Abstract
Roberts, Glymour, and Koenen (2013), using instrumental variable models, argued that child abuse causes homosexual orientation, defined in part as any same-sex attractions. Their instruments were various negative family environment factors. In their analyses, they found that child sexual abuse (CSA) was more strongly related to homosexual orientation than non-sexual maltreatment was, especially among males. The present commentary therefore focused on male CSA. It is argued that Roberts et al.’s “abuse model” is incorrect and an alternative is presented. Male homosexual behavior is common in primates and has been common in many human societies, such that an evolved human male homosexual potential, with individual variation, can be assumed. Cultural variation has been strongly influenced by cultural norms. In our society, homosexual expression is rare because it is counternormative. The “counternormativity model” offered here holds that negative family environment weakens normative controls and increases counternormative thinking and behavior, which, in combination with sufficient homosexual potential and relevant, reinforcing experiences, can produce a homosexual orientation. This is a benign or positive model (innate potential plus release and reinforcement), in contrast to Roberts et al.’s negative model (abuse plus emotional compensation or cognitive distortion). The abuse model is criticized for being based on the sexual victimological paradigm, which developed to describe the female experience in rape and incest. This poorly fits the gay male experience, as demonstrated in a brief non-clinical literature review. Validly understanding male homosexuality, it is argued, requires the broad perspective, as employed here.
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Notes
Notably missing from this list is oral sex, which is quite common in the male homosexual population, including youthful members (Savin-Williams, 2006). Though some research participants may have selected “touching” or “intercourse” to represent their oral sex experience, it cannot be assumed that others did, which raises validity concerns for the CSA analyses.
Notably, the national survey analyzed by Roberts et al., like most such surveys, measured homosexual rather than gay attractions and behavior. Thus, caution is needed in interpreting this national survey—it cannot be assumed that the percent of those with homosexual attractions, for example, were strictly gay. A certain, unknown proportion, for example, could have been pederasts.
Unweighted means were computed owing to the outlier nature of one of the studies (i.e., Doll et al., 1992). This study, unlike the others, was quasi-clinical and asked its subjects “whether they were encouraged or forced to have sexual contact before the age of 19 with a person whom they perceived as older or more powerful than themselves” (p. 857), which is a biased question. Its “encouraged or forced” phrase suggests interactions that were mainly passive or unwanted, and its “more powerful” phrase frames the contacts in victimological terms. Compare their question, for example, with the completely neutral question in the Stanley et al. (2004) study: “As a child or adolescent, did you have any sexual contact with an adult or older person?” The other studies in the table, aside from Doll et al., also used neutral, unbiased questions. The sample size of Doll et al. was z = 2.22 above the mean sample size of the other studies, and its negative reaction percent was z = 1.89 above the mean negative reaction in the other studies, indicating the need for unweighted means as a corrective. Note also: positive, neutral, and negative percents did not add up to 100% because of rounding and uneven numbers of entries.
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Editor’s note
I asked Dr. Rind, one of the referees for the Roberts et al. (2013) article, to provide a commentary, to which he kindly agreed.
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Rind, B. Homosexual Orientation—From Nature, Not Abuse: A Critique of Roberts, Glymour, and Koenen (2013). Arch Sex Behav 42, 1653–1664 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-013-0080-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-013-0080-6