Femininity and Fertility in Sisters with Twin Brothers: Prenatal Androgenization? Cross-Sex Socialization?

Are sisters of twin brothers behaviorally or physiologically masculinized? Prenatal exposure to their brothers' androgens and postnatal socialization experiences unique to girls growing up with twin brothers might influence their attitudes, pubertal development, and reproductive histories. To investigate, we studied age- and cohort-matched samples of Finnish sisters from same-sex and opposite-sex twin pairs. Using data from two ongoing longitudinal studies of consecutive birth cohorts of Finnish twins, we assessed pubertal development at ages 11 and 14 and endorsement of attitudes associated with femininity at age 16. We also studied fertility in Finnish women from same- and opposite-sex twin pairs born from 1958 through 1971, obtaining information on their child-bearing histories when they were ages 15 to 28. Results of each comparison were unambiguously negative: There was no evidence of differences between sisters from same- and opposite-sex twin pairs, and thus, no evidence of either androgenization or cross-sex socialization.

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Cohort Increases in Sex with Same-Sex Partners: Do Trends Vary by Gender, Race, and Class?

Gender & Society ◽

10.1177/0891243219897062 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 178-209 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Emma Mishel ◽

Paula England ◽

Jessie Ford ◽

Mónica L. Caudillo

Keyword(s):

White Men ◽

Mass Incarceration ◽

Sex Partners ◽

Birth Cohorts ◽

Same Sex ◽

Men And Women ◽

Social Surveys ◽

Race And Class ◽

Lower Socioeconomic ◽

Using Data

We examine change across U.S. cohorts born between 1920 and 2000 in their probability of having had sex with same-sex partners in the last year and since age 18. Using data from the 1988–2018 General Social Surveys, we explore how trends differ by gender, race, and class background. We find steep increases across birth cohorts in the proportion of women who have had sex with both men and women since age 18, whereas increases for men are less steep. We suggest that the trends reflect an increasingly accepting social climate, and that women’s steeper trend is rooted in a long-term asymmetry in gender change, in which nonconformity to gender norms is more acceptable for women than men. We also find evidence that, among men, the increase in having had sex with both men and women was steeper for black than for white men, and for men of lower socioeconomic status; we speculate that the rise of mass incarceration among less privileged men may have influenced this trend.

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Comparing Violence Over the Life Span in Samples of Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Cohabitants

Violence and Victims ◽

10.1891/0886-6708.14.4.413 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 413-425 ◽

Cited By ~ 161

Author(s):

Patricia Tjaden ◽

Nancy Thoennes ◽

Christine J. Allison

Keyword(s):

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Heterosexual Couples ◽

Same Sex ◽

Male Couples ◽

History Of ◽

Opposite Sex ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Using Data

Using data from a nationally representative telephone survey that was conducted from November 1995 to May 1996, this study compares lifetime experiences with violent victimization among men and women with a history of same-sex cohabitation and their counterparts with a history of marriage and/or opposite-sex cohabitation only. The study found that respondents who had lived with a same-sex intimate partner were significantly more likely than respondents who had married or lived with an opposite-sex partner only to have been: (a) raped as minors and adults; (b) physically assaulted as children by adult caretakers; and (c) physically assaulted as adults by all types of perpetrators, including intimate partners. The study also confirms previous reports that intimate partner violence is more prevalent among gay male couples than heterosexual couples. However, it contradicts reports that intimate partner violence is more prevalent among lesbian couples than heterosexual couples. Overall study findings suggest that intimate partner violence is perpetrated primarily by men, whether against same-sex or opposite-sex partners.

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Compatibility and Conflict: Negotiation of Relationships by Dizygotic Same-Sex Twin Girls

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1375/twin.9.1.103 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 103-112 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Susan Danby ◽

Karen Thorpe

Keyword(s):

Pictorial Representation ◽

Social Worlds ◽

Same Sex ◽

Self Presentation ◽

Conflict Negotiation ◽

The Everyday ◽

Opposite Sex ◽

Twin Children ◽

Using Data ◽

Relationship Of

AbstractThis article conceptualizes the child as having active agency in the constructions of their social worlds, and reports on a study that understands the twin experiences from the perspectives of the twins. It examines how twins account for their relationships with their co-twins. The study drew on accounts of 60 twin children — 10 monozygotic (MZ), 10 dizygotic (DZ) same-sex, 10 DZ opposite-sex pairs — aged 5 to 10 years and their parent (n = 30). The children engaged in a sticker activity in which they represented their friendships, including their friendship with their co-twin. Using the task as a resource, the children were asked about their friends, the attributes of friendship and examples of everyday friendships encounters. These were audio-recorded and transcribed. Further, parents completed a questionnaire that provided demographic information and asked parents about the children's social experiences including twin children's time spent together, shared interests and their co-twin relationship. Using data from the pictorial representation from the sticker task and parent questionnaires, differences in relationship between MZ, DZ same-sex and DZ opposite-sex twins were examined and used to select a smaller sample for detailed study. DZ same-sex twins tended to view their co-twin less favorably and there was a nonsignificant trend in which conflict was elevated, compared to the other two groups. Based on these findings, the transcripts selected for analysis focuses on the DZ same-sex girls. The girls reported that they had differences of thought, activity and self-presentation. Conflict, competition and challenge as types of social interaction were described, suggesting that the everyday relationship of the twin with her co-twin is always being negotiated and realigned. Evident here is the complexity of social interactions in which the twins engaged everyday with each other.

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Genetic Etiology of Reading Difficulties in Boys and Girls

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1375/twin.8.6.594 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 8 (6) ◽

pp. 594-601 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Sally J. Wadsworth ◽

John C. DeFries

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Reading Difficulties ◽

Model Fitting ◽

Genetic Influences ◽

Same Sex ◽

Genetic Etiology ◽

Opposite Sex ◽

The Difference ◽

Current Sample ◽

Using Data

AbstractAlthough it has been suggested that genetic influences on reading difficulties may differ in boys and girls, results obtained from previous analyses of data from same-sex twin pairs have failed to provide evidence for a differential genetic etiology of reading disability (RD) as a function of gender. However, results of a recent study in which data from both same-sex and opposite-sex twin pairs were analyzed indicated a higher heritability for reading difficulties in boys (Harlaar et al., 2005). Because the current sample of twin pairs tested in the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center is substantially larger than that analyzed for our previous report (Wadsworth et al., 2000), this hypothesis was tested more rigorously using data from both same-sex and opposite-sex twin pairs in our current augmented sample. Composite reading scores from 634 twin pairs were subjected to DeFries–Fulker sex-limitation analysis using the model-fitting approach of Purcell and Sham (2003). Analysis of data from the combined sample of male and female twins indicated that genetic influences account for more than half the proband reading deficit (h2g = .58). When this model was extended to test for gender differences in the magnitude of genetic influences on RD, h2g estimates were somewhat higher for females than for males (.63 and .53, respectively), but the difference was nonsignificant (p > .3). A test for qualitative gender differences was also nonsignificant. Thus, these results provide little evidence for a differential genetic etiology of RD in boys and girls.

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Challenging Heteronormativity: An Analysis of the Effect of Sexual Orientation on Earnings in Spain

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/0192513x21993184 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0192513X2199318

Author(s):

M. José González ◽

İbrahim Sönmez

Keyword(s):

Human Capital ◽

Sexual Orientation ◽

Gay Men ◽

Social Acceptance ◽

Same Sex ◽

Wage Differences ◽

Same Sex Couples ◽

Opposite Sex ◽

Using Data ◽

High Degree

Using data from the Spanish Labor Force Survey between 2006 and 2018, we explore whether sexual orientation causes wage differences for partnered women and men in Spain. The study confirms that men in same-sex couples significantly earn less than men in opposite-sex couples, confirming our hypothesis for the “hegemonic masculinity premium.” Women in same-sex couples also outearn women in opposite-sex couples, but this effect disappears after controlling for differences in human capital characteristics. Despite the high degree of social acceptance of homosexuality in Spain, partnered gay men are not able to avoid the negative earnings effects of discrimination in the labor market.

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Prenatal exposure to testosterone and functional cerebral lateralization: a study in same-sex and opposite-sex twin girls

Psychoneuroendocrinology ◽

10.1016/j.psyneuen.2003.07.001 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 29 (7) ◽

pp. 911-916 ◽

Cited By ~ 74

Author(s):

Celina C.C. Cohen-Bendahan ◽

Jan K. Buitelaar ◽

Stephanie H.M. van Goozen ◽

Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis

Keyword(s):

Prenatal Exposure ◽

Same Sex ◽

Cerebral Lateralization ◽

Opposite Sex

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Coffee and Smoking as Risk Factors of Twin Pregnancies: The Danish National Birth Cohort

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1375/twin.10.4.597 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 597-603 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Maria M. Morales-Suárez-Varela ◽

Bodil Hammer Bech ◽

Kaare Christensen ◽

Jorn Olsen

Keyword(s):

Birth Cohort ◽

Alcohol Intake ◽

Same Sex ◽

Coffee Intake ◽

Danish National Birth Cohort ◽

Prepregnancy Weight ◽

Opposite Sex ◽

Mother’S Age ◽

Using Data ◽

Twin Pregnancies

AbstractTwinning rates have changed substantially over time for reasons that are only partly known. In this study we studied smoking, coffee and alcohol intake, and their possible interaction with obesity as potential determinants of twinning rates using data from the Danish National Birth Cohort between 1996 and 2002. We identified 82,985 pregnancies: 81,954 singleton and 1031 twins. For the twins we had data to classify 121 as monozygotic, 189 dizygotic (same sex), 313 dizygotic (opposite sex) but, 408 were of the same sex but with unknown zygosity. All mothers were interviewed about their prepregnancy weight and height, coffee and alcohol intake, smoking habits, and potential confounding factors at early stages of pregnancy. We identified smoking (> 10 cigarettes/day) as a possible determinant of twinning, particularly for dizygotic twinning rates (same sex) and furthermore corroborated that obesity and the mother's age are strong correlates of twinning. Others have found coffee intake to increase twinning rates but that is not seen in these data.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Anorexia and bulimia nervosa in same-sex and opposite-sex twins: lack of association with twin type in a nationwide study of Finnish twins.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.1145019.604064 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Guido Frank

Keyword(s):

Bulimia Nervosa ◽

Same Sex ◽

Nationwide Study ◽

Opposite Sex

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Attitudinal Change, Cohort Replacement, and the Liberalization of Attitudes about Same-sex Relationships, 1973–2018

Sociological Perspectives ◽

10.1177/0731121421994858 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 073112142199485

Author(s):

Ashley Wendell Kranjac ◽

Robert L. Wagmiller

Keyword(s):

Social Change ◽

General Social Survey ◽

Individual Change ◽

Same Sex ◽

Social Survey ◽

Same Sex Marriage ◽

Population Turnover ◽

Demographic Processes ◽

Lesbian And Gay Rights ◽

Using Data

Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex relationships have liberalized considerably over the last 40 years. We examine how the demographic processes generating social change in attitudes toward same-sex relationships changed over time. Using data from the 1973 to 2018 General Social Survey and decomposition techniques, we estimate the relative contributions of intracohort change and cohort replacement to overall social change for three different periods. We examine (1) the period prior to the rapid increase in attitude liberalization toward same-sex marriage rights (1973–1991), (2) the period of contentious debate about same-sex marriage and lesbian and gay rights (1991–2002), and (3) the period of legislative and judicial liberalization at the state and federal levels (2002–2018). We find that both intracohort and intercohort change played positive and significant roles in the liberalization of attitudes toward same-sex relationships in the postlegalization period, but that individual change was more important than population turnover over this period.

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