Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T15:58:39.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Neuroendocrine Mechanisms and the Aetiology of Male and Female Homosexuality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Malcolm J. MacCulloch  and
John L. Waddington
Malcolm J. MacCulloch*
Affiliation:
Department of Health and Social Security (Mental Health), Alexander Fleming House, Elephant and Castle, London SE1 6BY, U.K.
John L. Waddington
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, MRC Clinical Research Centre, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ, U.K.
*
∗ Present address: Park Lane Hospital, Liverpool, L31 1HW, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Theories on the classification and aetiology of male homosexuality are reviewed, particularly recent hypotheses on the role of prenatal hormonal influences on brain sexual differentiation and subsequent sexual object choice in the male. Female as well as male brain sexual differentiation may be hormonally determined, and so primary homosexuality in both sexes may be due to abnormalities in foetal exposure to hormones, leading first to physical mis-differentiation and later to homosexual behaviour in genetically and phenotypically normal men and women.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 139 , Issue 4 , October 1981 , pp. 341 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barraclough, C. A. & Gorski, R. A. (1961) Evidence that the hypothalamus is responsible for androgen-induced sterility in the female rat. Endocrinology, 68, 68—79.Google Scholar
Barraclough, C. A. & Turgeon, J. L. (1975) Ontogeny of development of the hypothalamic regulation of gonadotrophin secretion: Effects of perinatal sex steroid exposure. Symposia of the Society for Developmental Biology, 33, 255–73.Google Scholar
Bell, G. H., Davidson, J. N. & Scarborough, H. (1968) Textbook of Physiology and Biochemistry, p. 470. London: Livingstone.Google Scholar
Bermant, G. & Davidson, J. N. (1974) Biological Bases of Sexual Behaviour. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Bidlingmaier, F., Knorr, D. & Neumann, F. (1977) Inhibition of masculine differentiation in male offspring of rabbits actively immunized against testosterone before pregnancy. Nature, 266, 647–8.Google Scholar
Brodie, H. K., Gartrell, N., Doering, C. & Rhue, T. (1974) Plasma testosterone levels in heterosexual and homosexual men. American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 82–3.Google Scholar
Demoor, P. & Denef, C. (1968) The puberty of the rat liver. Feminine pattern of Cortisol metabolism in male rats castrated at birth. Endocrinology, 82, 480–92.Google Scholar
Dewhurst, K. (1969) Sexual activity and urinary steroids in man with special reference to male homosexuality. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 1413–15.Google Scholar
Dorfman, R. I. (1967) The anti-estrogenic and anti-androgenic activities of progesterone in the defense of a normal foetus. Anatomical Record, 157, 547–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorner, G., Rhode, W., Stahl, F., Krell, L. & Masius, W. G. (1975) A neuroendocrine predisposition for homosexuality in man. Archives of Sexual Behaviour, 4, 1—8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, A. (1963) Constitutional factors in homosexuality. A re-examination of the evidence. In Advances in Sex Research (ed. Beigel, H.). New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Ehrhardt, A. A. & Money, J. (1967) Progestin-induced hermaphroditism: I.Q. and psychosexual identity in a study of ten girls. Journal of Sex Research, 3, 83—100.Google Scholar
Ehrhardt, A. A., Epstein, R. & Money, J. (1968a) Fetal androgens and female gender identity in the early treated adrenogenital syndrome. Johns Hopkins Medical Journal, 122, 160–7.Google Scholar
Ehrhardt, A. A., Evers, K. & Money, J. (1968b) Influence of androgen on some aspects of sexually dimorphic behaviour in women with late-treated adrenogenital syndrome. Johns Hopkins Medical Journal, 123, 115–22.Google Scholar
Ehrhardt, A. A., Greenberg, N. & Money, J. (1970) Female gender identity and absence of fetal gonadal hormones: Turner's syndrome. Johns Hopkins Medical Journal, 126, 237–48.Google ScholarPubMed
Ehrhardt, A. A. & Baker, S. W. (1974) Fetal androgens, human central nervous system differentiation and behaviour sex differences. In Sex Differences in Behaviour (eds. Friedman, R. C., Richart, R. M. and Van der Wiele, R. L.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Feldman, M. P. & Macculoch, M. J. (1971) Homosexual Behaviour: Therapy and Assessment. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Gandelman, R., von Saal, F. S. & Reinisch, J. M. (1977) Contiguity to male foetuses affects morphology and behaviour of female mice. Nature, 266, 722–4.Google Scholar
Goldman, A. S., Root, A. W., Duckett, G. & Shapiro, B. H. (1975) Pituitary hormone secretion in the genetically male rat pseudohermaphrodite. Journal of Endocrinology, 64, 249–55.Google Scholar
Grady, K. L. & Phoenix, C. H. (1963) Hormonal determinants of mating behaviour; the display of feminine behaviour by adult male rats castrated neonatally. American Zoologist, 3, 482–3.Google Scholar
Grady, K. L., Phoenix, C. H. & Young, W. C. (1965) Role of the developing rat testis in differentiation of the neural tissues mediating mating behaviour. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 59, 176–82.Google Scholar
Harris, G. W. (1964) Sex hormones, brain development and brain function. Endocrinology, 74, 627–48.Google Scholar
Heston, L. & Shields, J. (1968) Homosexuality in twins: a family study and a registry study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 18, 149–60.Google Scholar
James, S., Carter, R. A. & Orwin, A. (1977) Significance of androgen levels in the aetiology and treatment of homosexuality. Psychological Medicine, 7, 427–9.Google Scholar
Jost, A. (1953) Problems of fetal endocrinology: the gonadal and hypophyseal hormones. Recent Progress in Hormone Research, 8, 319—413.Google Scholar
Kolodny, R. C. Masters, W. H., Hendryx, J. & Toro, G. (1971) Plasma testosterone and semen analysis in male homosexuals. New England Journal of Medicine, 285, 1170–4.Google Scholar
Macculoch, M. J. & Feldman, M. P. (1977) On the aetiology of homosexuality. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicologia, 9, 101–15.Google Scholar
McGuire, R. J., Carlisle, J. M. & Young, B. G. (1965) Sexual deviations as conditioned behaviour: a hypothesis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 3, 185–90.Google Scholar
Money, J., Hampson, J. G. & Hampson, J. L. (1957) Imprinting and the establishment of gender role. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 77, 333–6.Google Scholar
Money, J., Lewis, V., Ehrhardt, A. A. & Drash, P. W. (1967) I.Q. impairment and elevation in endocrine and related cytogenetic disorders. In Psychopathology of Mental Development (ed. Zobin, J.). New York: Grune and Stratton.Google Scholar
Money, J., Ehrhardt, A. A. & Masica, D. N. (1968) Fetal feminization induced by androgen insensitivity in the testicular feminization syndrome: effect on marriage and maternalism. Johns Hopkins Medical Journal, 123, 105–14.Google Scholar
Money, J. & Ehrhardt, A. A. (1972) Man and Woman, Boy and Girl. Baltimore: John Hopkins Press.Google Scholar
Nillius, S. J. & Wiede, L. (1971) Induction of a midcycle-like peak of luteinizing hormone in young women by exogenous oestradiol-17B. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Commonwealth, 78, 822–7.Google Scholar
Pfeiffer, C. A. (1936) Sexual differences of the hypophyses and their determination by the gonads. American Journal of Anatomy, 58, 195—225.Google Scholar
Phoenix, C. H., Goy, R. W., Gerall, A. A. & Young, W. C. (1959) Organizing action of prenatally administered testosterone propionate on the tissues mediating mating behaviour in the female guinea-pig. Endocrinology, 65, 369–82.Google Scholar
Sambrooks, J. E. & Macculoch, M. J. (1973) A modification of the sexual orientation method and an automated technique for presentation and scoring. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 12, 163–74.Google Scholar
Shapiro, B. H., Goldman, A. S., Steinbeck, H. F. & Neumann, F. (1976a) Is feminine differentiation of the brain hormonally determined? Experientia, 32, 650–1.Google Scholar
Shapiro, B. H., Goldman, A. S., Bongiovanni, A. M. & Marino, J. M. (1976b) Neonatal progesterone and feminine sexual development. Nature, 264, 795–6.Google Scholar
Tourney, G. & Hatfield, L. M. (1973) Androgen metabolism in schizophrenics, homosexuals, and normal controls. Biological Psychiatry, 6, 23–6.Google Scholar
Tsai, C. C. & Yen, S. S. C. (1971) Acute effects of intravenous infusion of 17β-estradiol on gonadotropin release in pre- and post-menopausal women. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology, 32, 766–71.Google Scholar
Van Der Wiele, R. L., Bogumil, F., Dyrenfurth, I., Ferin, M., Jewelewics, R., Warren, M., Rizkallah, J. & Mikhail, G. (1970) Mechanisms regulating the menstrual cycle in women. Recent Progress in Hormone Research, 26, 62—95.Google Scholar
Wilkins, L., Jones, H. W., Holman, G. H. & Stempeel, R. S. (1958) Masculinization of the female fetus associated with administration of oral and intramuscular progestins during gestation. Non-adrenal female pseudhermaphrodism. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology, 18, 559–85.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. G., Hamilton, J. B. & Young, W. C. (1941) Influence of age and presence of the ovaries on reproductive function in rats injected with androgen. Endocrinology, 29, 784–9.Google Scholar
Yalom, I. D., Green, R. & Fisk, N. (1973) Prenatal exposure to female hormones: effect on psychosexual development in boys. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 454–61.Google Scholar
Zuger, B. (1976) Monozygotic twins discordant for homosexuality: report of a pair and significance of the phenomenon. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 17, 661–9.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.