ‘cowboy’ masculinity: A genealogy of homophobia in the African nationalist movement in Zimbabwe to 1983

This paper examines the intellectual and social origins of racialist homophobia in contemporary Zimbabwean political discourse, exemplified by President Robert Mugabe's anti‐homosexual speeches since the mid‐1990s. It challenges the notions that such homophobia is either essential to African patriarchy or simple political opportunism. Tracing overt expressions of intolerance towards male‐male sexuality back to the colonial period, it focuses on ways in which notions of appropriate, respectable, exclusive heterosexuality within the ‘cowboy’ culture of White Southern Rhodesia trickled into, or were interpreted in, the African nationalist movement. It concludes that understanding this history could improve efforts to address concerns around sexual health in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in the region, particularly silences around same‐sex sexuality in HIV/AIDS education and prevention.

Darwinizing sexual ambivalence: a new evolutionary hypothesis of male homosexuality

At first sight, homosexuality has little to do with reproduction. Nevertheless, many neo‐Darwinian theoreticians think that human homosexuality may have had a procreative value, since it enabled the close kin of homosexuals to have more viable offspring than individuals lacking the support of homosexual siblings. In this article, however, we will defend an alternative hypothesis—originally put forward by Freud in “A phylogenetic phantasy”—namely that homosexuality evolved as a means to strengthen social bonds. Consequently, from an evolutionary point of view, homosexuality and heterosexuality have entirely distinct origins: there is no continuum from heterosexuality to homosexuality. Indeed, the natural history we propose shows that the intensity of the homosexual inclination has little or no predictive value with regard to the intensity of heterosexual tendencies. In fact, this may be a sound Darwinian way to understand sexual ambivalence. But if sexual ambivalence is a biological datum, one has to conclude that psychodynamic mechanisms are often needed in order to explain exclusive heterosexuality or exclusive homosexuality.

Tsubouchi Shōyō's "Tōsei shosei katagi" and the Institutionalization of Exclusive Heterosexuality

Tsubouchi Shōyō's "Tōsei shosei katagi" and the Institutionalization of Exclusive Heterosexuality

Sexual diversity in Urban Norwegians

The purpose of this study is to describe homosexual and heterosexual experiences in terms of sexual fantasies, sexual attraction, sexual conduct, and falling in love in an urban Norwegian population. In 1997, a randam sample of 5,000 persons (18–49 years) was drawn from the population register in Oslo to participate in a sexual behavior survey. Data collection was carried out by means of postal questionnaires and 45% responded. The results indicated that exclusive homosexuality was rare in the population. One exception was the prevalence of homosexual fantasies in women. Compared to respondents who had had exclusively heterosexual contact, respondents reporting bisexual contacts had a significantly higher number of lifetime sex partners, higher frequency of anal and oral sex and masturbation, and lower age at orgasm and masturbation debut. What significantly separated the groups of exclusive heterosexuals, bisexuals, and exclusive homosexuals were attitudes towards various expressions of sexuality and number of lifetime sex partners.

Sexual orientation and associated characteristics among north american academic psychiatrists

We mailed questionnaires inquiring about a range of personal and professional attributes to 972 North American psychiatrists at five leading medical schools in the United States and Canada. Of these, 49% (435 psychiatrists) responded. Of the respondents, 90.9% reported being exclusively heterosexual, 3.5% predominantly heterosexual, and 5.6% bisexual/homosexual. Analyses were performed to assess the relationship between sexual orientation and other variables. We found that exclusive heterosexuals were more likely than other psychiatrists to be Jewish (p = .002), to have first‐degree relatives with psychiatric illness (p =.015), and to have conducted research after residency training (p = .034). Exclusively heterosexual psychiatrists were less likely to have used recreational drugs (p = .025), or to prescribe psychotropic medications to none of their patients (p = .017). Sexual orientation was not correlated with a variety of other personal and professional characteristics. The findings suggest that gay men and lesbians are represented within psychiatry at rates comparable to their estimated representation in society. Moreover, the data invite several hypotheses—for example, that medical students may be drawn to psychiatry for specific reasons such as feeling marginalized due to being gay or bisexual.

Intravenous drug users who present to the Albion Street (AIDS) Centre for diagnosis and management of human immunodeficiency virus infection

Intravenous drug users who presented to the Albion Street (AIDS) Centre for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody screening during the period March 1, 1985 to January 31, 1989, were included in this study. Information on medical history and HIV risk-related behaviour was collected by means of a standardized, computer-coded medical record. Of the 1222 intravenous drug users in this study, 72.3% were men, 26.9% were women and 0.8% were transsexual, with 60.1% of the total claiming exclusive heterosexuality. Of the sample, 40.2% were current intravenous drug users, and 86.8% recorded having shared needles and syringes. Among this sample, the over-all prevalence of HIV seropositivity was 14.5%. Of subjects who were diagnosed as HIV seropositive, 43.8% were homosexual men, 13.1% were bisexual men and 5.3% were heterosexual men. Of all intravenous drug users, 49.9% had a history of at least one sexually-transmitted disease, with 21.8% reporting a history of more than one. Fifty-two per cent of the sample reported that they had been infected with hepatitis B previously. There was no over-all increase in the annual rate of HIV infection among this population of intravenous drug users. The sexual activity and prevalence of hepatitis and other sexually-transmitted diseases among this group are suggestive of widespread, continuing risk behaviour.

Beyond the Biological Model:

Past research on homosexuality has been based on two assumptions: one, that gender is the critical determinant of a sexual relationship, and two, that sexual orientation is an essential condition. This paper argues that investigation of sexual relationships on these bases tests only within, rather than between, paradigms of possible relationships. It assumes that choice of partners is based on a number of physical and psychological characteristics apart from their biological sex and that different meanings of sexuality and of the contexts of sexual encounters will determine which characteristics are chosen. It is also suggested that comparisons between groups of exclusive homosexuals and exclusive heterosexuals will not cast light on preferred partner characteristics. It is therefore necessary to look at the preferred partner characteristics of bisexuals in order to understand the bases and significance of homosexual or heterosexual partner choice. Finally, it is concluded that the meanings of homosexuality in different contexts may be so varied that the possibility of establishing a unified theory of the homosexual identity is precluded.

Psychosocial development of heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual behavior.

Relationships with overt adult Kinsey Scale scores (K) indicate that early sexual experiences are most closely related to K, followed in order by gender related and familial variables. A developmental model emphasizing social learning is presented. Interviewees were 7669 American white males and females. Elevated K (more homosexual scores) was found for females who had few girl companions at age 10 and few male companions at 16, had learned to masturbate by being masturbated by a female, had intense prepubertal sexual contact with boys or men, found thought or sight of females, but not males, arousing by age 18, had homosexual contact by age 18, higher K at 17, and higher first-year homosexual behavior frequency. Elevated K (more homosexual scores) was found for males who reported poorer teenage relationships with their fathers, had more girl companions at age 10, fewer male companions at 10 and 16, avoided sports participation, learned of homosexuality by experience, learned to masturbate by being masturbated by a male, had intense prepubertal sexual contact with boys or men, had neither heterosexual contact nor petting to orgasm by age 18, found thought or sight of males, but not females, arousing by age 18, had homosexual contact by age 18, higher K at ages 16 and 17, and had higher first-year homosexual behavior frequency. Behavioral bisexuals, those scoring between 2.0 and 4.0 on the K scale on the basis of overt behavior (0.7% of females, 1.2% of males), reported more arousal to heterosexual stimuli than did exclusive heterosexuals.