Sexual curiosity at school age
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Kinsey Institute paid great attention to research on the topic of sexual orientation. The Institute's employees, Alan Bell, Martin S. Weinberg, and Sue Kiefer Hammersmith, studied the prerequisites and ways of forming sexual orientation. The researchers interviewed 979 homosexuals of both sexes and members of a control sample consisting of 477 heterosexual men and women. When analyzing the differences between these two groups, the potential influence of age, education level, and social status was taken into account. The conclusions obtained after statistical processing of the data obtained were set out by them in a book, a fragment of which is given below. The study by Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith was the first attempt to scientifically test a number of theories (many of which ultimately turned out to be untenable) and is recognized as one of the exemplary works on the problem of sexual orientation.
The main significance of this study is that it does not confirm many traditional views on the causes and formation of homosexuality. For example, contrary to generally accepted psychodynamic theories, according to which it was believed that the cause of homosexuality is certain types of relationships with parents or the presence of certain traits in them, we found that the role of fathers in the formation of the sexual orientation of their sons is greatly exaggerated. Linear analysis clearly showed, for example, the failure of the traditional psychoanalytic model that explains male homosexuality by the dominance of the mother and the weakness and passivity of the father. The results suggest that boys who had a dominant mother and a weak father have almost the same chances of becoming homosexual as they would have if they had grown up in an "ideal" family environment. Similarly, the study does not confirm the view that homosexuality is a reflection of an unresolved Oedipus conflict experienced by the boy in childhood. The data show that the connection between boys' relationships with their mothers and their homosexual or heterosexual orientations is hardly worth mentioning.
Girls' relationships with their fathers seem to have a slightly greater influence than boys' relationships - perhaps due to the tendency of girls to spend their free time and play at home. However, there is no evidence that homosexual women in childhood "win" the Oedipus conflict - that is, they clearly encroach on their mother's rights by winning the favor of their parents. The hypothesis accepted in some psychological theories that such girls choose their fathers as role models has also not been confirmed.
In light of the results, the view that cold and alienated parents can exert an influence on children, especially sons, that inclines them to homosexuality seems more likely. However, this influence is also apparently greatly overestimated in the psychoanalytic literature. Although parental coldness was indirectly related to the sexual preferences of the male participants in the study, this factor is at the very beginning of a complex chain, so its influence depends entirely on other factors that come into play later. Similarly, although poor father-son relationships were associated with the development of homosexual orientation in our male respondents, this connection was again insignificant; such relationships affect sexual preferences only if they are the cause of a number of additional significant circumstances.
The sociological theoretical model that explains homosexuality in terms of poor peer relationships also needs to be revised. We found that our male and female homosexual respondents, compared with heterosexuals, did tend to grow up less involved in and less accepted by their peers. However, linear analysis shows that the correlations between peer relationships and homosexuality do not very convincingly confirm the proposed theoretical model. For male respondents, this correlation was false and was explained by the greater gender nonconformity of homosexual men. It has been shown that in women, social isolation from peers is, at least to some extent, due to gender nonconformity. Unlike in men, in women such isolation obviously plays some role in reinforcing the partner that forms homosexuality. However, it has been shown that isolation from peers has a much less significant effect on the formation of homosexuality than was once assumed.
The sociological view that homosexuality is often caused by the accidental labeling of a child by others is not supported by the results. As noted earlier, homosexual men and women were more likely than heterosexuals to report being labeled as "homosexual" or "sexually unusual" in childhood and adolescence. However, the biographical data of the respondents and the linear analysis showed that this differential labeling is more likely a consequence of the homosexual orientation that was being formed, rather than its primary or even secondary cause.
Moreover, atypical sexual experiences with members of the opposite sex are also clearly not a cause of homosexuality. For example, homosexual respondents reported that they had as many opportunities to engage in heterosexual contact as heterosexual respondents. Negative experiences such as rape or punishment from parents for sexual play with children of the opposite sex were no more common among them than among heterosexuals. Although such experiences can be very traumatic for a person, they cannot be considered a significant factor in attracting many young people to homosexuality. In addition, among the respondents who reported that they had "seductive" parents of the opposite sex (it is believed that the experiences associated with this can "confound children" and interfere with "normal" heterosexual development), there were no more homosexuals than heterosexuals.
Finally, the popular stereotype that homosexuality is caused by a boy being "seduced" by a man or a girl being "seduced" by a woman is also not supported by the data...
Based on the data, the following conclusions were drawn:
1. The sexual preferences of boys and girls tend to be formed before they reach adolescence, even if they do not yet show much sexual activity.
Many refuse to recognize the importance of adolescent sexuality and tend to believe that sexuality is formed only in adulthood. As a result, it is lost sight of how deeply individual sexual partners are apparently rooted and how important a part of a person's identity they can be long before they take the form of specifically sexual contact.
Linear models describing the formation of sexual orientation made it possible to explain 76% of the differences between the sexual orientations of adult men and women who participated in the study. (The multiple correlation coefficient K = 0.87 for each group.) As we have already noted, this is an extremely high value - so high that we are forced to consider adult homosexuality simply as a continuation of the previous homosexual feelings and behavior from which it can be so successfully predicted. In other words, the data show that childhood and adolescent homosexuality, and especially pronounced homosexual feelings, cannot be considered simply a passing fascination through which every child passes at some point. On the contrary, in most cases this tendency is persistent and has such deep roots that, as a rule, it persists in adult life in the form of a permanent homosexual orientation.
In fact, the connection between childhood and adolescence sexual feelings and experiences and adult sexual preferences is so strong that the orientation of childhood and adolescence sexual feelings and experiences is usually an integral part of the very sexual preferences whose causes we wish to explain. Thus, although from a methodological point of view in the study of sexual partner formation it is necessary - within the framework of a theoretical model - to consider adolescent sexuality and adult orientation as separate variables, it should not be forgotten that these variables are basically simply estimates of the same phenomenon at different points in time.
The study suggests that there is a close connection between a person's childhood and adolescence sexual feelings (and to a lesser extent, behavior) and his/her sexual preferences in the post-pubertal period. This result can be interpreted in at least two different ways: one can interpret this extremely close connection between homosexual partners in childhood and adolescence and adult homosexual orientation as reflecting the exceptionally strong effect of some kind of conditioning that "pulls" people towards homosexuality. Situations that cause homosexual arousal make a person feel sexually different from everyone else, or involve genital homosexual contact, giving a boy or girl the opportunity to "learn" homosexual reactions. Or one can interpret the results as simply reflecting a deep-seated internal predisposition towards homosexuality or heterosexuality that begins to form as a person grows up and then persists into adulthood. This means that the child has a tendency towards homosexuality or heterosexuality, and in childhood and adolescence this basic sexual orientation begins to become apparent. Linear models do not allow us to find out which of these interpretations is more credible or applicable to a larger number of people. It is possible that each interpretation describes one of the ways in which some people come to homosexuality.
2. The sign or reinforcement of homosexuality in the respondents was sexual feelings, which, as a rule, appeared about three years before the onset of overt homosexual activity, and it is obvious that it was these feelings, to a greater extent than homosexual activity, that played a decisive role in the formation of adult homosexuality.
The linear models for men and women include variables characterizing both homosexual feelings and homosexual behavior. Of all these variables, the most significant influence on sexual preferences in adulthood is exerted by variables related to feelings.
Respondents who reported that they had experienced homosexual feelings in childhood or adolescence had their first experience of these feelings at about the age of 13 (for males) or 16 (for females). On the other hand, at this time they had not yet shown any overt homosexual activity, such as mutual masturbation or oral-genital contact; most respondents, both men and women, reported that the time between the onset of specific feelings and the first experience of this kind was from two to four years. It is therefore clear that for most homosexual respondents such activity was simply a reflection of a tendency that had already manifested itself in their sexual feelings, and not the cause of these feelings. Thus, it seems that, as a rule, homosexual feelings play a more important role in the formation of homosexual orientation than homosexual behavior.
3. In childhood and adolescence, homosexual men and women who participated in the study, as a rule, had heterosexual experience. However, unlike heterosexual respondents, they reported that this experience did not bring them pleasure.
The linear models for men and women do not include variables related to heterosexual activity or its absence. This does not mean that our homosexual respondents were deprived of such experience; rather, it means that heterosexual contacts gave them less pleasure than heterosexual respondents. In any case, homosexual feelings and experiences in childhood and adolescence are a more reliable predictor of homosexuality than heterosexual feelings and experiences in childhood and adolescence.
4. A strong link was found between gender nonconformity and the development of homosexuality in both men and women who participated in the study.
In male respondents, gender nonconformity significantly increases the likelihood of homosexual feelings and behavior in childhood and adolescence, as well as in adulthood. In women, it similarly increases the likelihood of homosexual feelings in childhood and homosexual feelings and behavior in adolescence and adulthood.
This does not mean that in childhood and adolescence all homosexual respondents demonstrated atypical gender traits or interests. Approximately half of homosexual men appear to be typically "masculine", both in the content of personal identity and in the nature of their interests and activities (and almost a quarter of heterosexual men turned out to be non-conforming in these relationships). Similarly, only about a fifth of lesbians and a third of heterosexual women had a high level of "femininity" during the growing up period. Thus, although gender non-conformity is clearly one aspect of the formation of homosexuality in many respondents, it is by no means a characteristic common to all homosexuals, and conversely, gender non-conformity is not a sign of inevitable homosexuality in the future. However, the results show that a child's manifestation of gender nonconformity greatly increases the likelihood that he will become homosexual, regardless of his family circumstances and regardless of the degree of his identification with each of his parents.
5. The respondents' identification with parents of the opposite sex during the growing up period did not have a significant impact on the formation of their homosexual or heterosexual orientation.
In other words, the identification of men with their mothers did not play a noticeable role in determining their sexual orientation, just as the identification of women with their fathers did not play a significant role in determining their sexual orientation. Identification with fathers did not cause greater gender nonconformity among homosexual respondents; in fact, homosexual men identified with their mothers no more, and homosexual women identified with their fathers less, than the heterosexual respondents with whom they were compared.
6. The identification of both sexes with their own-sex fathers was relatively weakly related to the formation of their sexual orientation.
(Of course, the association between identification with parents and sexual preferences in the postpubertal period could be due to one untested possibility: that identification with parents may reflect sexual preferences rather than influence them.) The overall effect of identification with parents was relatively weak compared with the effects of the variables discussed above; it was certainly smaller than predicted by theories that portray homosexuality as a failure to identify with and follow the role model of the same-sex father.
7. The poor relationships of male and female respondents with their fathers apparently played a more important role than any relationships with their mothers.
It was found that, in general, negative relationships of homosexual men with their fathers and lesbians' perception of their fathers as alienating, hostile, rejecting and frightening were associated with a rather weak, but direct relationship with gender role nonconformity, as well as with the sexual elements of their development. Conversely, men's close relationships with their mothers and women's unfavorable relationships with their mothers had practically no effect on their sexual orientation in adulthood. The nature of the connection between homosexuality and relationships with the father remains unclear - it may be that bad relationships attract a son or daughter to homosexuality, or that sons and daughters who have unusual sexual inclinations have particular difficulty maintaining good relationships with their fathers.
8. To the extent that we can detect differences between male and female psychosexual development, gender nonconformity seems to be more significant for men than for women, and family relationships seem to be more significant for women than for men.
This finding would be consistent with general sociological theories. First, it is often assumed that men have to prove or earn the right to be called "masculine," while for women, "femininity" is more of an ascribed status that is not questioned until it is confirmed by the behavior of a girl. In other words, boys have to actively act to show that they are indeed masculine, while girls can actively demonstrate that they are not feminine. Therefore, feelings of gender nonconformity may arise more easily in boys and mean more to them than to girls. Second, as we noted earlier, girls tend to be more "homebound" than boys. It seems reasonable to assume that they are more susceptible to the influence of one type or another in the family.
Thus, the results suggest that some of the popular ideas about the formation of homosexuality are simply untenable, while others are true, but to a lesser extent than previously thought. One reason why many theories have been found to be poorly supported by the data may be that these theories portray homosexuality as a relatively superficial phenomenon. For example, some sociologists attribute homosexuality to "opportunity blocking," thinking that people become homosexual because heterosexual partners are unavailable to them. But if heterosexuality is so deeply rooted that it is considered a "natural" behavior, how can people so easily abandon it under the influence of such social circumstances? The results show that homosexuality has as deep roots as heterosexuality, so that the differences in behavior or social experience between boys and girls who later become homosexual and their peers who later become heterosexual are more likely to reflect or express their future homosexual preferences than to be their cause. Theories that link homosexuality exclusively to social experience can satisfactorily explain such a fundamental part of the human being as sexual orientation.
Causes of homosexuality
Certain circumstances can cause a tendency towards certain states, which in turn can initiate a third phenomenon, and this sequence ultimately leads to the formation of homosexual preferences. But the process can stop at any link in this chain. For example, the linear model for males shows that if a boy identifies weakly with his father, he is more likely to dislike traditional boyish activities, to develop homosexual tendencies, and to have a homosexual orientation in adulthood. But such an outcome is not inevitable. A boy who, for whatever reason, identifies weakly with his father may well enjoy normal boyish activities and still perceive himself as "normally" masculine; metaphorically speaking, such a boy will get off the train at the "Identification" station and not reach the final destination called "Homosexuality." Another boy may engage in genital homosexual play in childhood, but stop doing so in adolescence and may later become a heterosexual adult. All differences in sexual orientation are partly explained by the fact that such "breaks" in the chain can occur. Another reason, of course, is that some people do not go through this sequence at all, so linear models say nothing about how they developed their homosexual orientation. (For example, some individuals become homosexual in adulthood without the previous homosexual feelings and behavior in childhood and adolescence depicted in the developmental model.) However, linear models show what developmental factors are associated with respondents' sexual preferences, and how these factors are related to each other.
What parents can do to influence their children's sexual preferences (and whether these preferences depend on them), we formulate the results a little differently. Based on the results, we cannot single out any single factor in family life that would have a particularly large impact on the formation of homosexual or heterosexual orientation. You can give your sons soccer balls and your daughters dolls, but there is no guarantee that they will like your gifts. But we have apparently been able to identify—provided that the model is applicable only to existing theories and does not claim to create new ones—partner feelings and child reactions that are not due to any single social or psychological cause; in fact, the cause of homosexuality may be some biological factor (such as left-handedness and allergies) that the parents cannot eliminate.
In short, we can recommend nothing to parents concerned about this issue, except that children should be cared for, loved, and tried to understand, which good parents probably do without our advice.
As we have repeatedly noted, it is impossible to stop studying the data and stop there. There is no reason to believe that all homosexuals in each sample are so similar that the same model fits them equally well. Perhaps we can divide homosexual respondents into several different groups according to the peculiarities of their developmental histories and as a result find that homosexuality has many different causes. In fact, some of the homosexual respondents may have differed from heterosexuals in some characteristics in which others did not differ, so in the preliminary comparative analysis the tendency of one particular group of homosexuals to differ from heterosexuals may have gone unnoticed due to the absence of these distinctive features in the bulk of homosexuals.
Sexual curiosity at school age
Sexual curiosity, the manifestation of interest in various aspects of sexuality: the structure of the genitals in men and women, the process of childbirth and the role of father and mother, talking about sexual topics, reading appropriate literature, including erotic literature, viewing pictures and drawings depicting naked people and sexual relations, etc. At the age of 2-5, when the child begins to realize his gender, he shows interest in sexual characteristics, devoid of any erotic coloring.
Interest in sexual differences is characteristic of almost all healthy children and contributes to the formation of sexual self-awareness. In preschool age, some children engage in masturbation, which is associated with premature sexual development, brain dysfunctions, helminthiasis (irritation of the genitals by worms), skin itching, emotional discomfort that occurs in a child with disturbed relationships in the family, etc. Sexual curiosity in such children can acquire a sexual coloring.
During puberty, adolescents are characterized by the so-called youthful hypersexuality. Their sexual curiosity increases sharply and is accompanied by frequent sexual arousal with erections, masturbation, and later attempts to engage in sexual intimacy in any suitable situation. In teenage girls, sexual curiosity is often completely satisfied by acquaintance with erotic literature, discussion of problems of relationships between articles in a circle of friends, friendly relations with a young man they like. Moreover, at the age of 13 - 17, sexual tension in them is relatively low, so the girl herself does not strive for physical intimacy, although out of curiosity she may succumb to the persistent agreements of her boyfriend.
Conscious interest in the sensual side of love relationships usually arises with the beginning of regular sexual life, as a woman accumulates sexual experience. In adulthood (the stage of mature sexuality), sexual curiosity is not only sexually sensual, but also morally and ethically. It is characteristic to one degree or another of almost all healthy men, most women and depends on the expressiveness of sexual desire. In women with weak sexual arousal, sexual curiosity may be practically absent, and interest in the opposite sex is more of a mental nature than a sexual one.
In some cases, sexual curiosity in adolescents and adults is pathologically increased. This occurs in men who are timid, shy, very cautious, who have psychopathic character traits that sharply complicate contacts with women, as a result of which their sexual life is often limited to sexual fantasies and masturbation. A similar phenomenon occurs in women with preserved libido, who have severe developmental defects or chronic diseases, when the possibility of a normal sexual life is sharply limited or absent. In both cases, the increased interest in the intimate side of people's lives is compensatory (substitute) in nature and is associated with the inability to adequately realize their own sexual needs.