Supplemental Material for Pubertal Onset and Anal Sex Role Among Gay Men

AbstractAmong non-human mammals, exposure to androgens during critical periods of development leads to gynephilia (attraction to females), whereas the absence or low levels of prenatal androgens leads to androphilia (attraction to males). However, in humans, retrospective markers of prenatal androgens have only been associated with gynephilia among women, but not with androphilia among men. Here, we asked whether an indirect indication of prenatal androgen exposure, 2D:4D, differs between subsets of gay men delineated by anal sex role (ASR). ASR was used as a proxy for subgroups because ASR groups tend to differ in other measures affected by brain sexual differentiation, such as gender conformity. First, we replicated the finding that gay men with a receptive ASR preference (bottoms) report greater gender nonconformity (GNC) compared to gay men with an insertive ASR preference (tops). We then found that Tops have a lower (male-typical) average right-hand digit ratio than Bottoms, and that among all gay men the right-hand 2D:4D correlated with GNC, indicating that a higher (female-typical) 2D:4D is associated with increased GNC. Differences were found between non-exclusive and exclusive same-sex attraction and GNC, and ASR group differences on digit ratios do not reach significance when all non-heterosexual men are included in the analyses, suggesting greater heterogeneity in the development of non-exclusive same-sex sexual orientations. Overall, results support a role for prenatal androgens, as approximated by digit ratios, in influencing the sexual orientation and GNC of a subset of gay men.

Download Full-text

Age at first anal sex and HIV/STI vulnerability among gay men in Australia

Sexually Transmitted Infections ◽

10.1136/sextrans-2011-050253 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 88 (4) ◽

pp. 252-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Anthony Lyons ◽

Marian Pitts ◽

Jeffrey Grierson ◽

Anthony Smith ◽

Stephen McNally ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gay Men ◽

Anal Sex

Download Full-text

Neuroendocrine Influences on Human Sexuality

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190264086.013.250 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ashlyn Swift-Gallant ◽

S. Marc Breedlove

Keyword(s):

Sexual Orientation ◽

Gay Men ◽

Sexual Partners ◽

Anal Sex ◽

Gender Nonconforming ◽

Androgen Exposure ◽

Prenatal Androgens ◽

Prenatal Androgen Exposure ◽

Prenatal Androgen ◽

Neuroendocrine Factors

While prenatal sex hormones guide the development of sex-typical reproductive structures, they also act on the developing brain, resulting in sex differences in brain and behavior in animal models. Stemming from this literature is the prominent hypothesis that prenatal neuroendocrine factors underlie sex differences in human sexual orientation, to explain why most males have a preference for female sexual partners (gynephilia), whereas most females display a preference for male sexual partners (androphilia). Convergent evidence from experiments of nature and indirect markers of prenatal hormones strongly support a role for prenatal androgens in same-same sexual orientations in women, although this finding is specific to a subset of lesbians who are also gender nonconforming (“butch”). More gender-conforming lesbians (“femmes”) do not show evidence of increased prenatal androgens. The literature has been more mixed for male sexual orientation: some report evidence of low prenatal androgen exposure, while others report evidence of high androgen levels and many other studies find no support for a role of prenatal androgen exposure in the development of androphilia in males. Recent evidence suggests there may be subgroups of gay men who owe their sexual orientation to distinct biodevelopmental mechanisms, which could account for these mixed findings. Although this research is young, it is similar to findings from lesbian populations, because gay men who are more gender nonconforming, and report a preference for receptive anal sex, differ on markers of prenatal development from gay men who are more gender conforming and report a preference for insertive anal sex. This chapter concludes with future research avenues including assessing whether multiple biodevelopmental pathways underlie sexual orientation and whether neuroendocrine factors and other biological mechanisms (e.g., immunology, genetics) interact to promote a same-sex sexual orientation.

Download Full-text

Fluid bodies or bodily fluids

Journal of Language and Sexuality ◽

10.1075/jls.1.2.03ada ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 179-205 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Brian Adams-Thies

Keyword(s):

Communities Of Practice ◽

Gay Men ◽

Real World ◽

The Body ◽

The Self ◽

Anal Sex ◽

The Real ◽

Bodily Fluids ◽

Dichotomous Thinking ◽

A Site

Previous researchers discussing cybersexuality have been fascinated with the body-less-ness of cybersex. They have focused on the textual productions and (re)formations of the self that are allowed in this space independent of the body. Thus, the cyber becomes the space of transformation and fluidity of the self while the ‘real’ becomes the site of the material, concrete and unchanging body. I posit that dichotomous thinking about the cyber and the real and the text and the body produces an errant concept of the body. Cybersex is rarely a disembodied experience. Text-making cannot create itself free from the constraints of linguistic communities of practice in the “real” world. I challenge the notion that cybersexuality is a sexuality without the body and that the body in the ‘real’ world is stable. I focus specifically on how gay men describe the experience of the anus and anal sex as a means to better understand how the body becomes a site for linguistic marking and reference.

Download Full-text