In the modern world, people's sexual orientation often becomes the cause of scandals, as people have begun to openly admit that they are “not like everyone else.” It will be interesting to find out what types of orientation there are, what is considered the norm and what is a deviation, and how it is formed.
Why do some people become homosexual or bisexual?i
Most modern scientists agree that sexual orientation (including homosexuality and bisexuality) is the result of a combination of environmental, emotional, hormonal and biological factors. In other words, there are several factors that contribute to a person's sexual orientation, and these factors may be different for different people.
However, homosexuality and bisexuality cannot arise as a result of upbringing, or because a person once accidentally had sexual experience with someone of the same sex. In addition, homosexuality or bisexuality cannot be considered a psychological illness.
What is gender?
Initially, gender in English grammar meant being classified as feminine or masculine. Sexologist John Money had an unusual patient - the child had a discrepancy between his biological sex and his internal sense of his gender. In 1955, in order to designate the internal state of a person in terms of feeling like a man or a woman, Money used the term gender identity .
To interpret gender as sex would be a big mistake. When we talk about gender, we draw a line between the biological and the psychological. Biological sex is genitals, hormones, DNA... Gender is an internal feeling of gender, positioning oneself in society in a certain way. Gender researchers propose to remove biological grounds from the term “gender” altogether, believing that all differences in behavior, aggression, skills, and areas of activity are a product of the individual’s internal self-determination and social expectations associated with one gender or another.
Let me give you an example. Remember Mr. Rochester's revelations in Jane Eyre about losing the love of his life?
“If a person had a single sheep that was dear to him, like his own child, who ate and drank with him from the same dishes and slept on his chest, and by some accident he killed her, then he could not mourn his there is more criminal oversight than I have.”
These are the gender attitudes of the wealthy social stratum of mid-19th century England: a woman is defenseless, she is a charming pet, her life is completely in the hands of a man. Let's go down to the kitchen and we will see women raised for hard, productive physical labor. If the cook's daughter began to behave like an adorable pet, her mother would quickly and clearly explain to her the seriousness of the mistake.
Society is the same, gender is the same (female); social strata are different, gender stereotypes are different.
Biological sex is contrasting generative characteristics of individuals of the same species or a morphofunctional characteristic of an organism that generalizes all its specifically reproductive characteristics (Ilyin).
Gender is the social sex of a person, a dynamic construct that is realized in interaction and exists outside of biological determinism (Mokhova).
Again:
Gender is a person’s social sex (as opposed to biological), a dynamic construct (can change depending on the individual’s experience, characteristics of society, historical period), which is realized in interaction (reflected in gender performance, manifested in behavior) and exists outside of biological determinism (biology doesn't matter).
Gender also helps to take a fresh look at power relations in society.
Is it possible to change sexual orientation?3
Most experts agree that sexual orientation is still not a choice and therefore cannot be changed.
Homosexuals or bisexuals may hide their sexual orientation and live as heterosexuals to avoid prejudice. Another reason for their secrecy is the desire to avoid their own moral dilemmas in the event that their sexual orientation is incompatible with their personal beliefs.
Sexual orientation: hypotheses about its origin
The modern scientific community has not developed a single hypothesis about how sexual orientation is formed.
They looked everywhere - in genes, studied various parts of the brain, hormonal factors, and, of course, the cultural, social context, early childhood experience and upbringing in general. You can read about all this in any modern encyclopedia. But there is something on which most scientists clearly agree: sexual orientation and sexuality in general are something that is formed at least from early childhood, and the deep foundations of human sexuality are laid in the intrauterine environment.
If we look at the development of the fetus, it turns out that any person in the womb goes through the stage of hermaphroditism: the embryo has the rudiments of both male and female genital organs.
Under the influence of various biochemical factors (including hormones), the embryo eventually acquires the characteristics of one sex or the other. However, this does not happen to everyone - there are also those who, even at birth, do not have a completely definable anatomical sex. The existence of hermaphrodites has been known at all times - just look at some ancient Greek statues.
This phenomenon of intrauterine development allowed some researchers (in particular, Freud, Kinsey, Weiniger) to conclude that a person is basically bisexual, even if his anatomical sex is formed without deviations at the time of birth.
However, later, with the development of sexual consciousness, one of the vectors - attraction to the opposite sex or to one’s own, a specific sexual orientation - begins to dominate, and bisexuality becomes latent, i.e. hidden, unconscious, remains in potential.
The formation of the fetus and the set of internal inclinations with which it will come into this world, not yet recognized by the person himself, are influenced by too many things: the biochemistry of the mother’s body, hereditary (genetic) factors, even the emotional background of the environment in which the pregnancy takes place can influence on the formation of the child’s future sexuality.
But we are not yet able to accurately trace the entire chain of formation of such a complex set of reactions as sexual orientation: after all, an infant cannot talk about how he is aware of himself, his gender, and his awakening desires. And he still realizes very little.
And much before gender and sexual orientation are generally recognized, the child begins to be influenced by social factors: the expectations of parents, norms of sexual behavior accepted in a given culture, ideas about the acceptability of manifestations of sexuality in a particular family.
By the time a person completes the period of sexual development and, moreover, becomes a full-fledged member of society (and adulthood, 18 years old, is considered to be the statistically average age for the completion of sexual development), he, in fact, has already been formed, and so has his sexual orientation.
But it's not that simple. Only if sexual orientation is traditional, it does not raise questions. The teenager is supported in his awakening desires or, at a minimum, they do not attach importance to this.
But in the case when a non-traditional orientation manifests itself in one way or another, or a teenager cannot decide to whom he feels more attracted, development occurs with a large component of neurotic factors - emerging questions to oneself, fears, anxiety, self-rejection, or vice versa - open protest .
This is due to the fact that in societies of different cultures, non-traditional orientation is something negative, unacceptable, and pathological. And the child learns about this quite early, as a rule.
Despite the long history of attempts by scientists to prove that non-traditional orientation is a variant of the sexual norm, the philistine consciousness is afraid of such manifestations.
It would take a long time to delve into explanations of why non-traditional orientation was rejected by representatives of different cultures at different times. I will only say that something different from the majority in one way or another frightens many, creates a feeling of insecurity, and then people think little about whether there are grounds for fear - for many it is easier to prohibit than to understand, and this is already a matter of limited intellectual resources.
In our modern society, most parents think that if a child lives his life according to patterns that are understandable and familiar to parents, he will live it more safely.
And by the time such a teenager comes of age, he can no longer fully distinguish what is truly true in his awakening sexuality, what is the fruit of his own belief in “what is right,” formed under the great influence of the opinions of parents and society, and what – protest behavior or defense mechanism.
By the time a person begins to understand this topic within himself, he has already been fully formed, and his true core of desire has formed inside, but much of himself has been repressed into the unconscious, and therefore the search for what his true sexual orientation is can continue already in adulthood.
But let's talk about what generally happens to a person in this sense.
What is the Kinsey scale5
The Kinsey Scale, also known as the Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale, is one of the oldest and most widely used scales for describing the sexual orientation of gay men.
Although this scale is now outdated, several years ago it was one of the first models to determine that sexuality is not binary. And people can be described as heterosexual or homosexual.
According to the Kinsey scale, it was argued that most people cannot be exclusively heterosexual or exclusively homosexual - because, as it turns out, sexual attraction can be somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.
Demisexuals
Demisexuals are people who feel sexual attraction only after they get to know a person well. In other words, they cannot fall in love at first sight or simply catch a wave of sexual mood. For such people, first of all, emotional connection and inner comfort are important.
Sex on the first date is unacceptable for them. On the one hand, it is easier for demisexuals to build good relationships because they think with their heads first. On the other hand, not every potential partner is willing to wait who knows how long until a demisexual establishes his emotional connection and decides that he is ready for a sexual relationship with this person.
How did the Kinsey scale come about?
The Kinsey Scale was developed by Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy and Clyde Martin. Her debut publication was in Kinsey's book, Male Sexual Behavior, which was published in 1948.
The research used to create this scale was based on candid interviews of several thousand people who openly shared their own sexual histories and motivations.
Alfred Kinsey
Recipsexuals
Reciprosexuality What Are Reciprosexuality and Reciproromanticism? feel sexual attraction only in response to a partner's desire. If there is a cold person next to a resisexual person, he will also remain cold and calm. These lucky people do not have to experience the torment of unrequited love, because it is up to them whether to reciprocate or not.
The concept of reciprosexuality appeared approximately Reciprosexuality - the most common sexual preference? 15 years ago and still not too common. It can hardly be considered a separate type of orientation, but it can help to more accurately identify oneself or others.
Myth 7. Homosexuality is a one-way ticket
Most often this is what happens. Especially when it comes to male homosexuality. With the homosexual path of personality development, switching to people of the opposite sex occurs in less than 1%. The same cannot be said about transitory homosexuality, forced, when a teenager, deprived of the opportunity to communicate with people of the opposite sex, but already developing a heterosexual type, acquires his first sexual skills in the company of his own kind. In this case, the phenomenon of personal deep attachment, a complete switch to attraction to persons of the same sex, does not arise in him. As for women, it is believed that the transition from homosexual to heterosexual environment and vice versa is easier for them than for men.
Biological factors
A number of researchers have independently come to the conclusion that monozygotic (or identical) twins are homosexual more often than dizygotic twins. Since siblings with a more similar set of genes are more likely to have the same orientation, this in itself indicates the presence of genetic factors.
Studying the human genome, scientists have found several sections of it that can presumably be associated with homosexual orientation in men. This phrase is very insidious: when reading it, it is easy to think that gays have some specific genes that are different. In fact, the connection between homosexuality and genetics is very similar to the connection between genetics and, for example, attention deficit disorder: scientists have determined that there are a number of genes that are often found in a certain configuration in people with attention deficit disorder. But there are about 30% of patients with this diagnosis who do not have anything similar in their genes. Thus, the existence of a connection cannot be denied, but it cannot be called unambiguous and absolute. It's the same with homosexuality. In one recent study in this area, scientists used an algorithm that, based on information from nine different parts of a man's genome, can determine his orientation with 70 percent accuracy.
Genes, it must be said, are not everything. A number of other works talk, for example, about the influence on the orientation of the mother’s hormonal background during pregnancy (women with higher testosterone levels were more likely to give birth to girls who were later prone to same-sex relationships), glucose metabolism in the brain, and the order of appearance of boys ( such observations were not carried out with girls) to the light and phenomena of gender nonconformity (it should be noted that unwillingness to conform to one’s gender role is not yet transgenderism). Children who apparently do not want to fit into their gender role quite often grow up to experience attraction to people of the same sex.
Autosexuality
If you have encountered “narcissistic” people, then you roughly understand who autosexuals are. Unlike the first ones, they do not look arrogant, but they definitely consider themselves to be models of sexual attractiveness. Representatives of this orientation are confident that neither the appearance nor the personal qualities of other people can compare with their own. Autosexuals seem so attractive to themselves that the gender, age and orientation of other people do not matter to them. Psychologists say: autosexuals become like this because of numerous unsuccessful attempts to create a couple.
Androgynsexuality
Beauty standards are changing so quickly that not everyone can answer the question of what is relevant now. They often depend on the trends set by the catwalks - and there, to this day, androgynes are considered one of the most relevant types. They have distinctly masculine and feminine features at the same time. Androgynosexuals are those who are sexually attracted to such people. Sometimes psychologists consider androgynosexuals to be those who cannot admit to themselves that they are bisexual.
Scoliosexuality
One of the most complex types of sexual orientation. Scoliosexuality involves attraction to non-binary or transgender people. The former do not want to limit themselves to a specific gender - they do not want to classify themselves as men or women. The latter suffer from a mismatch of gender identity with the sex registered at birth. Absolutely nothing excites scoliosexuals only in those who consider themselves cisgender (for such people, gender identity and biological sex coincide).
Asexuality
“There are too many interesting things in the world to waste time on sex,” any asexual will tell you. Representatives of this orientation are not interested in seduction and sexual victories in principle - just as childfree, for example, are not interested in raising children. Asexuals are not physiologically attracted to either men or women. It is known that the physicist Isaac Newton surprised his contemporaries with the lack of sexual desire. Asexuals have their own large online community called Aven. It has a Russian branch: its users conduct educational activities and do everything to gain public recognition.
Sapiosexuality
Sapiosexuals may not remember what the person was wearing at the time of the first meeting, but they will definitely focus on the meaning of the conversation with him and the level of intelligence of the potential sexual partner. They are attracted to intelligence - the higher it is, the stronger this attraction will be. Moreover, sapiosexuals can be either heterosexual or homosexual in orientation. The University of Western Australia recently conducted a study and found that intelligence is much more important than appearance for every tenth inhabitant of our planet.
Androsexuality
Those who can be classified as androsexuals like people who have such a trait as masculinity. Gender does not matter, because both men and women can be courageous. In the latter, androsexuals are attracted by the absence of cosmetics, unisex style of clothing and a minimum of femininity.
Gynosexuality
The other side of the coin is that gynosexuals can only be aroused by the appearance of people with pronounced feminine traits. Naturally, incl. and men who do not hide their femininity and emotionality.
ByMosexuality
You can decipher this as "postmodern sexuality." It unites everyone who is tired of the stereotypes about sexuality and gender imposed by society and does not want to meet someone else's expectations and ideas. Pomosexuals do not see anything reprehensible in the fact that a heterosexual woman can call herself transgender today, and tomorrow announce that she is a homosexual man. Pomosexuality is the orientation of those who believe that feelings and sex cannot be tied to existing terms and words.
Greysexuality
Not to be confused with asexuality! Graysexuals have a low sexual temperament: these are the same people who are always suspected of cheating or problems in bed by partners with high sensuality. They extremely rarely experience sexual desire in principle, and if they create a couple, they do not need daily sex even during the candy-bouquet period.
Omnisexuality
If pansexuals do not notice their partner’s gender, then for omnisexuals it still matters. They may experience desire for a man, a woman, or a transgender person—and enjoy being attracted to a particular gender in the moment. In a week or a month, these preferences can easily change, and the omnisexual will find a new attraction factor.
Demisexuality
Demisexuality is not really an orientation. Rather, it is still the organization of sexual life. The essence of demisexuality is that a person does not experience sexual desire until he becomes emotionally close to his partner.
Spontaneous sex within the tenth minute of meeting someone is not about demisexuals. Selectivity when choosing a partner, careful dating, friendly conversations - these are some of the signs of demisexuality.
objectumsexuality
There are people who are attracted to books, tourist sites, jewelry, and pieces of furniture. In 2007, American girl Erica La Tour Effel married the Eiffel Tower, and in 2020, Kate Cunningham from England tied the knot with a tree. Objectumsexuals are people who are attracted to inanimate objects.
Lithosexuality
They might be compared to those in the friend zone, but lithosexuals enjoy staying away from the object of their desire. They have feelings, but they do nothing to get to know the person they are interested in better. Moreover, as soon as they find themselves next to him and notice sympathy towards them, lithosexuals lose all interest.
Types of sexuality: complete list was last modified: August 11, 2020 by Nastasya Garina
