Biomedical concepts of homosexuality: folk belief in a white coat.
Biological and medical tradition teaches that sexuality exists for the sole purpose of reproduction. Within this tradition homosexuality has no biological significance. It is conceived as a pathological condition wherein a homosexual has the internal or external characteristics of the opposite sex. The initial search for cross-sex physical characteristics in homosexuals (e.g., wide hips in males, wide shoulders in females) failed. The search then focussed on so-called sex hormones. It was hypothesized that homosexuals had an excess of hormones of the opposite sex. The researchers are now hypothesizing that homosexuals have a cross-sex brain organization. To date, no evidence for such cross-sex differentiation has been credibly demonstrated. This paper describes the results of unsuccessful attempts to replicate studies which are based on the assumption that homosexuals have a cross-sexed brain organization due to perinatal hormonal factors.
Gooren
L J
LJ
Free University Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000502:physiology*; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012106:Research; D012733:Sex Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000502:physiology
D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones