Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why

Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation

Cover of the first edition
Author Simon LeVay
Country United States
Language English
Subject Sexual orientation
Published 2010 (Oxford University Press)
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages 412 (paperback edition)
ISBN 978-0-19-973767-3 (hardback)
978-0-19-993158-3 (paperback)

Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation (2010; second edition 2016)[1] is a book about the development of sexual orientation by Simon LeVay, in which LeVay argues that sexual orientation is an aspect of gender that emerges from the prenatal sexual differentiation of the brain, and criticizes Freudian and behaviorist explanations of sexual orientation. Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why received both positive and negative reviews. In 2012, it received the Bullough Book Award for the most distinguished book written for the professional sexological community published in a given year.

Summary

LeVay discusses scientific research on sexual orientation conducted since his 1991 study of the hypothalamus, writing that the research supports the conclusion that sexual orientation is a product of the interactions between sex hormones and the developing brain, which predispose people's minds toward masculinity or femininity. LeVay argues that sexual orientation should be understand as an aspect of gender, seen from a biological perspective. He defines "sexual orientation" as "the trait that predisposes us to experience sexual attraction to people of the same sex as ourselves (homosexual, gay, or lesbian), to persons of the other sex (heterosexual or straight), or to both sexes (bisexual). He criticizes the work of Alfred Kinsey, writing that while Kinsey took sexual behavior into account in judging a person's sexual orientation, that approach suffers from the problem that "sexual behavior is influenced by many factors that have nothing to do with one's basic sexual feelings and that are changeable over time." LeVay argues that in general only people's sexual feelings should be taken into account in assessing their sexual orientation.[2]

Criticizing conversion therapy, LeVay writes that the majority view among mental health professionals is that it is unlikely to be effective and has the potential to cause harm. However, LeVay notes that a study by psychiatrist Robert Spitzer identified two hundred people who claimed that it helped them to make a significant shift from homosexuality to heterosexuality. LeVay interprets Spitzer's study as showing that, "at least a few highly motivated gay people can be helped to engage in and derive some degree of pleasure from heterosexual relationships, and to pay less attention to their homosexual feelings." LeVay states that statistical studies of large numbers of subjects support Sigmund Freud's view that on average gay men are more likely than straight men to describe their relationships with their mothers as close and their relationships with their fathers as distant or hostile. However, LeVay is skeptical of Freud's claim that the behavior of parents influences the future sexual orientation of their children. LeVay writes that while psychoanalytic theories about homosexuality have not been proven wrong they are no more plausible than the idea that unidentified flying objects are alien spacecraft. LeVay suggests that boys who become gay may be unmasculine, or otherwise differ from boys who become straight in ways that influence the behavior of parents, and that Freudian theories reverse the direction of causation.[3]

LeVay rejects the view, based on behaviorism, that the sex of a person's first sex partner influences their sexual orientation, arguing that it is contradicted by cross-cultural evidence, including anthropologist Gilbert Herdt's work on the Sambia, and studies of British boarding schools. He criticizes the sexologist John Money, who maintained that sexual orientation develops as part of a process of gender learning, by pointing to the case of David Reimer, a man who was unsuccessfully reared as a girl following the destruction of his penis in a botched circumcision when he was seven months old. LeVay writes that, contrary to Money's expectations, Reimer, who ultimately decided to live as a man, was sexually attracted to women as an adult. According to LeVay, there are several similar cases conflicting with Money's learning theory of sexual orientation.[4]

According to LeVay, there is evidence that levels of prenatal hormones, such as testosterone, influence the development of a person's sexual orientation. LeVay suggests that genes that cause a predisposition to homosexuality could persist despite the presumed lower reproductive success of gay people, through a mechanism similar to that involved in the disease sickle cell anemia, which persists because, while persons who carry two copies of the gene develop the disease, those with only one copy gain resistance to malaria. LeVay writes that there are several possible mechanisms by which genes predisposing persons of one sex to homosexuality might increase the reproductive potential of persons of the opposite sex, for example, economist Edward M. Miller proposal that the inheritance of a limited number of "feminizing" genes might make males more attractive to females by giving them increased empathy and kindness, or rendering them less aggressive, in turn making them more successful in reproductive terms, while a larger number of feminizing genes might result in male homosexuality. LeVay writes that a study by a group led by Brendan Zietsch has provided supporting evidence.[5]

Reviewing his work on the hypothalamus, LeVay defends his 1991 study from the criticism that the differences in brain structure between gay and straight men which it found were simply a side-effect of AIDS, which all the gay men in the study had died from. LeVay writes that there was no obvious pathology in the specimens he studied and that he was subsequently able to study a gay man who died of factors unrelated to AIDS and found that his INAH 3 was the same size as those of the gay men in his study. LeVay notes that one attempt has been made to replicate his study. Psychiatrist and neuroscientist William Byne found a difference in INAH 3 size between gay and straight men, but the difference was not quite statistically significant by the criteria Byne used. LeVay concludes that homosexuality is, "part of a package of gender-atypical traits."[6]

Reception

Psychologist J. Michael Bailey called Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why "the best available summary of the science of sexual orientation." Neuroscientist Marc Breedlove writes that, "LeVay offers a lucid, authoritative account of the exploding literature on the biology of human sexual orientation." Neuroscientist Bradley Cooke called Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why "lively, engaging, and balanced", and "a must for anyone interested in the biological bases of sexual orientation."[7] Gay scholar John Lauritsen dismissed Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why, writing that LeVay is obsessed with a "faulty hypothesis". Lauritsen charged LeVay with ignorance of relevant historical and anthropological evidence, and with poor scholarship, noting that LeVay's bibliography excluded important works by sex researcher Kinsey and psychologist Clarence Arthur Tripp.[8]

Schuyler Velasco, writing for Salon.com, called Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why, "a comprehensive, engaging and occasionally quite funny look at the current state of the research."[9] Journalist Deborah Blum, writing for New Scientist, called the book "rational, smart and compassionate", but also observed that it showed that scientific understanding of sexual orientation had advanced less than might be hoped since LeVay's 1991 hypothalamus study, commenting that "many of the most influential studies cited here spring from previous decades...when a chapter on the importance of biology in sexuality contains 32 citations and 23 of them date to the year 2000 or earlier, a book can feel a bit dated." She suggested that the "dearth of notable recent findings" could in part be the result of a lack of political willingness to fund sex research.[10]

Terri Schlichenmeyer wrote in the Dallas Voice that while LeVay's book was "intriguing" and made "sense on several levels", it was also overcomplicated and technical.[11] Colin Wilson, writing in Socialist Review, argued that LeVay fails to deal convincingly with evidence showing that people cannot be easily divided into categories such as homosexual and heterosexual, that in his evaluation of the biological evidence LeVay sometimes relies on studies with inadequate sample sizes, that the studies do not consistently support LeVay's hypothesis, and that LeVay is "too obsessed with his hypothesis to accept that it doesn't work" and was following a misguided strategy to advance the cause of gay rights by showing that homosexuality has a biological basis. Wilson observed that the obvious biological basis of race and gender has not eliminated racism or sexism.[12] Philosopher Michael Ruse praised LeVay's book in The Globe and Mail, writing that it was, "clear and comprehensive, looking at the widest range of research, and very balanced."[13]

Louis Hoffman and Justin Lincoln write that LeVay provides a strong argument "for biological influences on sexual orientation", but found his case that homosexuality stems partially from the "influence of prenatal hormones that feminize development" to be "convoluted". They also argue that LeVay implicitly endorses conversion therapy, criticizing his comment that, "at least a few highly motivated gay people can be helped to engage in and derive some degree of pleasure from heterosexual relationships, and to pay less attention to their homosexual feelings."[14] Psychologist Stanton L. Jones writes that Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why is one of numerous recent books whose authors argue that homosexuality has a biological basis, an argument that dominates "popular media" and "journalistic presentations". Jones rejects LeVay's claim that environmental and psychological variables have no causal influence on sexual orientation, writing that LeVay does not discuss evidence for "psychosocial contributors".[15] In 2012, Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why received the Bullough Book Award for the most distinguished book written for the professional sexological community published in a given year.[16]

Sex advice columnist and gay rights activist Dan Savage praised Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why.[17]

References

Bibliography

Books
  • LeVay, Simon (2012). Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-993158-3. 
  • Savage, Dan (2014). American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics. New York: Plume. ISBN 978-0142181003. 
Journals
Online articles

External links

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