The Psychology Of Sexual Orientations

The purpose of the study was to synthesize and critically evaluate the concept of sexual orientation, especially as it is studied and presented in large, population-based and school-based adolescent survey literature. Specifically, the study examined methodology and instrumentation used for the assessment and measurement of youth sexual orientation present in refereed literature. Of the forty-eight empirical studies, five included items that assessed all three dimensions of sexual orientation. The majority of studies used surveys that exclusively assessed sexual orientation identity (n = 30; 63%). The majority of those surveys provided between four and six identity response options with parenthetical descriptions, including the

The topic of sexual orientation is both sensitive and controversial. This is evident in events, such as the Pride Parade, and also in media, where authoritative figures preach against it and speak of its “sinful nature” (Emmanuele, Blanchard, Camperio-Ciani, & Bancroft, 2010). Sexual orientation exists in various forms, it differs in the way it is viewed by different cultures, and researchers propose different perspectives to explain the emergence of an individual 's sexual orientation. In the discourse of sexual orientation,

Homosexuality is defined or characterized as attraction towards the same gender either male or female. It came from the Greek language, where “homo” means the same or similar, hence referring to the attraction between two beings of the same sex. Homosexuality is also referred as a clinical term. Most male homosexuals generally prefer to be called "gay men" and most homosexual women generally prefer to be called "lesbians." Homosexuality is one of the three main categories of sexual orientation, alongside bisexual and heterosexual. The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality is an example of normal and positive variation in human sexual

Over the years there has been many debates and experiments to try to come to the conclusion of whether sexual orientaion is biologically based or choice. Sexual orientation is a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to men, women or both sexes. Sexual orientation is defined in terms of relationships with others since their identity is based off of their attractions. Sexual orientation can be noted through behaviors such as holding hands or kissing, sharing goals and values, mutual support, and ongoing commitments. Sexual orientation can be broken down into three categories heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual. While this break down may seem very black and white, there are

When I think about diversity in the world I too think about diversity when it comes to sexual orientation. Sometimes I think -- How is sexual identity developed? What influences who we become sexually? Why is there such diversity in sexual orientation? To be quite frank, there are no correct or incorrect answers to these questions. The idea of sexual orientation and behavior is a very complex one. What was true in the past is certainly different than the norm today. When I researched the various psychological theories and methodologies of measuring one’s sexuality, naturally I came across the work of Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the creator of the Kinsey scale.

The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community is among the subculture groups that are stigmatized by the U.S. society. They are deviant of the heterosexual norm. Society labels sexualities, which expressions of sexuality it values or stigmatizes. The meanings of sexuality change over time in different contexts, which reveals the sexuality as defined by the society. Sexuality is defined as “the ways we experience and express ourselves as sexual beings”. Sexuality is more than sexual behaviors, it encompasses socially constructed meanings of sex and gender, which includes the culturally specific norms, beliefs, traditions and taboos that are related to sex. For an instance sex between an adult and a child is considered a taboo in the U.S. If sexuality is socially constructed, so are sexual identities. What makes a man “gay” or “straight”? Is a straight guy who slept

According to Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, sexual orientation refers to the inclination of an individual with respect to heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual behavior. The famous Kinsey Reports by Alfred Kinsey (1948) claims that about 10% of American adults are homosexual. This astonishing figure is often presented as fact but is often criticized to be highly overestimated by academia. (Refer to Appendix 1 for figures presented by other institutes). Studies by National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles reviews that lesbian increased from 2.8% in 1990 to 9.7% in 2000 while gay reported to rise from 5.3% in 1990 to 8.4% in 2000, depicting upward trends that are consistent with reports

The origin and cause of human sexual orientation have been highly debated topics between sociologist and biologists. Most scientists believe sexual orientation is biologically determined while sociologists argue that it is socially constructed. There is a third belief that human sexual orientation is not solely biologically determined or socially constructed. From this belief come theories that combine both arguments, where human sexual orientation contains a biological component and a social component. One of the conjoint theories is that humans are born with a propensity for certain sexual tendencies which are determined biologically, and these tendencies are developed into a complex sexual identity as an adult. This development of sexual tendencies into a sexual identity is influenced by society, and therefore, sexual orientation depends on biological influences as well as society and social influences. There is various evidence and arguments for biological determination and social construction of sexual orientation, as well as a few conjoint theories of sexual orientation, but there are also criticisms of each theory and the validity of these arguments will be explored.

While the expressions "sexual orientation" and "sex" are frequently utilized conversely, the two words have altogether distinctive definitions. One could contend that sex alludes to organic essentialism and the thought that we are who we are a result of our hereditary material. Then again, sex is connected with the social constructionist hypothesis, which contends that the way we are is reliant on our race, class, and sexuality. Since every individual is distinctive in their race, class, and sexuality, their sex turns out to be socially built. To contend that sex is not socially built would be to say that all individuals, for instance, that are naturally female have the same objectives.

Human psychosexual development is the complex learning in today’s society. What is the meaning of sexual orientation? Obviously, it has to be related to sex. It is a way for people to choose their partners to have sex with. Most of people would say it means either interested in men or are interested in women. This is called sexual orientation. In the book Gay Straight, and the reason why written by Simon LeVay, the first chapter of talker about what sexual orientation is, “We usually judge sexual orientation based on a person sexual attraction to men and to women- that is , on her or his feelings –as expressed in answers to direct questions such as “ Are you sexually attracted to men, to women, or to both men and women?” (Page 2) The question doesn’t refer to the interviewees’ feelings of sexual attraction at the very instant of being asked, of course but to their tendency or predisposition to experience such feelings over some extended period of time, perhaps over their entire adult life. In this paragraph, Simone has described how sexual orientation formations create in a sexual orientation. Sexuality refers to a person based on sexual partner sex appeal on the basis of gender and sex want to, Heterosexual sexual orientation to the opposite sex, Gay to same-sex sexual orientation, Bisexual sexual orientation partner selection and can be either gay can also be members of

Its undeniable that one of the many hot topics now a days is homosexuality/sexual orientation and like any sort of debate of any kind the first response is to clump it into a group thats commonly defined so that everyones on the same ground. The only problem with that is especially for something like sexual orientation trying to clump such a complex concept is unfair because things often get misunderstood or left out because sexual orientation is a lot more than a simple yes/no right/wrong answer.

Few aspects of human behavior excite as much interest and controversy as sexual orientation. In cultures and societies today, as well as in the past, there is usually an emphasis on a specific orientation as a norm, and typically heterosexuality is perceived as such. This in turn generates a wide range of reaction to homosexuality, from its being seen as “unnatural” in moral terms, to ideas of it as threatening the stability of a culture. In recent years, however, new perspectives are emerging which strongly support that sexual orientation is by no means so easily defined, and that, when social parameters on sexual behaviors are set aside, the reality is that most people are not strictly heterosexual or homosexual. In the following,

Lilly discovers that she has an erotic and emotional connection to women as opposed to men. However, she does not want to reveal her sexual orientation to the society, rather makes it a secret affair. Because she was scared she will be outcast from society. In school, she continues to study like any normal student, but she separated her school life from her night live. She opts to live two lives; one that is known to the majority of the society and another that is a secret to her and friends. She is not willing to make her sexual orientation known to the people for fear of victimization by the society members.

To understand why we as a society such high standard norms for everyone we first need to take a deeper look into hetero and homo-sexual definitions to determine what is normal and what we associated with those terms. When looking deeper into the definition of “sexual instinct” (Katz, 1995) we can determine that sexual instinct is used when determining a partner’s sexual interest in someone. This term is actually called and “referred to the men’s and women’s erotic desire for each other”. However in the 1890’s transsexual and transgender meant different things than they do today. Today when determining whom we are attracted to we call either call people homosexuals or heterosexuals. Heterosexuals today are described as someone interested in

Another important concept is understanding what is normal. The “normal” leads to expectations that males and females have for one another. By not meeting these expectations thoughts of being different can be provoked. Improving education and public knowledge will decrease the suffering by such individuals (Baumeister, et al., 2001). Barr, Bryan, and Kenrick (2002) researched what is the expected sexual peak of men and women. The researchers did three different studies on what participants thought the age of sexual peak was. The first study consisted of 60 members from the Psychology Department at Arizona State, the second consisted of 73 undergraduates at Arizona State, and the third consisted 53 members recruited from the 73 undergraduates. Each group was given a questionnaire asking at what age do you think male/female sexual peak is, and at when do you think males/females experience the highest sexual frequency (Barr, et al., 2002).