title: Understanding human sexuality--specifically homosexuality and the paraphilias--in terms of chaos theory and fetal development.
abstract: This paper considers human sexual orientation, specifically homosexuality and some paraphilias, to occur as a result of intrauterine development, itself a mathematically chaotic process. Parameter space, an example of state space in the phase diagram, has been used to illustrate different phenotypes. The crossing of a bifurcation boundary by the developing fetus is proposed as a mechanism by which it may be changed from one sexual orientation to another, e.g. from heterosexuality to homosexuality. The factors which push the fetus over a bifurcation boundary, which include a Y-chromosome, specific hormone administration, the lying contiguous to an opposite-sex fetus in multiple pregnancies, maternal stress and immune factors are described. The syndromes congenital renal hyperplasia and the androgen insensitivity syndrome and their relevance to this model are also discussed. Finally, chaos theory is used to encompass the complex interactions between fetal development and cultural factors in human sexuality.
authors.affiliation: Hope Hospital, Salford, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Goodman
mesh_terms: D001727:Bisexuality; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D005260:Female; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D008960:Models, Psychological; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D010262:Paraphilic Disorders; D011247:Pregnancy; D012732:Sex Determination Analysis; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014998:Y Chromosome