Where’s the Scientific Research Into How Sexual Orientation Develops in Women?

Slate:

When I scroll through the biomedical research into how sexual orientation develops (don’t judge my hobbies), I notice three things. The first one’s obvious: Compared with, say, erectile dysfunction or male pattern baldness, there’s not much research into the biological origins of sexual orientation.

The second is a triumph of science. Researchers have figured out that men are more likely to be gay if they have older biological brothers from the same mother, or if they inherit certain genes from their mothers, some of which seem to be the same genes that make their female relatives more fertile.

But the third thing I notice is something that isn’t there. Where’s the research into how sexual orientation develops in women?

…

Bolstered by early data showing that being gay was heritable, scientists looked for the link between sexual orientation and genes. They found a connection to the X chromosome in men, but not in women. They were further confounded when they looked at other aspects of sexuality—arousal, response, and especially self-identity. “The kind of answers that were coming out weren’t as straightforward as men’s answers,” says psychology professor Meredith Chivers of Canada’s Queens University. While men largely stay in the same orientation category—be it straight, bi, or gay—a study in 2003 found that women move between categories over their lifetime. Thanks largely to these and similar data on orientation fluidity in women, Ngun says there was “this perception that they’re choosing their sexuality.”

Read the whole story: Slate