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Re: Homosexuality: male & female
Bryant (mycol1@unm.edu)
20 Sep 1996 11:12:36 -0600
In article <51t59i$k93@hermes.achilles.net>,
Yousuf Khan <ykhan@achilles.net> wrote:
>
>Maybe it is discrete, but what are the physical correlates that describe
>bisexuals? They always seem to drop off into a miscellaneous category in
>study after study.
Good question. Unfortunately, our own study on developmental instability
and personality/sexual behavior had only 8 homo- and bi-sexuals, so we
have far too few individuals to draw statistically significant
conclusions.
Let's say, as we can reasonably expect, that bisexuals are intermediate
between homosexuals and heteros--that is, they have intermediate levels
of fingerprint and bone asymmetry, etc. Would that suggest that
sexuality is a continuum? For the human population, yes, it would. But
for each individual, depending upon where in the continuum they fall out
developmentally, it would not necessarily mean that at all. It would
mean that those on the poles--gays and straights--are "developmentally
determined" to have the orientation they do. (Or, at least, homosexuals
would be born with some kind of increased likelihood of responding to
environmental cues with homosexual preferences.)
>If the orientations are discrete how many discrete points are we talking
>about? Certainly not two, and three doesn't seem to fit too well either.
>Maybe 20? Any guesses?
Three, I think, works fine for adult sexualities. I've been avoiding the
whole issue of folks who like barnyard animals and children.
>Yousuf J. Khan
Bryant
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