Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why

Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The science of sexual orientation

Cover of the first edition
Author Simon LeVay
Country United States
Language English
Subject Sexual orientation
Published 2010 (Oxford University Press)
Media type Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages 412 (paperback edition)
ISBN 978-0-19-973767-3 (hardback)
978-0-19-993158-3 (paperback)

Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The science of sexual orientation is a 2010 book about the development of sexual orientation by Simon LeVay,[1] in which LeVay reviews many scientific studies, argues that sexual orientation is an aspect of gender that emerges from the prenatal sexual differentiation of the brain, and criticizes Freudian and behaviorist explanations of sexual orientation. Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why received a mixture of positive and negative reviews. In 2012, it received the Bullough Book Award for the most distinguished book written for the professional sexological community published in a given year.

Summary

LeVay writes that his goal is to provide an up to date account of scientific research on sexual orientation.[2] He details the findings of more than 650 studies that have been conducted since his 1991 study of the hypothalamus,[3] and attempts to draw this evidence together into a coherent theory of sexual orientation. He argues that in general, and with rare exceptions, only people's sexual feelings should be taken into account in assessing their sexual orientation: he rejects Alfred Kinsey's view that sexual behavior should also be considered.[4] He argues that sexual orientation is an aspect of gender that emerges from the prenatal sexual differentiation of the brain, determined by a combination of sex hormones, genes, and the womb environment, including factors such as stress during pregnancy. The influence of genes and hormones continues over the life span rather than stopping at birth.[1]

Concerning conversion therapy, LeVay writes that while the majority view is that it is unlikely to be effective and has the potential to cause harm, a study by psychiatrist Robert Spitzer identified two hundred people who claimed that it helped them to make a significant shift from homosexuality to heterosexuality. LeVay interprets Spitzer's study as showing that, "at least a few highly motivated gay people can be helped to engage in and derive some degree of pleasure from heterosexual relationships, and to pay less attention to their homosexual feelings."[5] In his discussion of genetic influences, LeVay evaluates the work of economist Edward M. Miller, who proposes that several "feminizing" genes contribute to the development of male homosexuality. LeVay writes that in Miller's view the inheritance of a limited number of such genes might make males more attractive to females by giving them increased empathy and kindness, or rendering them less aggressive, in turn making them more successful in reproductive terms. Male homosexuality might result from the inheritance of a larger number of feminizing genes. LeVay writes that a study by a group led by Brendan Zietsch has provided evidence supporting Miller's hypothesis, but that its findings need to be replicated and extended.[6]

Discussing Freudian theories of homosexuality, LeVay, citing Alan P. Bell, Martin S. Weinberg and Sue Kiefer Hammersmith's Sexual Preference (1981), states that statistical studies of large numbers of subjects support Sigmund Freud's view that on average gay men are more likely than straight men to describe their relationships with their mothers as close and their relationships with their fathers as distant or hostile. However, he is skeptical that the behavior of parents influences the future sexual orientation of their children, writing that while psychoanalytic theories about homosexuality have not been proven wrong they are no more plausible than the idea that unidentified flying objects are alien spacecraft. Citing the work of psychoanalyst Richard Isay, LeVay suggests that boys who become gay differ from boys who become straight in ways that influence the behavior of parents and that Freudian theories reverse the direction of causation. LeVay rejects the behaviorist idea that the sex of a person's first sex partner influences their sexual orientation, arguing that it is contradicted by cross-cultural evidence, including anthropologist Gilbert Herdt's work on the Sambia, and studies of British boarding schools.[7]

Reviewing his work on the hypothalamus, LeVay defends his 1991 study from the criticism that the differences in brain structure between gay and straight men which it found were simply a side-effect of AIDS, which all the gay men in the study had died from. LeVay writes that there was no obvious pathology in the specimens he studied and that he was subsequently able to study a gay man who died of factors unrelated to AIDS and found that his INAH 3 was the same size as those of the gay men in his study. LeVay notes that one attempt has been made to replicate his study. Psychiatrist and neuroscientist William Byne found a difference in INAH 3 size between gay and straight men, but the difference was not quite statistically significant by the criteria Byne used.[8]

Reception

Psychologist J. Michael Bailey called Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why "the best available summary of the science of sexual orientation." Neuroscientist Marc Breedlove writes that, "LeVay offers a lucid, authoritative account of the exploding literature on the biology of human sexual orientation." Neuroscientist Bradley Cooke called Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why "lively, engaging, and balanced", and "a must for anyone interested in the biological bases of sexual orientation."[9] Gay scholar John Lauritsen dismissed Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why, writing that LeVay is "obsessed with his own faulty hypothesis". Lauritsen charged LeVay with ignorance of relevant historical and anthropological evidence, and with poor scholarship, noting that LeVay's bibliography excluded important works by sex researcher Kinsey and psychologist Clarence Arthur Tripp.[10]

Writing for Salon.com, Schuyler Velasco called LeVay's book, "a comprehensive, engaging and occasionally quite funny look at the current state of the research."[11] The work was reviewed in New Scientist by journalist Deborah Blum, who called it "rational, smart and compassionate" but also observed that it showed that scientific understanding of sexual orientation had advanced less than might be hoped since LeVay's 1991 hypothalamus study. Blum commented, "I was dismayed to discover that many of the most influential studies cited here spring from previous decades...when a chapter on the importance of biology in sexuality contains 32 citations and 23 of them date to the year 2000 or earlier, a book can feel a bit dated." She suggested that the "dearth of notable recent findings" could in part be the result of a lack of political willingness to fund sex research.[1]

Terri Schlichenmeyer, writing for the Dallas Voice, called Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why "an intriguing book that makes sense on several levels", but found it overcomplicated and technical.[12] Colin Wilson, writing in Socialist Review, was critical, arguing that LeVay failed to deal convincingly with evidence showing that people cannot be easily divided into categories such as homosexual and heterosexual, that in his evaluation of the biological evidence LeVay sometimes relies on studies that had inadequate sample sizes, that the studies do not consistently support LeVay's hypothesis, that LeVay is "too obsessed with his hypothesis to accept that it doesn't work", and was following a misguided strategy to advance the cause of gay rights. Wilson observed that while LeVay wanted to combat prejudice against gay people by showing that homosexuality has a biological basis, the obvious biological basis of race and gender has not eliminated racism or sexism.[13] Philosopher Michael Ruse praised Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why in The Globe and Mail, calling it "superb". Ruse wrote that the work was, "clear and comprehensive, looking at the widest range of research, and very balanced."[14]

Louis Hoffman and Justin Lincoln writes that LeVay provides a strong argument "for biological influences on sexual orientation", but found his case that homosexuality stems partially from the "influence of prenatal hormones that feminize development" to be "rather convoluted". They also criticized LeVay for in their view implicitly endorsing conversion therapy, singling out for criticism his comment that, "at least a few highly motivated gay people can be helped to engage in and derive some degree of pleasure from heterosexual relationships, and to pay less attention to their homosexual feelings."[15] Psychologist Stanton L. Jones writes that Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why is one of numerous recent books whose authors argue that homosexuality has a biological basis, and that "The steady drumbeat of this argument in popular media, journalistic presentations, and so forth drowns out competing understandings." According to Jones, LeVay incorrectly claims that environmental and psychological variables have no causal influence of any kind on sexual orientation and "refuses to engage at all the considerable evidence for psychosocial contributors".[16] In 2012, Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why received the Bullough Book Award for the most distinguished book written for the professional sexological community published in a given year.[17]

Sex advice columnist and gay activist Dan Savage described Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why as a "great" book.[18]

References

Bibliography

Books
  • LeVay, Simon (2012). Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-993158-3. 
  • Savage, Dan (2014). American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics. New York: Plume. ISBN 978-0142181003. 
Journals
Online articles
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