Exotic becomes erotic: A developmental theory of sexual orientation.

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A developmental theory of erotic/romantic attraction is presented that provides the same basic account for opposite-sex and same-sex desire in both men and women. It proposes that biological variables, such as genes, prenatal hormones, and brain neuroanatomy, do not code for sexual orien- tation per se but for childhood temperaments that influence a child's preferences for sex-typical or sex-atypical activities and peers. These preferences lead children to feel different from opposite- or same-sex peers--to perceive them as dissimilar, unfamiliar, and exotic. This, in turn, produces heightened nonspecific autonomic arousal that subsequently gets eroticized to that same class of dissimilar peers: Exotic becomes erotic. Specific mechanisms for effeeting this transformation are proposed. The theory claims to accommodate both the empirical evidence of the biological essen- tialists and the cultural relativism of the social constructionists.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: