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Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation
Cover of the first edition
AuthorSimon LeVay
Cover artistScott Camazine
LanguageEnglish
SubjectSexual orientation
PublisherOxford University Press
Publication date
2011
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages412 (first edition)
246 (second edition)
ISBN978-0-19-973767-3 (hardback)
978-0-19-993158-3 (paperback)

Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation (2011; second edition 2016) is a book by the neuroscientist Simon LeVay, in which the author attempts to develop a scientific theory to explain sexual orientation, and discusses scientific research on the topic. The book was published by Oxford University Press. LeVay maintains that research suggests that homosexuality and heterosexuality are products of the interactions between sex hormones and the developing brain, which predispose people's minds toward masculinity or femininity. He argues that sexual orientation should be understood as an aspect of gender that emerges from the prenatal sexual differentiation of the brain, and criticizes psychoanalytic and behaviorist explanations of sexual orientation.

The book received mainly positive reviews, praising it for LeVay's wide-ranging overview of scientific research on sexual orientation. However, it was also criticized for his willingness to rely on studies with inadequate sample sizes. 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

Simon LeVay

LeVay discusses scientific research on sexual orientation conducted since his 1991 study of the hypothalamus. He writes 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 understood 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 the biologist 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.[1]

Sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. LeVay criticizes Kinsey's focus on sexual behavior.

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 the psychiatrist Robert Spitzer identified two hundred people who claimed that it helped them to make a significant shift from homosexuality to heterosexuality. LeVay interprets the 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 criticizes the views of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. He writes that statistical studies support 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, he is skeptical of Freud's claim that the behavior of parents influences the future sexual orientation of their children, writing that while psychoanalytic theories about homosexuality have not been proven wrong, they are implausible. 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.[2]

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. LeVay criticizes Freud's theories about homosexuality.

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 the anthropologist Gilbert Herdt's work on the Sambia, and studies of British boarding schools. He criticized the sexologist John Money, who maintained that sexual orientation develops as part of a process of gender learning, with reference 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. 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, and that there are several similar cases conflicting with Money's learning theory of sexual orientation.[3]

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, the economist Edward M. Miller's 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 has provided supporting evidence.[4]

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. The 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."[5]

For the second edition, LeVay added a new chapter dealing with aspects of sexuality and gender such as bisexuality, asexuality, attraction to different age groups, "butch" and "femme" behavior, preferences for different sexual roles or positions, and transsexualism.[6]

Publication history

Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why was first published by Oxford University Press in 2011. The book was published as an Oxford University Press Paperback in 2012. In 2017, a second edition was published.[7]

Reception

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.[8] The book received positive reviews from the journalist Schuyler Velasco in Salon,[9] the journalist Deborah Blum in New Scientist,[10] the journalist Terri Schlichenmeyer in Dallas Voice,[11] the psychologist Richard Lippa in Sex Roles,[12] the philosopher Michael Ruse in The Globe and Mail,[13] the nurse Drew Payne in Nursing Standard,[14] and from Publishers Weekly.[15] The book received mixed reviews from the sociologist David Woolwine in GLBTRT Newsletter and the psychologist Stanton L. Jones in Christian Scholar's Review.[16][17] The book was also reviewed by the author Robert Leleux in The Texas Observer,[18] W. P. Anderson in Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries,[19] and by Kirkus Reviews.[20]

Velasco called the book "a comprehensive, engaging and occasionally quite funny look at the current state of the research."[9] Blum called it "rational, smart and compassionate", but also suggested that it showed that scientific understanding of sexual orientation had advanced less than might be hoped since LeVay's 1991 hypothalamus study. Blum noted that many of the most influential studies LeVay cited were from previous decades, and wrote that "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 fact that there were relatively few notable recent findings could in part be the result of a lack of political willingness to fund sex research.[10] Schlichenmeyer wrote that the book was "intriguing" and made "sense on several levels", but that it was also overcomplicated and technical.[11] Lippa called the book "an excellent review" of scientific research on sexual orientation and "fair-minded, and easy-to-read".[12] Ruse wrote that the book was, "clear and comprehensive, looking at the widest range of research, and very balanced."[13] Payne credited LeVay with critically examining all theories of sexual orientation.[14] Publishers Weekly commented that, "The nature vs. nurture wars over the development of homosexuality have been pretty definitively decided in favor of nature", and described Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why as the most comprehensive recent book about its topic. The review concluded that, "LeVay comes close at times to dry recitation of research results, but although the book's chief appeal probably will be to professionals dealing with these issues, other interested readers will find it an informative and generally approachable read."[15]

Woolwine wrote that those who considered gender primarily a social construct would dislike the book, and that LeVay relied on studies that were open to many objections, such as the small size of their samples. However, he considered the book necessary to bring together the information from such studies.[16] Jones called the book "the latest and most effective among the growing corpus of books and articles arguing for an exclusively biological explanation of sexual orientation", writing that it showed LeVay's "brilliance", "scientific acumen", and "exceptional capacity for the integration of an enormous array of scientific findings." He credited LeVay with "sophistication in outlining the nature of sexual orientation". However, he wrote that LeVay's claim that if one of a pair of monozygotic twins is gay, the other is roughly fifty per cent likely to be gay as well is incorrect, and that research that LeVay himself cites shows that the actual odds are much smaller. He noted that discovering such mistakes undermined his confidence in LeVay's work in general. He accused LeVay of having a tendency to employ "creative" arguments to explain away findings inconsistent with his theory, criticizing the methodology only of studies that disagreed with him, and of wrongly implying that sexual orientation must be caused either only by biological factors or only by environmental factors, failing to suggest ways in which the two factors could interact. He rejected LeVay's claim that there is no evidence environmental factors influence sexual orientation, writing that "examples abound" of significant sociocultural influence, and argued that LeVay sometimes employed studies with dubiously representative samples despite his awareness of the problems involved in doing so.[17]

Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why also received criticism from the psychiatrist Vernon Rosario and from the psychologists Louis Hoffman and Justin Lincoln.[21][22] Rosario described the book as a "rehashing" of LeVay's Queer Science (1996), though he credited LeVay with providing updated information about recent research on genetics and anthropometrics. He compared some of the research projects LeVay described, such as those that involved attempts to correlate the ratio of various finger lengths to sexual orientation, to Victorian anthropometry.[21] Hoffman and Lincoln accepted that LeVay provided 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 argued that LeVay implicitly endorses conversion therapy, criticizing his view that some highly motivated gay people can be helped to engage in heterosexual relationships, and to "pay less attention to their homosexual feelings."[22]

References

  1. ^ LeVay 2012, pp. x–xii, XVII, 1, 2.
  2. ^ LeVay 2012, pp. 12–13, 30–31, 33.
  3. ^ LeVay 2012, pp. 33, 35, 38–39.
  4. ^ LeVay 2012, pp. 131–132, 179–181, 186–189.
  5. ^ LeVay 2012, pp. 198–199, 273.
  6. ^ LeVay 2017, pp. vii–viii.
  7. ^ LeVay 2017, p. iv.
  8. ^ LeVay 2013.
  9. ^ a b Velasco 2010.
  10. ^ a b Blum 2010, p. 53.
  11. ^ a b Schlichenmeyer 2010.
  12. ^ a b Lippa 2011, pp. 442–443.
  13. ^ a b Ruse 2012.
  14. ^ a b Payne 2013, p. 29.
  15. ^ a b Publishers Weekly 2010, pp. 40–41.
  16. ^ a b Woolwine 2011, p. 9.
  17. ^ a b Jones 2012, pp. 214–217.
  18. ^ Leleux 2010, pp. 16–17.
  19. ^ Anderson 2011, p. 1576.
  20. ^ Kirkus Reviews 2010, p. 7.
  21. ^ a b Rosario 2011, pp. 9–13.
  22. ^ a b Hoffman & Lincoln 2011.

Bibliography

Books
Journals
  • Anderson, W. P. (2011). "Gay, straight, and the reason why: the science of sexual orientation". Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 48 (8). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Blum, Deborah (2010). "Gay: born or made?". New Scientist. 208 (2784). doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(10)62703-0. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Jones, Stanton L. (2012). "Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation". Christian Scholar's Review. 41 (2). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Leleux, Robert (2010). "Driving While Gay". The Texas Observer. 102 (17). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Lippa, Richard (2011). "A New Look at the Causes and Correlates of Sexual Orientation". Sex Roles. 65 (5/6). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Payne, Drew (2013). "Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why - The Science of Sexual Orientation". Nursing Standard. 27 (41). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Rosario, Vernon (2011). "Of Genes, Genitals, and Gender". The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide. 18 (4). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Woolwine, David (2011). "Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation". GLBTRT Newsletter: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgendered Round Table. 23 (1). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • "Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation". Kirkus Reviews. 78 (18). 2010.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • "Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation". Publishers Weekly. 257 (31). 2010.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
Online articles
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