The Psychology Of Sexual Orientations

The topic of sexual orientation is both sensitive and controversial. This is evident in events, such as the Pride Parade, and also in media, where authoritative figures preach against it and speak of its “sinful nature” (Emmanuele, Blanchard, Camperio-Ciani, & Bancroft, 2010). Sexual orientation exists in various forms, it differs in the way it is viewed by different cultures, and researchers propose different perspectives to explain the emergence of an individual 's sexual orientation. In the discourse of sexual orientation,

When I think about diversity in the world I too think about diversity when it comes to sexual orientation. Sometimes I think -- How is sexual identity developed? What influences who we become sexually? Why is there such diversity in sexual orientation? To be quite frank, there are no correct or incorrect answers to these questions. The idea of sexual orientation and behavior is a very complex one. What was true in the past is certainly different than the norm today. When I researched the various psychological theories and methodologies of measuring one’s sexuality, naturally I came across the work of Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the creator of the Kinsey scale.

According to Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, sexual orientation refers to the inclination of an individual with respect to heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual behavior. The famous Kinsey Reports by Alfred Kinsey (1948) claims that about 10% of American adults are homosexual. This astonishing figure is often presented as fact but is often criticized to be highly overestimated by academia. (Refer to Appendix 1 for figures presented by other institutes). Studies by National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles reviews that lesbian increased from 2.8% in 1990 to 9.7% in 2000 while gay reported to rise from 5.3% in 1990 to 8.4% in 2000, depicting upward trends that are consistent with reports

In the United States of America, 1.8 percent of men and 1.5 percent of women identify themselves as homosexuals (Volokh 1). This means that in a group of one hundred men, around two of them are homosexuals, and the same goes for women. The background regarding sexual orientation is vast, and a lot of different definitions of the concept have been introduced throughout time. Nevertheless, although homosexuality is fairly common in the United States, many people still misunderstand it. The different types of sexual orientations and their difference from other sexual-related terms, such as gender role and gender identity, are all confused by the general population. Sadly, even today, there are people that believe in a right or wrong sexual orientation. Moreover, the origins of sexual orientation are highly discussed and debated by the scientific community, with theories including biological and environmental explanations. The importance of such origins resides in the fact that this nature-nurture debate is capable of changing people’s perspectives towards homosexuality, and even though the media has done a great job by transforming any sex-related topic from a taboo to an acceptable conversation point, society still needs to grasp a lot about sexual orientation. Particularly, the fact that sexual orientation is a complex, largely misunderstood human characteristic resulting from a combination of biological and environmental factors that play an essential role in society’s

The origin and cause of human sexual orientation have been highly debated topics between sociologist and biologists. Most scientists believe sexual orientation is biologically determined while sociologists argue that it is socially constructed. There is a third belief that human sexual orientation is not solely biologically determined or socially constructed. From this belief come theories that combine both arguments, where human sexual orientation contains a biological component and a social component. One of the conjoint theories is that humans are born with a propensity for certain sexual tendencies which are determined biologically, and these tendencies are developed into a complex sexual identity as an adult. This development of sexual tendencies into a sexual identity is influenced by society, and therefore, sexual orientation depends on biological influences as well as society and social influences. There is various evidence and arguments for biological determination and social construction of sexual orientation, as well as a few conjoint theories of sexual orientation, but there are also criticisms of each theory and the validity of these arguments will be explored.

Over the years there has been many debates and experiments to try to come to the conclusion of whether sexual orientaion is biologically based or choice. Sexual orientation is a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to men, women or both sexes. Sexual orientation is defined in terms of relationships with others since their identity is based off of their attractions. Sexual orientation can be noted through behaviors such as holding hands or kissing, sharing goals and values, mutual support, and ongoing commitments. Sexual orientation can be broken down into three categories heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual. While this break down may seem very black and white, there are

The world has come very far with all the dramatic changes we have faced over the years. Wouldn’t you agree? As much change as the world has been through there are still numerous social problems that still exist in society today. Amongst those numerous social problems, sexual orientation and inequality stand out to me. Research from biology, psychology, and sociology is where our understanding of sexual orientation comes from. There are two hypothetical theories researchers have discovered examining the biological basis toward sexual orientation. One concept is the neurohormonal theory, biologist contend that homosexuality is caused by abnormal sex hormone levels in utero. The alternative theory is based on behavioral genetics, determining the source and magnitude of genetic impact on sexual orientation. This theory suggested the concept that gay men were genetically female. Later this theory was proven to be false. Homosexuality was considered as a pathology or mental illness. Not every psychologists agreed with that perspective. A researcher by the name of Havelock Ellis stated that homosexuality was congenital and for that reason it could not be considered as a disease. Sigmund Freud another theorist had the concept that everyone is born bisexual and that either homosexuality or heterosexuality is developed through social and personal experience. Ellis and Freud both concurred that homosexuality was not a mental illness. Despite these researchers’ opinions in 1973,

Its undeniable that one of the many hot topics now a days is homosexuality/sexual orientation and like any sort of debate of any kind the first response is to clump it into a group thats commonly defined so that everyones on the same ground. The only problem with that is especially for something like sexual orientation trying to clump such a complex concept is unfair because things often get misunderstood or left out because sexual orientation is a lot more than a simple yes/no right/wrong answer.

To understand why we as a society such high standard norms for everyone we first need to take a deeper look into hetero and homo-sexual definitions to determine what is normal and what we associated with those terms. When looking deeper into the definition of “sexual instinct” (Katz, 1995) we can determine that sexual instinct is used when determining a partner’s sexual interest in someone. This term is actually called and “referred to the men’s and women’s erotic desire for each other”. However in the 1890’s transsexual and transgender meant different things than they do today. Today when determining whom we are attracted to we call either call people homosexuals or heterosexuals. Heterosexuals today are described as someone interested in

Lilly discovers that she has an erotic and emotional connection to women as opposed to men. However, she does not want to reveal her sexual orientation to the society, rather makes it a secret affair. Because she was scared she will be outcast from society. In school, she continues to study like any normal student, but she separated her school life from her night live. She opts to live two lives; one that is known to the majority of the society and another that is a secret to her and friends. She is not willing to make her sexual orientation known to the people for fear of victimization by the society members.

While the expressions "sexual orientation" and "sex" are frequently utilized conversely, the two words have altogether distinctive definitions. One could contend that sex alludes to organic essentialism and the thought that we are who we are a result of our hereditary material. Then again, sex is connected with the social constructionist hypothesis, which contends that the way we are is reliant on our race, class, and sexuality. Since every individual is distinctive in their race, class, and sexuality, their sex turns out to be socially built. To contend that sex is not socially built would be to say that all individuals, for instance, that are naturally female have the same objectives.

Homosexuality is defined or characterized as attraction towards the same gender either male or female. It came from the Greek language, where “homo” means the same or similar, hence referring to the attraction between two beings of the same sex. Homosexuality is also referred as a clinical term. Most male homosexuals generally prefer to be called "gay men" and most homosexual women generally prefer to be called "lesbians." Homosexuality is one of the three main categories of sexual orientation, alongside bisexual and heterosexual. The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality is an example of normal and positive variation in human sexual

Another important concept is understanding what is normal. The “normal” leads to expectations that males and females have for one another. By not meeting these expectations thoughts of being different can be provoked. Improving education and public knowledge will decrease the suffering by such individuals (Baumeister, et al., 2001). Barr, Bryan, and Kenrick (2002) researched what is the expected sexual peak of men and women. The researchers did three different studies on what participants thought the age of sexual peak was. The first study consisted of 60 members from the Psychology Department at Arizona State, the second consisted of 73 undergraduates at Arizona State, and the third consisted 53 members recruited from the 73 undergraduates. Each group was given a questionnaire asking at what age do you think male/female sexual peak is, and at when do you think males/females experience the highest sexual frequency (Barr, et al., 2002).

The purpose of the study was to synthesize and critically evaluate the concept of sexual orientation, especially as it is studied and presented in large, population-based and school-based adolescent survey literature. Specifically, the study examined methodology and instrumentation used for the assessment and measurement of youth sexual orientation present in refereed literature. Of the forty-eight empirical studies, five included items that assessed all three dimensions of sexual orientation. The majority of studies used surveys that exclusively assessed sexual orientation identity (n = 30; 63%). The majority of those surveys provided between four and six identity response options with parenthetical descriptions, including the

What is sexual orientation and what are some of the scientific explanations for the development of diverse sexual orientations in humans? In Gay Straight and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation by neuroscientist Simon Levay, sexual orientation is the sex that we as human beings prefer for sexual interaction. The diverse sexual orientations in humans range from same sex (homosexual, gay or lesbian), opposite sex (heterosexual or straight), and in some cases to both sexes (bisexual). Levay later goes onto explaining how sexual orientation is not just in terms of same-sex and opposite-sex attraction, but in