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PubMed1996

Do homosexual teachers pose a risk to pupils?

Questionnaires were completed by 5,182 adults derived from one-wave area cluster samples in 6 metropolitan areas: 56% of homosexuals and 18% of heterosexuals reported having had a homosexual teacher, 12% of the men and 4% of the women said that the teacher made sexual advances toward them. A fifth of those with a homosexual teacher said they were influenced to regard homosexuality as socially acceptable; 4% said that the teacher influenced them to try homosexuality. About 1% of the sample reported that, as pupils, they had sexual relations with at least one of their elementary or secondary teachers. Eight respondents reported their first sexual experience was with an elementary or secondary teacher and that one of these experiences was homosexual. Of 49 other reported sexual experiences with teachers, 12 were homosexual. The findings that homosexuals more frequently claimed to have had homosexual teachers and more frequently reported homosexual sex with teachers tend to fit the contagion model of homosexuality--that homosexuality is taught by or caught by sexual interaction with homosexual practitioners.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Homosexuality and the military.

OBJECTIVE: Homosexuality has remained a focus of military concern despite society's increasing acceptance of homosexual men and women and evidence that homosexuals have served and currently serve in the U.S. armed forces. President Clinton has stated a determination to end discrimination against homosexuals in the military and reverse the exclusionary policy on homosexuals serving in the armed forces. The authors review the history of the policy of the U.S. military to exclude homosexuals from serving in the armed forces. METHOD: The data for this study were drawn from military archives and court cases that have shaped U.S. policy excluding homosexuals from serving in the armed forces. The three main arguments are addressed: 1) homosexuality is a mental disorder rendering a person unstable, 2) homosexual service members are a source of poor morale for military units, and 3) homosexual service members are poor security risks. RESULTS: Considerable evidence demonstrates that homosexuals in the military pose no documented threat to national security and show no evidence of poor work performance. CONCLUSIONS: Although issues of morale and fraternization in the military remain challenges, no evidence in this review supports the exclusion of homosexuals from service in the U.S. armed forces.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

A survey of attitudes toward homosexuality in Hong Kong chinese medical students.

BACKGROUND: Homosexuality is now considered an alternative lifestyle occurring with some regularity as a variant of human sexuality, rather than a pathological disorder. It is important to understand the attitudes of medical professionals toward homosexuality, as their attitudes may influence their approach to gay men and lesbians as patients. It is also important to understand the current attitudes of medical students who will be the future generation of health care providers. PURPOSE: To study Chinese medical students' attitudes toward and personal experiences with homosexuality. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a university medical school. Medical students were asked 16 questions according to an anonymous survey questionnaire. RESULTS: Of the 780 medical students (42% male, 49% female, 10% sex anonymous) who received the questionnaire, 627 (80%) returned it. Of these students, 72% were age 18 to 22 years; 38% reported that they had homosexual friends. Only 16 students described themselves as homosexuals and 20 as bisexuals. A total of 249 students (40%) reported that they had a religion; 542 (86%) reported that they would accept their friends to be homosexuals. Two thirds thought that homosexual and heterosexual partners should have equal legal rights in terms of marriage, whereas slightly less than half (46%) thought they should have equal legal rights in adopting children. With regard to learning or working abilities, 93% thought homosexuals are not any different from heterosexuals. Two thirds thought homosexuals are not different from heterosexuals in terms of sexual behaviour such as promiscuity or loyalty. One fourth thought homosexuality is a psychological disorder that requires therapy. These findings did not differ significantly with seniority, but students with a religion held different attitudes than those without, and were more likely to believe that homosexuality is a psychological disorder, odds ratio (OR) = 2.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.59 .43, p < .001. Female students were more likely to have homosexual friends, OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.20 .48, p = .003, and more accepting attitudes, OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.24 .57, p = .002. CONCLUSIONS: The attitudes and experiences do not vary significantly between the 5 classes of medical students, but religious beliefs and gender might influence these attitudes. These findings can help medical teachers to be more sensitive in terms of educating their students.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

On the stability of stigmatization: the case of ex-homosexual males.

We undertook to empirically identify variables that influence the stigmatization of ex-homosexuals by analyzing the relationship between stigmatization and seven variables held to influence negative attitudes toward members of other ex-deviant groups: the stigmatizer's age, highest achieved educational level, amount of interaction the stigmatizer has had with an ex-homosexual, degree of effectiveness attributed to treatment in changing the homosexual to a heterosexual orientation, degree of responsibility that the stigmatizer attributes to ex-homosexuals for their prior homosexual behavior, degree of dangerousness attributed to ex-homosexuals, and degree of seriousness attributed to homosexuality. Analysis of data obtained by questionnaire from 281 respondents showed that the variable most strongly related to stigmatization of ex-homosexuals was the degree of dangerousness attributed to them. There was a profound direct relationship between these variables. Further, educational level, belief in the effectiveness of treatment, and amount of interaction of ex-homosexuals were inversely related to stigmatization, while degree of seriousness attributed to homosexuality was directly related to stigmatization. Respondents' tendency to stigmatize was not found to be related to age or to their attribution of responsibility to the ex-homosexual for his previous sexual orientation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Birth order and sibling sex ratio in two samples of Dutch gender-dysphoric homosexual males.

Two studies were undertaken to confirm the previous findings that homosexual men in general tend to have a later than expected birth order and that extremely feminine homosexual men also tend to have a higher than expected proportion of brothers (i.e., a higher sibling sex ratio). Subjects in Study 1 were Dutch, adult and adolescent, biological male patients with gender dysphoria (persistent and recurrent desires to belong to the opposite sex), who were undergoing treatment with feminizing hormones. These comprised 83 patients who reported sexual attraction to other males (the homosexual group) and 58 who reported sexual attraction to females or equal attraction to males and females (the non-homosexual group). Subjects in Study 2 were Dutch adolescent male patients at another hospital. The homosexual group consisted of 21 gender-dysphoric homosexual teenagers referred to a gender identity clinic for children and adolescents. The control group were 21 adolescent males referred to the child psychiatry department of the same hospital for reasons other than gender identity disorder, homosexuality, or transvestism. These were individually matched to the homosexual subjects on age and sibship size. In both studies, the homosexual group had a significantly later average birth order than the comparison group. In Study 1, the homosexual group had a significantly elevated sibling sex ratio; this was not tested in Study 2 because of its small sample size. These studies add to the mounting evidence that late birth orders are common to all homosexual samples and that elevated sibling sex ratios are an additional characteristic of extremely feminine ones.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Assessing homosexual stress.

The present study was designed to replicate and extend an existing technique for assessing homosexual stress using Personal Construct Theory. In addition to using difference scores between present and homosexual self-ratings on subjects' personal construct rating dimensions to determine homosexual stress, difference scores between ideal and homosexual selves were also studied to determine if this method would represent a more accurate assessment of homosexual stress. Levels of homosexual stress were obtained for each subject from each technique and were correlated with attitudes toward homosexuality. The influence of construct meaningfulness and level of homosexual stress on attitudes toward homosexuality was also explored to determine if higher stress on more meaningful constructs yields more negative attitudes. The results of this study revealed that each stress technique was significantly and equivalently positively correlated with negative attitudes toward homosexuality. Homosexual stress was found to be independent of the meaningfulness measures used but positively correlated with authoritarianism.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Homosexual identity: a concept in need of definition.

Despite the fact that the concept homosexual identity has been used extensively in the literature on homosexuality since the late 1960s, investigators have shown little concern for defining or discussing the manner in which it is used. As a result, the study of homosexual identity has been characterized by confusion, disarray, and ambiguity. A multiplicity of terminologies makes comparisons between studies difficult. There has been little attempt to place theoretical proposals or data within the framework of existing psychological literature on identity. A number of assumptions critical to an understanding of homosexual identity are commonly made, and several of these are discussed: The synonymity of homosexual identity and self-concept; homosexual identity as childhood identity; homosexual identity as sexual identity; and homosexuality as distinct essence. This review also considers the following issues: The distinction between identity and behavior; the utility of an identity construct as applied to the study of homosexuals; the definition of identity in developmental theories of homosexual identity; and homosexual group identity.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Homosexuality in ancient and modern Korea.

This paper examines Korean views on the subject of male homosexuality. Using historical and contemporary sources, it seeks to explain elements of new cultural openness towards homosexuality in modern Korea. Korean people's understanding and knowledge of male homosexuality is ambiguous and limited. In the absence of knowledge and open communication, most Korean people imagine that male homosexuality is an abnormal and impure modern phenomenon. Prejudice and confusion lead most Korean male homosexuals to be estranged from their families, religious communities and non-homosexual peers. Moreover, they are often viewed as the 'carriers' of AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). The purpose of this paper is to examine current Korean perspectives on male homosexuality by exploring both the ancient history of the practice of male homosexuality and current thinking about homosexual life among Koreans, which has played an important part in the formation of contemporary attitudes toward homosexuality.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Familiality of female and male homosexuality.

We examined data from a large cohort of homosexual and heterosexual females and males concerning their siblings' sexual orientations. As in previous studies, both male and female homosexuality were familial. Homosexual females had an excess of homosexual brothers compared to heterosexual subjects, thus providing evidence that similar familial factors influence both male and female homosexuality. Furthermore, despite the large sample size, homosexual females and males did not differ significantly from each other in their proportions of either homosexual sisters or homosexual brothers. Thus, results were most consistent with the possibility that similar familial factors influence male and female sexual orientation. However, because results conflicted with those of some other studies, and because siblings' sexual orientations were obtained in a manner likely to yield more errors than in these other, smaller studies, further work is needed using large samples and more careful methods before the degree of cofamiliality of male and female homosexuality can be resolved definitively. We also examined whether some parental influences comprised shared environmental effects on sexual orientation. Scales attempting to measure such influences failed to distinguish subjects with homosexual siblings from subjects with only heterosexual siblings and, thus, did not appear to measure shared environmental determinants of sexual orientation.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Opposite sex-linked behaviors and homosexual feelings in the predominantly heterosexual male majority.

Whether homosexual feelings are distributed categorically or dimensionally remains controversial. In an earlier series of studies, medical students anonymously reported a dimensional distribution of homosexual feelings, the ratio of homosexual to heterosexual feelings in men correlating with opposite sex-linked behaviors in childhood and adolescence, and, in both sexes, with current degree of opposite sex identity. Prevalence of homosexual feelings was markedly higher than that found in nonanonymous studies. In the present investigation, a study of male twins allowed investigation of the findings in 411 educationally more representative subjects. Awareness of some homosexual feelings was reported in adolescence by 20% and currently by 12%. As with medical students, the majority of those who reported some homosexual feelings were predominantly heterosexual, which could be considered to indicate such feelings were distributed dimensionally. Correlations between degree of homosexual feelings and avoidance of contact sport in childhood and adolescence, current wish to be of the opposite sex, and opposite sex identity remained present when subjects with equally bisexual and predominantly homosexual feelings were excluded from analysis. The finding that the majority of men with homosexual feelings are predominantly heterosexual renders implausible the theory that homosexual feelings result from fear of heterosexuality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Culturally invariable properties of male homosexuality: tentative conclusions from cross-cultural research.

While the behavior of homosexuals in some aspects is subject to cultural variability, this analysis explores the equally important question of cultural invariability. Based on several years of field work in homosexual communities in the United States, Guatemala, Brazil, and the Philippines, six tentative conclusions about cultural invariability are offered: (1) homosexual persons appear in all societies; (2) the percentage of homosexuals in all societies seems to be about the same and remains stable over time; (3) social norms do not impede or facilitate the emergence of homosexual orientation; (4) homosexual subcultures appear in all societies, given sufficient aggregates of people; (5) homosexuals in different societies tend to resemble each other with respect to certain behavioral interests and occupational choices; and (6) all societies produce similar continua from overtly masculine to overtly feminine homosexuals. Implications for this interpretation of homosexuality include the notion that homosexuality is not created by social structural arrangements but is rather a fundamental form of human sexuality acted out in different cultural settings.

Cross-Cultural Comparison↗
PubMed1982

Immunologic abnormalities in homosexual men. Relationship to Kaposi's sarcoma.

Studies were performed to define the immunologic status of various groups of homosexual men including homosexual men with Kaposi's sarcoma, healthy homosexual men who were of similar ages to the homosexual patients with Kaposi's sarcoma and homosexual men with hyperplastic lymphadenopathy. Heterosexual men with Kaposi's sarcoma were also studied. Immunologic parameters which were examined included serum immunoglobulin levels, enumeration of B cells, T cells, and T-cell subsets, and quantitation of lymphocyte responsive to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and pokeweed mitogen (PWM). Significant immunologic abnormalities were observed in all three groups of homosexuals studied. These were most severe in the homosexuals with Kaposi's sarcoma, somewhat less severe in homosexual men with lymphadenopathy, and least marked but still significant in healthy homosexual men. Heterosexual men with Kaposi's sarcoma displayed essentially normal immunologic profiles. The possible etiologic factors underlying the immunologic abnormalities in the male homosexual population studied and the role of an altered immune system in the development of and the fulminant course of Kaposi's sarcoma in these patients are discussed.

Homosexuality↗
PubMed1982

Personal constructs and homosexual stress.

This study introduced and elaborated a personal construct theory approach to the assessment of the potential for homosexual threat (homosexual stress). The measure, modified from personal construct research on death threat, was tested with 20 male and 20 female undergraduates. Those individuals who were more stressed by homosexuality were those with more negative attitudes toward homosexuality. Further, those individuals with the most negative attitudes toward homosexuals were those who saw homosexuality as invalidating more important constructs. Males who reviewed homosexuality as more stressful tended to construe homosexuality as a more personally meaningful issue; females showed the opposite tendency. The homosexual stress measure was independent of authoritarianism and was no highly related to religious fundamentalism. It is hoped that this new measure will give researchers a method of assessing the potential for homosexual threat that is both more direct and less obvious than existing face-valid questionnaires.

Attitude↗
PubMed1990

AIDS-associated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Italy: intravenous drug users versus homosexual men. The Italian Cooperative Group on AIDS-Related Tumors (GICAT).

Because of growing evidence that there are differences in the natural history of HIV infection in intravenous drug users (IVDU) and homosexual men, the clinicopathological features and response to treatment of AIDS-related non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) were analyzed in 150 cases (96 IVDU and 31 homosexual men) by the Italian Cooperative Group on AIDS-related tumors. Twenty-three patients fell within other risk groups. The median age was 26 years for the IVDU and 38 for the homosexual men. Forty percent of patients in both of the risk groups manifested full-blown AIDS prior to development of the lymphoma. In both groups, most of the NHL were of high or intermediate type (IVDU 96%, homosexual men 86%). In high-grade NHL, Burkitt's type lymphoma was present in 40% of the homosexual men and in 29% of the IVDU (a non-significant difference), while an immunoblastic lymphoma was diagnosed in 46% of IVDU and 27% of homosexual men (non-significant). No oral localizations were observed, and one homosexual presented with a rectal lymphoma. Almost half of the patients (47%) received no antineoplastic treatment because of rapid disease progression or of diagnosis only at post-mortem. Intensive combination regimens administered in one-third of both IVDU and homosexual men (compared to CHOP or CHOP-like combinations) provided more CR (3/13 vs 3/24 in IVDU and 2/3 vs 1/7 in homosexuals), although the overall survivals with both the intensive and less intensive chemotherapy protocols remained similar. Overall, the median survival was 3.7 months for IVDU and 3.6 months for homosexual men. The most reliable predictors for survival were opportunistic infections at onset in IVDU.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1992

Sibship size, sibling sex ratio, birth order, and parental age in homosexual and nonhomosexual gender dysphorics.

This study investigated whether demographic variables previously reported to differentiate ordinary homosexuals from heterosexuals also differentiate gender-dysphoric homosexuals from gender-dysphoric persons with other sexual orientations. Subjects were outpatients aged 16 and older who were referred by physicians to a specialty clinic for the assessment of gender identity disorders. The subjects were divided into three groups: 204 homosexual women, 193 homosexual men, and 273 nonhomosexual men; the last category included men sexually attracted to females, to both sexes, and to neither sex. Demographic data on patients' families of origin were extracted from their clinical charts and from structured interview protocols. A multiple-range test at the .05 level showed that the homosexual men had significantly more siblings than the homosexual women, who, in turn, had significantly more siblings than the nonhomosexual men. The sibling sex ratio of the homosexual men, 131 brothers per 100 sisters, was significantly higher than the sex ratio of live births for the population as a whole (106 men per 100 women; p = .01); the sibling sex ratios of the other groups did not differ from the expected value. The homosexual men had a significantly later birth order than the nonhomosexual men (p = .004); the homosexual women, who fell in between, did not differ significantly from either male group. There were no between-groups differences in paternal or maternal age at the time of the subject's birth. The results concerning sibling sex ratio and birth order are consistent with previous findings for homosexual men.

Birth Order↗
PubMed1998

Homosexual parents: a comparative forensic study of character and harms to children.

40 appeals cases of custody disputes drawn systematically from all cases involving a homosexual parent in the United States were compared to 38 appeals cases involving heterosexual custody disputes drawn randomly from listings under parental "character" and 18 appeals cases drawn randomly from "general" cases in Dicennial Digest from 1966 to 1991. Each case involving homosexual vs heterosexual claimants was examined for recorded information about (1) the character of the homosexual parent, the associates of the homosexual parent, the heterosexual parent, and the associates of the heterosexual parent, (2) the effects, particularly harms, upon the child(ren), and (3) psychiatric opinion. 82% of the homosexual vs 18% of the heterosexual parents and 54% of the homosexual's associates vs 19% of the heterosexuals' associates were recorded as having poor character in cases involving a homosexual claimant. Of the 66 recorded harms, e.g., molestation, physical abuse, to the 73 children, homosexual persons accounted for 64 (97%). Of the 32 lesbians, 6 were recorded as having engaged in criminal activity and 3 of bringing false charges of child sexual abuse against the father. Psychiatric opinion, however, ran 25 to 12 in favor of custody for the homosexual parent. In the 56 heterosexual vs heterosexual comparison cases, 38% of the heterosexual parents and 28% of their associates were recorded as having poor character. Six harms to their 105 children and 3 instances of criminality but no false charges of sexual abuse were recorded. In the appeals court literature, homosexual parents were disproportionately of poor character and disproportionately associated with various harms to their children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Contact tracing for gonorrhoea in homosexual and heterosexual men.

We aimed to determine whether the success of partner notification for gonorrhoea in men was affected by sexual orientation. Analysis of standard clinic and health adviser records of all male patients found to be infected with gonorrhoea between October 1992 and September 1993 were carried out. Of the 278 cases of gonorrhoea in men, 9% (25) were acquired through homosexual intercourse and 91% (253) by heterosexual contact. Fifteen per cent (24) of Caucasians were homosexual but only 0.9% (1) of Afro-Caribbeans were. The mean number of contacts was 1.36 for homosexuals and 1.38 for heterosexuals. Contact information was given by 55% of heterosexuals and 48% of homosexuals. The proportion of acknowledged contacts attending was 38% for homosexuals and 56% for heterosexuals (P = 0.054). Fifty-two per cent of homosexuals and 59% of heterosexuals had at least one contact attend. Data analysis on Caucasians only showed Caucasian gay men had a higher mean number of contacts (1.38) than Caucasian heterosexuals (1.28). Caucasian homosexuals had a lower proportion of contacts attending (40% vs. 77%) (P = 0.05), 54% of homosexual men and 60% of heterosexual men had at least one contact attending (P = 0.74). There is a trend for partner notification to be less successful in homosexual men when all ethnic groups are considered together. In Caucasian men with gonorrhoea, homosexuals have a greater number of partners than heterosexuals and have a lower proportion of total contacts attending but there is no difference in the proportion having at least one contact attending. Data on sexual orientation and ethnicity should be reported in studies assessing efficacy of contact tracing.

Contact Tracing↗
PubMed1990

[Vulvoplethysmographic reaction in homosexually-oriented women].

The author examined, using an electrocapacitance VPG apparatus, 50 women reporting homosexual orientation. The results were compared with a control group of 50 women volunteers who reported a defined heterosexual orientation and had no marked complaints and problems in their sexual life. The general vasomotor reactivity in response to erotic stimuli did not differ in the two groups of women (the number of recorded vasomotor reactions differed only insignificantly). During evaluation of the total number of positive reactions to heterosexual and homosexual categories of stimuli the difference between the two groups was highly significant (similarly as during evaluation of the number of positive reactions which were described as major reactions). Women of the homosexually oriented group responded as expected, significantly more frequently and more markedly to homosexual stimuli. As compared with the control group of heterosexually oriented women, they had a generally poorer capacity to differentiate between different categories of erotic stimuli and a lower reactivity during projection of slides of homosexual partnership activities than during projection of slides of homosexual objects (nudes). In all examined women of the control group an unequivocal heterosexual orientation was recorded, in the group of homosexual women a more or less defined homosexual orientation was confirmed. In both groups was a high correlation between the subjectively reported sexual orientation and the results of the VPG examination. The authors confirmed that it is possible to use electrocapacitance vulvoplethysmography as evidence of the homosexual orientation in women and that this psychophysiological examination method is relatively reliable in the diagnosis of female homosexuality.

Adult↗