Sexual Orientation

As the barriers fell, increasing numbers of gays and lesbians came out of the closet, proclaiming their sexual orientations. Acquiring a public gay identity is extremely important but not always an easy process even though most gays and lesbians indicate they felt that somehow they were different in childhood and adolescence from others. Only gradually in their teens did they begin to identify themselves as homosexual. Those who do so tend to be culturally defined by society as a single homogeneous class.

In reality, of course, gays and lesbians, either as individuals or in groups, are a very mixed collectivity of individuals with a wide-ranging variety of behaviors, although most seem to be gender atypical in some traits. Attempts to identify the precise relationship between sexual orientation and gender by researchers have led only to contradictory and very tentative results, possibly because such relationships tend to change rapidly in response to changing social conditions.

Most theories fall into one of two categories: psychosocial dynamic or biological dynamic, sometimes simplified as nurture versus nature. Psychosocial dynamic theories attempt to explain development of a person's sexual orientation in terms of internal mental processes and the interaction of these with reward and punishment. Examples of these include the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud or socialization theory such as put forth by Ira Reiss, who held that the greater the rigidity of gender role in male-dominant societies, the higher the likelihood of male homosexual behavior. This was, he said, because the rigidity of the gender role could lead a male child who did not conform to find conformity with other nonconformists, that is, male homosexuals.

In the 1990s biological theories that explain sexual orientation in terms of biological phenomena, such as brain circuitry, hormones, genes, and evolution, became increasingly popular. Researchers have looked at such factors as prenatal hormones as well as other physiological and anatomical features, but all of these theories have limitations, some more serious than others. Since homosexuality is thought to run in families, there has been a search for genetic influence; but while some researchers have found what they think is evidence along these lines, there generally has been a failure to replicate the findings.

So far there are too many variables involved to come up with any definitive answers. At the moment, sexual orientation seems best left up to the individual to define for himself or herself.