Why would people 'choose' to be gay? | Science | The Guardian

Contents:

• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• ARE HOMOPHOB REALLY GAY?
• APA’S GUIL FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY WH LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL CLIENTS: THE FUNDAMENTALS FOR PRACTICE
• BEG GAY IS JT AS HEALTHY AS BEG STRAIGHT
• SEXUAL ORIENTATN INTY DEVELOPMENT MILTON AMONG LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND QUEER PEOPLE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• PHYSIL, BEHAVRAL, AND PSYCHOLOGIL TRAS OF GAY MEN INTIFYG AS BEARS
• THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GAY MEN'S CUCKOLDG FANTASI
• LARGE STUDY DIT DISGT SENSIVY IS LKED TO PREJUDICE TOWARD GAY MEN AND LBIAN WOMEN
• A GAY COUPLE'S FIGHT FOR THEIR TW SON'S CIZENSHIP INSPIR
• WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE GAY?
• IS THE BODYBUILDG INDTRY GAY FOR PAY? BODYBUILDG TROLL VCE GOODM TAK SHOTS AT NICK TRIGILI

WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?

Dpe the persistence of stereotyp that portray lbian, gay, and bisexual people as disturbed, several s of rearch and clil experience have led all mastream medil and mental health anizatns this untry to nclu that the orientatns reprent normal forms of human experience. Helpful rpons of a therapist treatg an dividual who is troubled about her or his same sex attractns clu helpg that person actively pe wh social prejudic agast homosexualy, succsfully rolve issu associated wh and rultg om ternal nflicts, and actively lead a happy and satisfyg life.

The phrase “g out” is ed to refer to several aspects of lbian, gay, and bisexual persons’ experienc: self-awarens of same-sex attractns; the tellg of one or a few people about the attractns; wispread disclosure of same-sex attractns; and intifitn wh the lbian, gay, and bisexual muny. Th, is not surprisg that lbians and gay men who feel they mt nceal their sexual orientatn report more equent mental health ncerns than do lbians and gay men who are more open; they may even have more physil health problems.

Lbian, gay, and bisexual youth who do well spe strs—like all adolcents who do well spe strs—tend to be those who are socially petent, who have good problem-solvg skills, who have a sense of tonomy and purpose, and who look forward to the future. If they are a heterosexual relatnship, their experienc may be que siar to those of people who intify as heterosexual unls they choose to e out as bisexual; that se, they will likely face some of the same prejudice and discrimatn that lbian and gay dividuals enunter. Selmys flatly asserts that she “won’t e the word normal” reference to “heterosexual functng” as Latkovic did when amg his assertn that “[t]oday, of urse, the majory of psychologists and mental health re profsnals ny that there is anythg abnormal about homosexualy.

ARE HOMOPHOB REALLY GAY?

By ptg the “ncept of homosexualy” as arisg om “morn psychology” agast her claim that Church teachg prr to this was all about “ss” and “acts” rather than persons, she seems to acce Latkovic of embracg the morn-psych view of “homosexual” and “heterosexual” as “discreet sexual speci of person. Today, the Church provis a badly need ntext for the re of the human person when she ref to nsir the person as a “heterosexual” or a “homosexual” and sists that every person has a fundamental Inty: the creature of God, and by grace, his child and heir to eternal life. ” Of the eight occurrenc of the Lat term, ’s translated as “tenncy” once, “clatn” three tim, “orientatn” three tim, and omted once om translatn (“propensne homosexuali” renred as “homosexual person” English).

Dpe recent gas gay civil rights, cludg the recent US Supreme Court lgs on marriage, the overturng of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, ” as well as the legalizatn of same-sex marriage many foreign untri, homophobia is alive and well both here and abroad. Recently Print Vladmir Put signed an anti-propoganda law that rulted the recent arrts of several gay Dutch tourists and may give police the right to arrrt anyone who portrays homosexuay posively cludg LGBT teachers and parents ().

APA’S GUIL FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY WH LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL CLIENTS: THE FUNDAMENTALS FOR PRACTICE

In a 1993 study, levels of homophobia were asssed among 64 men along wh their sexual aroal (measured by creas penile circumference) rponse to erotic vios of heterosexual, same-sex female, and same-sex male enunters. Ee Griffh, a recently ceased welterweight and middleweight champn, pummeled an opponent to ath after he had lled him an anti-gay slur, Griffh ntug to punch him the head well after he had clearly won the fight. Add this anecdote to several others cludg that of right wg polician Larry Craig, who pled guilty to lewd behavr toward other men an airport bathroom but who also champned anti-gay legislatn durg his polil reer, and Ted Haggard, lear of the famoly anti-gay Natnal Associatn of the Evangelils, who rigned after was disvered he was engagg male prostut.

The LGB Guil at a Glance The “Guil for psychotherapy wh lbian, gay and bisexual clients” (APA, 2000) were created to help psychologists intify the fundamental issu unique to the asssment and treatment of LGB dividuals, upl, and fai. In this, the DSM followed a long tradn medice and psychiatry, which the neteenth century appropriated homosexualy om the Church and, what mt have seemed like an élan of enlightenment, promoted om s to mental disorr.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organizatn (WHO) Geneva only removed homosexualy om s Internatnal Classifitn of Diseas (ICD) wh the publitn of ICD-10 1992, although ICD-10 still rried the nstct of "ego-dystonic sexual orientatn.

BEG GAY IS JT AS HEALTHY AS BEG STRAIGHT

In 1975, the Amerin Psychologil Associatn publicly supported this move, statg that "homosexualy per se impli no impairment judgment, reliabily or general social and votnal pabili…(and mental health profsnals should) take the lead removg the stigma of mental illns long associated wh homosexual orientatn.

Some of our listeners might not really be aware of how psychiatry was pelled to remove homosexualy om the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs, which is pretty much the arber of what nstut a mental illns or a mental disorr among all behavral health practners. He thought, "If I go outsi of the ci, and I go outsi of the ltle ty ltle secret gay enclav, then I'm gog to fd the people who are very different om each other, and 's gog to challenge this stereotype about what the signs of homosexualy are, " which were thgs like genr versn, or artistic terts for men, or thgs like that. I thk what Hooker did is, she took that sort of scientific lens that had always been sort of lookg at gay people and assumg there was a difference between gay and straight people, and g that difference whether was real or purported, to kd of build a fic mol and build a diagnosis, and build a mental health story.

SEXUAL ORIENTATN INTY DEVELOPMENT MILTON AMONG LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND QUEER PEOPLE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

But I thk, once that happened, and once HIV/AIDS beme a way for psychologists and for psychology the Uned Stat, to have a more productive relatnship wh thgs like the NIMH, fundg streams, and so on, I thk took some ias that gay and lbian people were jt people, that were kd of a ltle b margal, they were que margal the 1970s. But that trajectory was already set tra by earlier stuff about sodomy laws, equal employment laws, parents rights to ctody of their children, and other thgs where APA had gone to urt about lbian and gay rights.

THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS

I thk a pot here, and I thk this is kd of difficult for some people, maybe, to wrap your head around, is that y, there is this kd of genr-y kd of stereotypg around gay and lbian people that happens all the time.

That's why we kd of thought, "Actually, I thk stat needs to be thought about this equatn as well when we thk about what is the landspe of discrimatn that people might enunter if they are lbian and gay, " or even if they sound lbian or gay. Mills: I want to wrap up wh a qutn that tak back to your book for a moment, bee you end by wrg that 's important for all psychologists to have some knowledge of the recent history of LGBT psychology and that the field offers somethg of what you ll generalizable efulns beyond gay men and lbians to whom ially applied.

Frd theorized that homosexualy was a rult of problems that arise durg psychosexual velopment, such as boys beg overly attached to and intifyg wh their mother stead of their father, feelg tense stratn anxiety that leads boys to reject women bee they are “strated, ” and narcissistic self-obssn that leads boys to choose an object of attractn that rembl themselv (Lew, 1988).

PHYSIL, BEHAVRAL, AND PSYCHOLOGIL TRAS OF GAY MEN INTIFYG AS BEARS

Bieber (1962, 1967, 1969) claimed that male homosexualy was ed by boys havg a posssive and overly volved mother, as well as a hostile or distant father; the dynamics led boys to bond wh their mother and prevented them om velopg their masculy, which led him to effemate homosexualy. For female homosexualy, Bieber (1967, 1969) claimed was ed by var parent-child relatnship dynamics, such as mothers beg overly rejectg and cril of their dghters, showg ltle warmth and affectn; this, bed wh “femizg” behavrs, such as not drsg their dghter pretty cloth and not teachg her okg and hoekeepg skills, ntributed to homosexualy.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GAY MEN'S CUCKOLDG FANTASI

Studi were clud the review if they met the followg creria: (1) llected data om lbian, gay, bisexual, and/or queer people about the timg of their inty velopment ton; (2) llected data the Uned Stat; (3) were wrten English; and (4) were published or pleted on or after January 1, 1990. E., the day the search were performed): (inty OR tone OR velopment) Abstract AND (gay OR lbian OR bisexual OR homosexual OR queer OR “sexual mory” OR “sexual mori”) Abstract AND (“sexual orientatn” Subjects for PsycINFO; sexualy Subject Headg for Soclogil Abstracts). E., 60–76%) of gay/lbian participants wh smaller reprentatn of bisexual, queer, and other sexual mory inti; five studi had sampl of relatively equal numbers of gay/lbian and bisexual participants; three studi clud participants wh substantial reprentatn of gay/lbian, bisexual, and other sexual orientatn inti; one study nsisted of only bisexual participants; and three studi did not provi breakdowns for sexual orientatn inti.

”), other studi asssed g out specific social ntexts, cludg parents (n=8), fay members bis parents (n=6), fay general (n=2), iends (n=3), and dividuals who are LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or queer) (n=1). In a study of gay/lbian women, there were no signifint differenc between Black and Hispanic/Lata women, but pared to women of lor, Whe women were signifintly later qutng their orientatn, self-intifyg as gay/lbian, g out, and havg a same-sex romantic relatnship (Parks et al., 2004). Among the seven studi that pared the timg of ton between gay/lbian and bisexual people their analys, most studi found that gay/lbian people reached the ton of attractn and self-intifyg signifintly earlier than bisexual people (Diamond, 1998; Maguen et al., 2002; Herek et al., 2010; Calzo et al., 2011; Martos et al., 2015; Hoenig, 2016; Katz-Wise et al., 2017a).

Siarly, another study found that sexual activy was earlier for gay men than bisexual men, wh no differenc among women; g out was earlier for gay/lbian women than bisexual women, wh no difference among men (Maguen et al., 2002).

LARGE STUDY DIT DISGT SENSIVY IS LKED TO PREJUDICE TOWARD GAY MEN AND LBIAN WOMEN

Supplementary Table 3 shows the rults of meta-analys of tone ag by sexual orientatn (bisexual and gay/lbian) based on data om four studi; two of the studi are the top tier of methodologil rigor and two are the send tier (Herek et al., 2010; Pew Rearch Center, 2013a; Fredriksen-Goldsen et al., 2017; Katz-Wise et al., 2017a); however, none of the studi examed the relatnship tone. Given the soccultural prsure of heteronormativy, bisexual peopl’ attractns to multiple genrs, and their pacy to engage sexual behavrs and relatnships that may be viewed as heterosexual, there may be more nial, mimizatn, or uncertaty about their bisexual sexualy than for gay/lbian people.

In addn, bee bisexualy as a legimate sexual orientatn has historilly been qutned, wh views that bisexualy is a transnal step between heterosexualy and homosexualy and that very few people are tly bisexual, people wh an emergg bisexual inty may feel more nfn and self-doubt about their inty than people wh monosexual orientatns (Brown, 2002; Roberts et al., 2015; Monro et al., 2017). Longudal rearch dit that bisexual people n experience more fluctuatns their attractns over time pared to gay/lbian people (Diamond, 2008), which may also ntribute to nfn and feelg uncerta about their bisexual inty.

A GAY COUPLE'S FIGHT FOR THEIR TW SON'S CIZENSHIP INSPIR

“As a teenager tryg to unrstand myself and unrstand my sexualy, I looked at the ter for “the gay gene” and obvly me across Xq28, ” said Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a study -thor and senr scientist at 23andMe, which he joked once led him to believe he hered his gayns om his mother. The rearchers had members of the same-sex muny review the study’s sign and language, and they adm that their termology and fns for gay, lbian and heterosexual do not reflect the full nature of the sexualy ntuum.

WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE GAY?

“[Our study] unrsr an important role for the environment shapg human sexual behavr and perhaps most importantly there is no sgle gay gene but rather the ntributn of many small geic effects sttered across the genome, ” Neale said. Keywords: Bears, Gay Culture, Gay and Bisexual Men, Self-teem, Masculy, ObyINTRODUCTIONThe gay muny is ultimately a heterogeneo one wh many subgroups and subcultur—one of the monali among them beg the sire to have same-sex enunters. Bee there is a arth of general rearch regardg this muny, and no studi to date that e quantative methods, we cid to explore this muny quantatively—g an Inter-nvenience sample, followed by a purposive suggted, the Bear culture exhibs and valu a greater sense of domant (but not necsarily domeerg) “thentic masculy” parison to other subcultur wh the gay muny (e.

In rponse and ntrast wh Leathermen, Bears mata their mascule inty whout adoptg negative hypermascule tennci to acmodate all partners, spe their size or body is some theoretil support for why the Bear inty spltered om the gay male mastream culture.

IS THE BODYBUILDG INDTRY GAY FOR PAY? BODYBUILDG TROLL VCE GOODM TAK SHOTS AT NICK TRIGILI

Popular culture, the media, and Wtern hetero- and homosexual expectatns have normalized the ial male body as one that is lean, mcular, and v-shaped (wh broad shoulrs, a narrow waist, and a flat but well-fed stomach) (Olivardia, Pope, Borowiecki, & Cohane, 2000). G., poor self-image/self-teem) velop both heterosexual and homosexual men exhibg ls sirable physil tras (Beren, Hayn, Wilfley, & Grilo, 1996; Morrison, Morrison, & Sager, 2004; Pepl et al., 2009; Weer, 2009; Yelland & Tiggemann, 2003). Whereas mastream gay men often do not engage sired or preferred sexual behavrs bee of fears of rejectn or judgment (Kamski, Chapman, Hayn, & Own, 2004), those the more acceptg Bear muny reject the fears due to their beg ultimately “feme” nature (Hennen, 2005).

G., uratn, fistg, voyrism, exhibnism) (Grov, Parsons, & Bimbi, 2010) to the active existence of the Bear muny and regnn of this subculture by the larger gay/bisexual male culture, more rearch is need to explore the gree to which the prevly mentned physil, behavral, and psychologil differenc actually exist.

Consirg the likely prevalence of a Bear inty may be held (wh varyg tenaci) by about 14–22% of gay men, the rults provi addnal evince for the manift and latent heterogeney of gay and bisexual rults regardg body tras and partner selectn nfirm, for the first time a systematic manner, fdgs documented prev terview and ethnographic studi. Regardls of the potential explanatn, Bears appear to be more sexually diverse and explorative than mastream gay and bisexual rults documented lower self-teem, which ntradicted both our hypothis and others’ terview rearch (e. In this rpect, Bears may overtimate and overstate re towards partners to self-prent as beg distct om men adherg to the mastream gay culture (which are often stereotyped as treatg partners as disposable) (Isay, 2009).