Sexual Orientation: What to teach in school

1
Sexual OrientationWhat to teach in school

• Warren Throckmorton, PhD

2
Sexual Orientation What do you think?

• Mental health professional associations consider
  homosexuality to be a mental health disorder
• ANSWER False
• Most mental health professional organizations
  have adopted policies that do not treat
  homosexuality as a mental disorder.
• Distress concerning ones sexual feelings,
  however, can be a legitimate reason to consult a
  counselor. The DSM-IV includes the diagnosis
  302.9 Sexual Disorder Not Otherwise Specified
  described as Persistent and marked distress
  about sexual orientation that may require
  counseling intervention.

3
Historical Perspectives

• Homosexual behavior recorded from antiquity
• Concept of inborn homosexual orientation dates
  from 1860s
• Initially homosexuality thought to be a
  psychiatric illness needing a cure
• Removal of homosexuality from DSM beginning in
  1973 brought treatment efforts into question

4
Sexual Orientation What do you think?

• You can tell a persons sexual orientation by the
  way he or she acts or talks
• ANSWER False
• While some people may go to extremes to let
  others know about their sexuality, most of the
  time you cannot tell anything about sexual
  feelings from how a person looks or acts.
• In fact, many students who are called gay or
  other names at school may not experience same sex
  attractions. This kind of stereotyping can be
  harmful.

5
Sexual OrientationWhat do you think?

• A person is a homosexual if he or she has ever
  been sexually attracted to, or ever had sexual
  contact with someone of the same gender.
• ANSWER False
• Sexual attraction or behavior does not determine
  sexual identity.
• Confusion or uncertainty is common in adolescence
  
• Many individuals are not consistent across
  aspects of sexual orientation (erotic versus
  romantic attractions)
• Each individual must determine what his or her
  feelings or actions mean about sexual identity.

6
Sexual OrientationWhat do you think?

• Scientists know with certainty how
• sexual orientation develops.
• ANSWER False
• Some scientists believe sexual attractions are
  primarily determined by genetics and/or prenatal
  factors
• Others believe that people mainly develop their
  sexual attractions throughout their life via a
  combination of life experiences and personal
  traits.
• No gay gene has been discovered
• Environmental circumstances have not been
  identified that always lead to same sex
  attractions for all people.
• Evidence exists to support both points of view,
  but there is not enough evidence to be conclusive
  about either viewpoint.

7
Sexual Orientation Biological factors

• LeVay found structural differences in the size of
  the hypothalamus of gay and straight men (1991).
• Byne, et al (2001) failed to replicate LeVays
  findings and said sexual orientation cannot be
  reliably predicted on the basis of INAH3 volume
  alone.
• LeVay used HIV patients in study. HIV impacts
  brain negatively.

8
Sexual OrientationBiological Factors

• LeVay said about his research
• "It's important to stress what I didn't find. I
  did not prove that homosexuality is genetic, or
  find a genetic cause for being gay. I didn't show
  that gay men are born that way, the most common
  mistake people make in interpreting my work. Nor
  did I locate a gay center in the brain. ...Since
  I look at adult brains, we don't know if the
  differences I found were there at birth or if
  they appeared later.
• Nimmons, D. (1994). Sexual brain. Discover, 5, 3.
  

9
Sexual OrientationTwin Research

• What about twin research?
• Pairwise concordance rates for male MZ twins have
  been reported at 11 (3 of 27 male twins) and 14
  (3 of 22 female twins) in a 2000 study by Bailey
  et al (possible 0 50 heritability)
• Other personality traits with higher MZ
  concordances and similar heritabilities include
  humility (58), feelings about roller coasters
  (50) and attitudes toward reading books (55)

10
Bailey et al, 2000Twin research

• Consistent with prior studies of siblings, we
  found that sexual orientation is familial. In
  contrast to most prior twin studies of sexual
  orientation, however, ours did not provide
  statistically significant support for the
  importance of genetic factors for that trait (p.
  534). Quote from article.

11
Sexual Orientation Genetic linkage

• What about a gay gene?
• Research team led by Dean Hamer found a region on
  the sex chromosome linked to homosexuality
  (Xq28).
• Two efforts to replicate his work have failed.
• Newest study in this program claims to have
  located 3 regions, however none met criteria for
  significant linkage.
• Mustanski, B.S., DuPree, M.G., Nievergelt, C.M.,
  Bocklandt, S., Schork, N.J. Hamer, D.H. (2005).
  A genomewide scan of male sexual orientation.
  Human Genetics, 116(4), 272-278.

12
Sexual OrientationEnvironmental factors

• Psychoanalytic writers suggest either a deficit
  in the relationships between same sex parent and
  child and/or a fear of the opposite sex parent
• Psychoanalytic studies suffer from small and
  unrepresentative samples
• Slightly higher prevalence of sexual abuse for
  gay men and lesbians.
• There are significant cultural and historical
  differences in the manifestation of sexual
  behavior

13
Sexual OrientationEnvironmental factors

• Daryl Bem (1996) from Cornell University suggests
  a relationship between gender atypical
  temperament and same sex desire
• The difference experienced by gender atypical
  teens leads them to view same sex as the opposite
  sex. The difference becomes sexualized
• Bems theory has some empirical support. Bailey
  et al, 2000 found that gender nonconformity has a
  genetic component

14
Causes of Sexual Orientation

• "It seems that theory building about the origins
  of any type of sexual orientation requires a
  multi-factorial model--with biological,
  psychological and social factors exerting
  influences at different times and in different
  degrees." (P. 58)
• "What causes homosexuality? It is apparent that
  biological, psychological, and social factors
  interacting in complex and various ways, shape
  human sexual orientation." (P. 61)
• Sexual Orientation and Psychoanalysis Sexual
  Science and Clinical Practice (Richard C.
  Friedman and Jennifer I. Downey New York
  Columbia University Press, 2002).

15
Sexual OrientationWhat do you think?

• People choose to be attracted to
• the same or opposite sex.
• ANSWER False
• Although some do, most people who identify as
  gay, lesbian or bisexual say they do not
  consciously decide to be attracted to the same
  sex.
• Women describe a sense of choice more so than men
• However, engaging in sexual behavior and adopting
  a gay, lesbian or bisexual identity are decisions
  that often occur after a period of personal
  reflection.

16
Sexual OrientationIs it a choice?

• Distinguish between same sex attraction and a
  gay/lesbian identity
• Same sex attractions seems to arise spontaneously
  for many, seems adopted by others probably a
  combination of nature and environmental factors,
  with the edge toward non-shared environmental
  factors
• Identity formation is much more deliberate and
  seems best considered as a chosen construct

17
Sexual OrientationWhat do you think?

• No one has ever changed aspects of sexual
  orientation
• ANSWER False
• Many people report such changes, some with the
  help of counseling, some with the support of
  their religious beliefs and some spontaneously
  without any conscious attempt to change.
• Since sexual orientation cannot be tested in the
  laboratory or with a survey, there is no reliable
  method to say for sure other than the word of the
  persons involved
• Sexual orientation has been defined via behavior,
  attractions and identity or a combination of
  these aspects along a continuum

18
Jack Drescher on change

• "Despite our differing interpretations of his
  study, both Dr. Spitzer and myself are of the
  opinion that there is a small group of people
  whose sexual orientation can change, sometimes
  even without any therapy. But neither of us
  believe that everyone's sexual orientation can
  change. To claim that everyone can change or that
  everyone should change is simply not true. To
  scientifically argue for that position in
  opposition to gay and lesbian civil rights is not
  only a misuse of Dr. Spitzer's study but a
  travesty of science itself."
• Jack Drescher, Chair of the American Psychiatric
  Association's (APA) Committee on Gay, Lesbian and
  Bisexual Issues. http//www.finnqueer.net/juttu.cg
  i?s116_47_2

19
Counseling Sexual OrientationResearch Issues

• Problems with measurement and definition of
  sexual orientation
• According to Gonsoriek, et al sexual orientation
  is erotic and /or affectional disposition to the
  same and/or opposite sex
• We use the term sexual orientation to signify a
  cognitive identification and subjective emotional
  sense of oneself on a continuum of
  homosexual/bisexual/heterosexual identity.
  Thisallows for the possibility that sexual
  orientation may change over time. (Byne
  Parsons)

20
Does sexual orientation change?

• Stokes, et al (1997) found that in a sample of
  behaviorally bisexual men, 33 shifted to
  exclusive homosexuality, 17 shifted to
  heterosexuality and half remained bisexual after
  one year.
• Kinnish et al (2005) found that women report more
  change in aspects of sexual orientation than men.
  Two-thirds of the sample (n762) had experienced
  some shift in at least one aspect of sexual
  orientation in their lives. 15 went from gay to
  either bisexual or straight. 36 changed entire
  categories (straight to gay or vice versa).

21
Does sexual orientation change?

• Diamond (2003) found that 48 of a sample of 80
  women changed their sexual identitylabel during
  between first assessment and last assessment (5
  years).
• Twenty-seven percent of the sample changed their
  label to heterosexual or undefined from lesbian
• Histories of changers vs. non-changers did not
  differ
• Was it a phase? Young women's relinquishment of
  lesbian/bisexual identities over a 5-year period.
  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84,
  352-364.

22
Sexual OrientationWhat to teach in school?

• All people who attempt
• to change aspects of sexual orientation
  experience
• depression and suicide attempts.
• ANSWER False
• Some people have reported feeling harmed by their
  efforts to change sexuality
• Some people have reported feeling helped by them

23
Counseling Sexual Identity TherapyIs it
harmful?

• In a sample of 202 people recruited from
  dissatisfied clients of change therapy, Shidlo
  and Schroeder found 87 felt harmed and 13 felt
  helped.
• It took five years to find 176 people who said
  they had felt harmed.
• Problems plague all research in this area
  Sampling, definitions and measurements of sexual
  orientation and change cloud the meaning of the
  results

24
Counseling Sexual Identity TherapyIs it
harmful?

• In my reviews of the literature (1998) and
  (2002), I found evidence of modification of
  sexual feelings, behavior, fantasies and identity
• Spitzer (2003) reported 66 of men and 44 of
  women experienced heterosexual functioning after
  orientation efforts. Many women had not married
  but were not bothered by same sex attractions.
• 43 of men and 47 of women reported depression
  pre-therapy and 1 of men and 4 post-therapy

25
Sexual Orientation What to teach in school?

• Disagreements over homosexuality are always based
  in fear and homophobia or religious prejudice.
• ANSWER False
• Disagreement with certain forms of sexual
  behavior is not bigotry.
• Disagreement does not prevent a person from
  feeling and showing respect

26
Sexual OrientationWhat to teach in school

• 10 of the general population identifies as
• gay, lesbian or bisexual.
• ANSWER False
• The most authoritative survey (National Health
  and Social Life Survey) puts the percentage of
  those who declare themselves to be gay, lesbian
  or bisexual at just over 2 of the general
  population in the United States.
• A recent census survey in Canada found 1.7 of
  the general population identified as gay, lesbian
  or bisexual.
• Determining an actual number is complicated by
  problems defining these terms and by the fact
  that some people are reluctant to admit their
  sexual feelings to those doing surveys

27
FYI

• www.respectandthefacts.com
• www.drthrockmorton.com
• www.ischangepossible.com
• www.drthrockmorton.com/schools.ppt

28
Sexual OrientationCan it change?

• Simon LeVay commented
• A person's sexual orientation is not necessarily
  a fixed, life-long attribute. Sexual orientation
  can change for example a woman may be attracted
  to men for many years, and have a happy marriage
  and children during that time, and then become
  aware of same-sex attraction in her thirties,
  forties, or later. This does not mean that she
  was repressing her homosexuality during that
  early period. To argue that she was really
  homosexual all the time would be to change the
  definition of sexual orientation into something
  murky and inaccessible. (1995)

29
Counseling Sexual OrientationResearch Issues
(cont.)

• Animal Models of Sexual Orientation
• Gay sheep study Oregon researchers found levels
  of testosterone and hypothalamus size of male
  preferring rams between ewes and female
  preferring rams (2004)
• Finch study Baby birds raised without fathers
  more likely to attempt mating with other males
  (2000)
• Which, if any, animal model should we use? Do
  sheep date?
• Role of environment and biology has not been
  clarified or explained

30
References

• Bailey, J.M., Dunne, M.P. Martin, N.G. (2000).
  Genetic and environmental influences on sexual
  orientation and its correlates in an Australian
  twin sample. Journal of Personality and Social
  Psychology, 78, 524-536.
• Bem, D.J. (1996). Exotic becomes erotic A
  developmental theory of sexual orientation.
  Psychological Review, 103, 320-335.
• Broido, E.M. (2000). Constructing identity The
  nature and meaning of lesbian, gay and bisexual
  identities. In the Handbook of Counseling and
  Psychotherapy with Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual
  Clients, Eds, Washington, DC American
  Psychological Association.
• Byne, W. Parsons, R. (1993). Human sexual
  orientation The biologic theories reappraised.
  Archives Gen. Psychiatry 228, 229-243.
• Diamond, L. (2003). Was it a phase? Young women's
  relinquishment of lesbian/bisexual identities
  over a 5-year period. Journal of Personality and
  Social Psychology, 84, 352-364.
• Friedman, R. (1988). Male homosexuality. New
  Haven Yale University Press.
• Garnets, L.D. (2002). Sexual orientations in
  perspective. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic
  Minority Psychology, 8(2), 115-129.
• Laumann., E.O., Gagnon, J.H., Michael, R.T.,
  Michaels, S. (1994). The social organization of
  sexuality Sexual practices in the United States.
  Chicago University of Chicago Press.
• Mondimore, F. M. (1996). A natural history of
  homosexuality. Baltimore Johns Hopkins Press.

31
References

• Nimmons, D. (1994). Sexual brain. Discover, 5, 3.
  
• Schidlo, A., Schroeder, M. (2002). Changing
  sexual orientation A consumers report.
  Professional Psychology Research and Practice,
  33, 249-259.
• Spitzer, R.L. (2003). Can some gay men and
  lesbians change their sexual orientation? 200
  participants reporting a change from homosexual
  to heterosexual orientation. Archives of Sexual
  Behavior, 32, 403-417.
• Stein, E. (1999). Mismeasure of desire The
  science, theory and ethics of sexual orientation.
  Oxford Oxford University Press.
• Throckmorton, W. (1998). Efforts to modify sexual
  orientation A review of the outcome literature
  and ethical issues. Journal of Mental Health
  Counseling, 20, 283-304.
• Yarhouse, M. A., Throckmorton, W. (2002).
  Ethical issues in attempts to ban reorientation
  therapies. Psychotherapy Theory/Research/Practice
  /Training, 39, 66-75