Is Homosexuality a Paraphilia? The Evidence For and Against

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Abstract

Whether homosexuality should be described as one among many paraphilic sexual interests or an altogether different dimension of sexual interest has long been discussed in terms of its political and social implications. The present article examined the question instead by comparing the major correlates and other features of homosexuality and of the paraphilias, including prevalence, sex ratio, onset and course, fraternal birth order, physical height, handedness, IQ and cognitive neuropsychological profile, and neuroanatomy. Although those literatures remain underdeveloped, the existing findings thus far suggest that homosexuality has a pattern of correlates largely, but not entirely, distinct from that identified among the paraphilias. At least, if homosexuality were deemed a paraphilia, it would be relatively unique among them, taxonometrically speaking.

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Most cited references 99

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Transsexuals have the strong feeling, often from childhood onwards, of having been born the wrong sex. The possible psychogenic or biological aetiology of transsexuality has been the subject of debate for many years. Here we show that the volume of the central subdivision of the bed nucleus of the stria terminals (BSTc), a brain area that is essential for sexual behaviour, is larger in men than in women. A female-sized BSTc was found in male-to-female transsexuals. The size of the BSTc was not influenced by sex hormones in adulthood and was independent of sexual orientation. Our study is the first to show a female brain structure in genetically male transsexuals and supports the hypothesis that gender identity develops as a result of an interaction between the developing brain and sex hormones.

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Sex differences in left-handedness: a meta-analysis of 144 studies.

Marietta Papadatou-Pastou, Maryanne Martin, Marcus R. Munafò … (2008)

Human handedness, a marker for language lateralization in the brain, continues to attract great research interest. A widely reported but not universal finding is a greater male tendency toward left-handedness. Here the authors present a meta-analysis of k = 144 studies, totaling N = 1,787,629 participants, the results of which demonstrate that the sex difference is both significant and robust. The overall best estimate for the male to female odds ratio was 1.23 (95% confidence interval = 1.19, 1.27). The widespread observation of this sex difference is consistent with it being related to innate characteristics of sexual differentiation, and its observed magnitude places an important constraint on current theories of handedness. In addition, the size of the sex difference was significantly moderated by the way in which handedness was assessed (by writing hand or by other means), the location of testing, and the year of publication of the study, implicating additional influences on its development.

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The concept of autogynephilia and the typology of male gender dysphoria.

RAY BLANCHARD (1989)

This study tested the hypothesis that all gender-dysphoric males who are not sexually aroused by men (homosexual) are instead sexually aroused by the thought or image of themselves as women (autogynephilic). Subjects were 212 adult male-to-female transsexuals. These were divided into four groups; one homosexual and three nonhomosexual. The three nonhomosexual groups were heterosexual, bisexual, and analloerotic (unattracted to male or female partners, but not necessarily devoid of all erotic behavior). A Core Autogynephilia Scale was developed to assess a subject's propensity to be sexually aroused by the fantasy of being a woman. The four transsexual groups were compared on this measure (and on several others), using Newman-Keuls multiple-range tests at p less than .05. As predicted, all three nonhomosexual groups were more likely than the homosexual group to report sexual stimulation by cross-gender fantasy. This finding supports the hypothesis that the major types of nonhomosexual gender dysphoria constitute variant forms of one underlying disorder, which may be characterized as autogynephilic gender dysphoria.

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Author and article information

Contributors

: james_cantor@camh.net

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Arch Sex Behav

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Arch Sex Behav

Title: Archives of Sexual Behavior

Publisher: Springer US (Boston )

ISSN (Print): 0004-0002

ISSN (Electronic): 1573-2800

Publication date (Electronic): 27 January 2012

Publication date PMC-release: 27 January 2012

Publication date (Print): February 2012

Volume: 41

Issue: 1

Pages: 237-247

Affiliations

[1 ]Sexual Behaviours Clinic, Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8 Canada

[2 ]Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada

Article

Publisher ID: 9900

DOI: 10.1007/s10508-012-9900-3

PMC ID: 3310132

PubMed ID: 22282324

SO-VID: 3736d42a-4a49-4606-b664-0c4a4386c124

History

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Sexual medicine

Keywords: neuroanatomy,neuropsychology,sexual orientation,handedness,fraternal birth order,physical height

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Sexual medicine

Keywords: neuroanatomy, neuropsychology, sexual orientation, handedness, fraternal birth order, physical height

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