Human Homosexuality Research Articles

간호대학생의 인권의식과 동성애 지식정도가 동성애자에 대한 태도에 미치는 영향

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to determine the relevance and impact factors of human rights awareness and homosexuality knowledge on attitude toward homosexuality among Nursing students. Method : Data were collected from November 5, 2022 to December 20, 2022. 201 nursing students who lived in the G city were recruited. 194 among 201 questionnaires answered were used for final analysis. It was then analyzed by descriptive statistics, Independent sample t-test, one way ANOVA, pearson’s correlation and multiple regression using SPSS/WIN 21.0 Result : The participants’ human rights awareness and attitude toward homosexuality proved to have negative relationship(r＝-.50, p＜.001). The participants’ homosexuality knowledge had the positive relationship with human rights awareness(r＝.16, p＝.028). The research shows that the human rights awareness(β＝-.51, p＜.001) can determine attitude toward homosexuality to a degree of 24.6%. Conclusion : Awareness of human rights and knowledge of homosexuality are the basis for improving ethical awareness of nursing students.

To What Extent are Prenatal Androgens Involved in the Development of Male Homosexuality in Humans?

ABSTRACT Endocrine variations, including possibly reduced exposure to androgens, may contribute to the development of male homosexuality, with animal models demonstrating same-sex mate preference with altered exposure during prenatal or early postnatal development. As similar studies in humans are impossible, indirect physical and cognitive measures of androgen exposure are used. Some studies suggest that physical measures affected by prenatal androgens, including the index-to-ring finger ratio, growth indices, and facial structure, are more “feminine” in gay men. Gay men also exhibit significant childhood gender non-conformity and a “feminized” anatomical and functional brain pattern in sexual arousal, as well as domains such as language, visuospatial skills and hemispheric relationships. However, many of these results are equivocal and may be confounded by other factors. Research has also been hampered by inconsistencies in the reporting of sexual orientation and the potentially unrepresentative populations of gay men studied, while additional complexities pertaining to gender conformity and sexual role may also influence results.

What We Know About the Genetic Determinants of Human Homosexuality? A Short Review Communication

“Homosexualism”, “sexual orientation disorder”, “egodistonic homosexuality”, “unspecified sexual disorder”, “sexual maturity disorder” and “sexual relationship disorder”. Since 1948, these have been, throughout the history of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DCM) and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), the terms used by the scientific community to categorize the homoaffective spectrum until in 2017, in the face of strong social and academic demand, their complete disengagement from any terminology that categorizes them as physical and/or mental illness. On the other hand, some areas of science have contributed substantially to a better understanding of this subject, such as genetics and epigenetics. Today, although the scientific community still offers some points of resistance, especially in more conservative countries, it is a consensus that since the implementation of the genome project there has been a considerable methodological expansion that has opened new possibilities of studies that have allowed this advance.

The potency of the butterfly: The reception of Richard B. Goldschmidt's animal experiments in German sexology around 1920.

This article considers the sexual politics of animal evidence in the context of German sexology around 1920. In the 1910s, the German-Jewish geneticist Richard B. Goldschmidt conducted experiments on the moth Lymantria dispar, and discovered individuals that were no longer clearly identifiable as male or female. When he published an article tentatively arguing that his research on ‘intersex butterflies’ could be used to inform concurrent debates about human homosexuality, he triggered a flurry of responses from Berlin-based sexologists. In this article, I examine how a number of well-known sexologists affiliated with Magnus Hirschfeld, his Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, and later his Institute of Sexology attempted to incorporate Goldschmidt’s experiments into their sexological work between 1917 and 1923. Intersex butterflies were used to discuss issues at the heart of German sexology: the legal debate about the criminalisation of homosexuality under paragraph 175; the scientific methodology of sexology, caught between psychiatric, biological, and sociological approaches to the study of sexual and gender diversity; and the status of sexology as natural science, able to contribute knowledge about the sexual Konstitution of the organism. This article thus shows that butterfly experiments function as important and politically charged evidence for a discussion at the heart of the sexological project of those involved in the founding of the Institute of Sexology: the question of the nature and naturalness of homosexuality (and sexual intermediacy more broadly) and its political consequences. In doing so, this article makes a case for paying attention to non-human actors in the history of sexology.

In Defence of Animal Homosexuality

Is there such thing as animal homosexuality? I begin this paper with a brief discussion of two case studies of homosexual behaviour in nonhuman animals, notably cockchafers and king penguins, in order to reveal the persistent attempts of some animal scientists to explain away animal homosexuality. I then go on to identify and analyse two philosophical concerns underlying these attempts: the problem of other minds and the problem of anthropomorphism. Critics of animal homosexuality seem to assume a) that there is no way of knowing whether nonhuman animals have minds; b) that even if they would in fact have minds, they still would not be capable of having the mental states that we usually associate with human homosexuality; and c) that even if they were capable of such states, there would still be the issue that same-sex sexual mental states and behaviours are often mistakenly identified as sexual states and behaviours. By providing arguments against each of these assumptions, I support the claim that some animals exhibit homosexuality, that there are homosexual mental states in at least some nonhuman animals, and that these states may help to explain homosexual behaviours.

Need for Alloparental Care and Attitudes Toward Homosexuals in 58 Countries: Implications for the Kin Selection Hypothesis

Homosexuality is an evolutionary puzzle. Many theories attempt to explain how a trait undermining individual reproduction can be maintained, but experimental testing of their predictions remains scarce. The kin selection hypothesis (KSH) is an important theoretical framework to account for the evolution of human homosexuality, postulating that its direct cost to reproduction can be offset by inclusive fitness gains through alloparental assistance to kin. Consistent evidence in support of the KSH has only been garnered from research on Samoan fa’afafine (i.e. feminine, same-sex attracted males), whereas research in numerous industrialized societies has repeatedly failed to secure empirical support for the theory. Here, we propose an alternative test of the KSH by investigating how need for alloparental care influences women’s attitudes toward homosexuality (AtH). AtH would influence the likelihood of women receiving alloparental care from homosexual kin. We applied logistic regression analysis to a large dataset (17,295 women in 58 countries) derived from the World Values Survey. As predicted by the KSH, women who are potentially most in need of alloparental support exhibit significantly more positive attitudes toward homosexuals. For single mothers who expressed parental care concerns, each additional child mothered was associated with an increase of 1.24 in their odds of exhibiting positive attitudes toward homosexuals. Our study is the first to provide circumstantial evidence in support of the KSH on a global scale.

Societal Norms Rather Than Sexual Orientation Influence Kin Altruism and Avuncularity in Tribal Urak-Lawoi, Italian, and Spanish Adult Males

Homosexual males could balance their low fitness by increasing benefits to relatives either through kin-directed altruism or by avuncularity (altruistic behavior toward the children of siblings). Evidence in support of kin selection and avuncularity includes the fact that homosexuals seem to be more empathic and altruistic than heterosexuals. Other studies have not confirmed behaviors that increase kin altruism in homosexuals. We explored altruistic behavior and avuncularity in a sample of 278 subjects, either homosexual or heterosexual, from three populations: Italian, Spanish, and Urak-Lawoi, a Southeast Asian tribal population. Among the Urak-Lawoi, the kathoeys, androphilic men who dress and behave as women, were compared with heterosexuals. All populations were rated for societal norms on the expression of affiliative behavior. No greater kin altruism or avuncularity among the kathoeys or in homosexuals in either Mediterranean population was found. Greater avuncularity and kin-directed altruism, independent of sexual orientation, were found among the Urak-Lawoi, and these traits were the least prevalent among the Italians, corresponding to different societal norms. The increase in kin altruism and avuncularity was associated in all males with societal differences and norms on general altruism toward nonkin children, suggesting it is not an adaptive design to maintain homosexuality in humans.

Human homosexuality: a paradigmatic arena for sexually antagonistic selection?

Sexual conflict likely plays a crucial role in the origin and maintenance of homosexuality in our species. Although environmental factors are known to affect human homosexual (HS) preference, sibling concordances and population patterns related to HS indicate that genetic components are also influencing this trait in humans. We argue that multilocus, partially X-linked genetic factors undergoing sexually antagonistic selection that promote maternal female fecundity at the cost of occasional male offspring homosexuality are the best candidates capable of explaining the frequency, familial clustering, and pedigree asymmetries observed in HS male proband families. This establishes male HS as a paradigmatic example of sexual conflict in human biology. HS in females, on the other hand, is currently a more elusive phenomenon from both the empirical and theoretical standpoints because of its fluidity and marked environmental influence. Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, the latter involving sexually antagonistic components, have been hypothesized for the propagation and maintenance of female HS in the population. However, further data are needed to truly clarify the evolutionary dynamics of this trait.

Influence of sexual competition and social context on homosexual behavior in adolescent female Japanese macaques.

We explored the role that sexual and social partners play in the expression of female homosexual behavior among adolescent female Japanese macaques at Arashiyama, Japan. Our data fully or partially supported all the predictions related to four non-mutually exclusive hypotheses, namely the "adult male disinterest in adolescent females" hypothesis, the "numerous homosexual adult females" hypothesis, the "safer homosexual interactions" hypothesis and the "same-sex sexual interactions" hypothesis. Our results show that both sexual context (e.g., lack of adolescent female attractivity toward adult males, presence of motivated same-sex sexual partners), and social context (e.g., risk of aggression) help explain the high frequency and prevalence of homosexual behavior in adolescent females in the Arashiyama group of Japanese macaques. As with adult females, whose homosexual consortships do not reflect generalized patterns of social affiliation or kinship, we found that adolescent females' same-sex sexual partners were neither kin, nor were they non-kin individuals with whom adolescent females were closely affiliated outside of a consortship context. Our study furthers the growing database of female homosexual behavior in Japanese macaques and provides additional evidence that homosexual behavior as expressed by adolescent female Japanese macaques is, like heterosexual behavior, sexual in nature. We discuss the relevance of our findings to a broader comparative approach that may shed light upon the development and evolution of human homosexuality.

The Structure of Explanations and Counter-Explanations of Homosexuality

The aim of this paper is to revisit an ongoing controversy within the so called “Science Wars”; more specifically, I will address a particular topic within the “human nature” debate: the ontological and epistemological status of homosexuality. I claim that, in this particular chapter of the “Science Wars”, we are continually left in an explanatory impasse even when more data are collected, more rigorous experimental techniques are developed, more subtle arguments are offered and more pluralistic narratives are told. My diagnosis of the source of this impasse leads me to the conclusion that here we are dealing with a structural problem that cannot be solved with an elaboration of new models and theories that maintain an on- tology and an epistemology that are no longer suited as an explanans of human nature in general, and homosexuality in particular. Nevertheless, my analysis of the structural features of the biological explanations and the constructivist counter-explanations also leads me to the belief that, although biologists do not fully understand the intricacies of subjects, neither constructivists understand the facticity of evolution and the challenge that it implies. If so, then the subject might be the right target of explanation. And, if so, constructivists might be right about the uniqueness of human homosexuality as a modern, western phenomenon explainable in terms of subjectivities and identities that mold and are molded by desires and institutions. But, if they are, evolution is not expendable because now we are facing a most intriguing question: How is that we humans became subjects?

Is there a hormonal basis for human homosexuality?

In the August 2011 issue of Endocrinology, Dr Balthazart presents a minireview on Hormones and Human Sexual Orientation.1 As in most scientific papers on this issue, the contribution lacks an operational definition of (human) homosexuality. Personally, I like the definition of John Money.2 ‘Homosexuality is characterized by same-sex contact, either as a genital act or as a long-term sexual/erotic status. A homosexual person is able to fall in love with, and become the pair-bonded sexual/erotic partner of only a person of the same morphological sex'.

Homosexuality and Psychoanalysis II: Theoretical Perspectives

ABSTRACT On May 1, 2004, the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists (AGLP), with co-sponsorship from St. Luke's–Roosevelt Medical Center, The Haworth Press, and the William Alanson White Institute, organized an all-day conference in New York City entitled Homosexuality and Psychoanalysis: New Directions. The proceedings of the third panel focused on “Theoretical Perspectives.” The first panelist, Susan C. Vaughan, MD, discusses how her perspective on lesbian development affects her clinical work with patients. Vaughan believes that the most useful framework for understanding the psychological ramifications of being lesbian is a developmental perspective, by which she means what is experiential about development and appreciating cultural factors, as well as what they might mean intrapsychically to patients as they are going through their lives growing up lesbian. Vaughan presents detailed clinical case material to highlight three developmental themes that are common in the lesbian patients that she have treated, experiences in childhood and adolescence that she contends are shared by many people growing up gay. The three developmental themes are: (1) a difference that is secret, bad, and must remain hidden; (2) overstimulation, and attempts to contain excitement, and the shame that overstimulation produces; and (3) struggles over the relationship between gender identity and sexuality as recurrent refrains in the stories of the lesbian patients she treats. Otto F. Kernberg, MD, gives a brief capsule overview of his approach to patients where homosexuality seems to be an issue. He lists a series of possible presentations of individuals entering treatment that relate to their sexual orientation and sexual identity. He affirms the need for technical neutrality, by which he means a lack of bias for or against the patient becoming heterosexual or homosexual, and the need for therapists to be honest about their own attitudes when treating patients who have problems with their sexual identity. If sexual identity is a source of conflict, treatment is warranted. The kind of treatment depends not on the sexual difficulty but on the severity of the character pathology. Kernberg outlines several possible clinical presentations and the suggested treatment for each. Therapists need to tolerate their own bisexuality when treating patients, and that combined with general knowledge about psychopathology and psychotherapeutic psychoanalytic technique is what it takes. Kernberg concludes by noting that much of what he has to say about homosexuality could also be said about heterosexuality, taking away all the complications of social bias and the influence of technical neutrality. David Schwartz, PhD's presentation is an effort to cast doubt on the validity of efforts to conceptualize and understand human homosexuality in a traditional scientific framework. Schwartz notes that all efforts to scientifically explain naturally occurring psychological phenomena are hampered by ethical and technological restrictions on our ability to manipulate independent variables. Moreover, he argues that the scientific search for an etiology or psychobiological mechanism for different patterns of sexual desire is especially blocked from producing anything but equivocal findings. This, he says, is principally due to the political and cultural implications of sexual behavior. These claims are illustrated with some examples from the history of efforts (psychoanalytic and not) to theorize same-sex desire. The author suggests that a more suitable way for psychoanalysts to increase their knowledge of diverse patterns of eroticism would be to emphasize phenomenological analyses and artistic representations. Ronnie C. Lesser, PhD, concludes the panel. In her discussion, she explicates the various manifestations of heterosexual pathology. As heterosexual pathology is so wide-ranging, Dr. Lesser believes that scientific purposes would be better served if we were to stop talking about “the heterosexual,” and use “the heterosexualities” instead. She then focuses her attention on the particular manifestations of interpersonal pathology exhibited in marriage by the heterosexualities, for example, emotional immaturity, narcissism, promiscuity, and high divorce rate. Since these problems have such dire consequences for their offspring, Lesser proposes a radical solution: that heterosexuals be barred from marriage. These themes are then woven in to her discussion of the other presentations on the panel.

Finger Length Ratio (2D:4D) and Dimensions of Sexual Orientation

Background: It has been suggested that both adult sexual orientation and the 2nd to 4th finger length ratio (2D:4D) are influenced by prenatal testosterone levels. Bearing this in mind, 2D:4D has been tested as a proxy measure of the putative prenatal testosterone impact on adult human homosexuality, but the results are inconsistent. To date, most studies in this field of research comprise categorical group comparison of heterosexuals and homosexuals with respect to their 2D:4D. Aims: The purpose of our study was to evaluate 2D:4D and the dimensional perspective of sexual orientation in addition to categorical results. Methods: We examined a community-based sample of 409 subjects and calculated correlations of 2D:4D and sexual orientation as a continuum ranging from homosexual to heterosexual. Results: We found a significant negative correlation of 2D:4D with homosexual orientation (fantasy, attraction, activity and general score) in women, but not in men. Conclusions: Our results indicate that with higher prenatal testosterone levels in women, the likelihood of homosexual orientation might increase. We hypothesize a continuous neurohormonal sexual differentiation of the brain, most notably for women, that overrides categories and results in varying dimensions of sexual orientation. This hypothesis contrasts with the predominant suggestion of fixed organizational effects of androgens in the brain and a categorical sexual orientation.

Angels in America and Semiotic Cocktails of Sex, Bible and Politics

AbstractThis paper offers a reading of Mike Nichols' television adaptation of Tony Kushner's Angels in America with reference to biblical encounters with angels, whether direct, like those of Jacob and Elijah, or indirect, like that of the sick man by the Bethesda pool (John 5). Kushner's work is complex, and it addresses issues like the human condition, homosexuality, AIDS, race, religion and politics, while emphasising elements of choice and identity. For Kushner, it seems, 'angels' signify an absence rather than a presence of the divine, puzzles rather than answers (many of which refer to sex and gender identities), and turn-of-the-millennium angst. Kushner's 'Prior' character is declared a prophet by the messenger angel while dying of AIDS. Prior's encounter harbours echoes of Elijah's own encounter with an angel of the Lord while struggling with exhaustion and an apparent desire for death (1 Kings 19:1-9). Furthermore, unwilling to accept the role of prophet, Prior wrestles with the angel, and, in a similar vein to Jacob's experience (Gen. 32:22-32), this results in a ladder leading to heaven and a blessing. This paper explores the complex world of signifiers in Angels in America, while paying particular attention to the biblical elements present in the text.

Fluctuating asymmetry, second to fourth finger length ratios and human sexual orientation

Sexual orientation in humans may be influenced by levels of prenatal sex steroids which canalise neurodevelopment along sex-typical (heterosexual) or sex-atypical (homosexual) lines. Some evidence for sexual-orientation-related differences in putative somatic markers of prenatal sex hormones supports this view. A competing theory asserts that human homosexuality is due to developmental instability (DI) because it represents a shift from the species-typical pattern of heterosexual orientation. Evidence for elevated rates of non-right handedness among homosexuals provides limited support for this account. The current study tested both theories by examining nine bilateral somatic traits in 120 healthy heterosexual and homosexual men and women in order to compute second to fourth finger length ratios (2D:4D), a measure ascribed to levels of prenatal sex steroids, and fluctuating asymmetry (FA), a measure of DI. Homosexual men and women had significantly lower right hand 2D:4D ratios (even after controlling for handedness, height and weight differences) in comparison to heterosexuals, but sexual orientation did not relate to composite FA scores. The findings constrain the number of possible neurodevelopmental pathways responsible for sexual orientation in humans.

Evidence for maternally inherited factors favouring male homosexuality and promoting female fecundity

The Darwinian paradox of male homosexuality in humans is examined, i.e. if male homosexuality has a genetic component and homosexuals reproduce less than heterosexuals, then why is this trait maintained in the population? In a sample of 98 homosexual and 100 heterosexual men and their relatives (a total of over 4600 individuals), we found that female maternal relatives of homosexuals have higher fecundity than female maternal relatives of heterosexuals and that this difference is not found in female paternal relatives. The study confirms previous reports, in particular that homosexuals have more maternal than paternal male homosexual relatives, that homosexual males are more often later-born than first-born and that they have more older brothers than older sisters. We discuss the findings and their implications for current research on male homosexuality.

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.

An association between male homosexuality and reproductive success

The existence of homosexuality in humans poses a problem for evolutionary theory. Exclusive male homosexuality has a catastrophic effect on reproduction and yet inherited factors appear to contribute to it. Previous attempts to resolve this conundrum are inconsistent with aspects of evolutionary theory. Additional limitations are as follows. Until recently, accounts of homosexuality have paid little attention to the probable existence of adaptive bisexuality in ancestral populations, from which further variations in sexual orientation may have evolved. Secondly, previous explanations have concentrated on the ancestral environment of two to three million years ago as the determinant of modern sexuality, when more recent influences are likely to have had considerable impact. I argue in favour of a longitudinal rather than cross-sectional model of the ancestral environment. Thirdly, they have often ignored the possibility of variable phenotypic expression, whereby those individuals with a genetic propensity for homosexuality exhibit different and adaptive qualities on most other occasions. It has been demonstrated in previous studies that homosexual men have superior linguistic skills compared to heterosexual men. This may be the result of an adaptive feminising effect on the male brain and apply to many practising heterosexuals. Other adaptations to the recent ancestral environment may include enhanced empathy, fine motor skills and impulse control. By drawing together these contributing factors an evolutionary basis for homosexuality can be demonstrated.

Animals models for the development of human sexuality: a critical evaluation.

Biological explanations of human homosexuality build upon a theoretical framework developed from the study of animals, especially that of rodents. Researchers have constructed a physiological model to explain the origin and development of "masculine" and "feminine" behavior. According to this model hormones acting at critical stages in early development organize cells in key areas of the brain. After puberty these hormonally organized brain regions are purportedly capable of activation by post-pubertally produced circulating hormones. This model of sexual development, called the organizational-activational (O/A) model, has framed research on sexual behavior in animals and animal-based account of human behavior for more than 30 years. However, evidence from a variety of sources has slowly accumulated, requiring modification after modification of the original premise. Continuing to use the organizational-activational model now interferes with the acquisition of new knowledge. I sketch the outlines of an alternative bio-social program for research on the development of sexual behavior in animals.

A new sociobiological theory of homosexuality applicable to societies with universal marriage

Several sociobiological theories have tried to explain human homosexuality. Adaptationally orthodox theories view it as a specific instance of reproductive altruism, in which the homosexual orientation in combination with a cross-gender identity is the emotional motivator of a nonreproductive role, leading to higher inclusive fitness for the individual displaying the trait in a particular environment. The nonreproduction is typically assumed to be plete—a large reproductive sacrifice. A new model is proposed in which human homosexuality remains a reproductively altruistic, trait, but in which the magnitude of the altruism is much reduced, and so presumably is more likely to result in a net increase in inclusive fitness. The theory applies to societies in which social pressures require marriage of essentially all reproductively able individuals, and does not require gender nonconformity. Hence, the new theoy fills some of the gaps left by the earlier orthodox theories, and in combination with them offers a consolidated set of hypothesis for testing.