6 theories on the causes of homosexuality (according to science)

Different explanations for a phenomenon that for centuries has gone hand in hand with discrimination.

The question about the causes of homosexuality has been present in different discourses and scientific and philosophical research throughout modern times. Heirs of the more traditional and conservative conceptions of the Middle Ages that marked the beginnings of modern science, questions about sexual "minorities" have been approached and reformulated in an important way from different perspectives.

In this article we will take a brief look at some of the main scientific theories that have been the main scientific theories that have been asked about the causes of homosexuality.. We also reflect on the implications of constantly asking about the causes of what is represented as "different".

About what causes do we wonder?

In 1973, the American Psychological Association published the second version of the diagnostic and statistical manuals of mental illnesses, with the intention of unifying the clinical views on what is considered a disorder. This version included an important change with respect to the previous one: homosexuality was removed from the compendium of disorders.It was therefore no longer considered a mental pathology.

This was only a first step, partly as a consequence of the social mobilizations of homosexuals themselves. For its part, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its International Classification of Diseases until the 1990s. And it was not until the first decade of the year 2000 when the APA issued an official statement in which it assured that that there was no scientific validity to the "corrective therapies" for homosexuality of homosexuality that continued to be implemented in different places.

None of these measures seem to have resolved the doubt of many scientists and non-scientists as to why there are non-heterosexual people (and, therefore, have not entirely ended the social need to "correct" or expel it).

The question of "the different

As occurs with other "minority groups" (in which the difference before the hegemonic groups is highlighted in an important way), the question of what is the origin of this difference does not cease to be raised from different investigations; which, paradoxically, are constructed and present themselves as neutral.

This is partly a consequence of the fact that minority groups are often stereotyped and stereotyped from the prejudice of danger, the malicious, the less human or even the inferior. Thus, it is also frequent that, when they are not made invisible, they are represented from the place of antagonism.

This means that, a priori, many of the research questions have taken as a starting point and a have taken the heterosexual (male) subject as a point of departure and reference and, based on his body, have and, based on his body, experiences, desires, etc., questions about everything else have been formulated and answered.

This being so, it is not surprising that even in professional training in psychology and related areas the question of the causes of homosexuality continues to be asked. To put it another way, at the basis of many research questions lies an often invisible homophobic ideology. To exemplify this, we could do the brief exercise of asking ourselves why nobody or almost nobody asks (neither in research nor in everyday life) about the causes of heterosexuality.

Theories on the causes of homosexuality

Thus, a number of researches, with different scientific perspectives, have been developed to explain homosexuality. The following is a brief review of the main a brief review of the main proposals from psychoanalysis to genetic theories and psychosocial theories.

Psychodynamic theories

For Freudian psychoanalysis, psychic structuring is strongly linked to psychic development. is strongly linked to psychosexual development. Sexual definition is a process that is not determined by anatomical characteristics, but by the predominant sexual identification and the psychic choice of an object of desire. Homosexuality in this case is representative of a structuring in which a drive fixation has taken place towards the maternal figure in opposition to the paternal figure.

This leads to the structuring of an object of desire, which in this case corresponds to the same sex.. Such a process does not necessarily occur in the same way in men and women. In this context, Freud used the term "inverted" to refer to homosexuality, in an attempt to establish a difference with the commonly used term "pervert".

2. Biological determinism and genetic theories

Perhaps the theories that have had the greatest impact on the study of homosexuality have been those that are inscribed in the biologicist paradigms.. These range from Darwinian evolutionary theories to those that suggest that homosexuality is a consequence of certain genetic factors.

Based on the above, it is often thought that homosexuality is counterproductive for the reproduction of the species, so some research suggests that it is necessary to review this interpretation, since the principle of natural selection does not necessarily apply in the case of hetrosexuality-homosexuality..

According to some of these theories, there is the possibility of a significant increase in fertility in women with a homosexual maternal family. They have also suggested that genetic factors that are related to the X chromosome influence the homosexual orientation of men.

3. Endocrinological theories

Among the above explanations and those that follow are research and theories on endocrine activity. These suggest that homosexuality is a consequence of consequence of peri- or postnatal hormonal development.which in turn can be caused by different elements, for example hormonal treatments of the mother during gestation.

Likewise, these theories often emphasize the role of testosterone in the development of the brain and nervous system.. This hormone may cause animals to become masculinized, especially during the gestation period. Testosterone deficits in the perinatal development of males could generate male homosexuality, and high levels of the same hormone would generate female homosexuality. There are even theories that suggest that the latter is visible in the size of the fingers of the right hand; that is, depending on which finger is larger than another, the hand could be an indicator of homosexuality.

Finally, regarding gestational development, it has been proposed that sexual orientation is related to the body's immune response. related to the immune response of the mother's body, which, in turnThe latter, in turn, is related to the development and activity of the Y chromosome (these theories apply in the case of the male). Recent research has suggested that a certain reaction of the maternal body to proteins associated with this chromosome would increase the probability of the male being homosexual, as well as various medical complications.

4. Neurobiological theories

In the 1990s, the American neurobiologist Simon Levay carried out several investigations in which he compared the brain structures of homosexual men and heterosexual men..

In an attempt to stop discrimination against homosexual men (he was homosexual); the neurobiologist offered a series of answers that are still valid and debated to this day.

According to his studies, there is a difference in the hypothalamus between heterosexual and homosexual men. This is a nodule responsible for the regulation of the endocrine system, which in the case of homosexual men has similarities with the brain of heterosexual women. These investigations have been joined by different theories that suggest, for example, neurobiological differences in the development of men and women.

5. Biological diversity and sexual dissidence

In the context of the opening of different scientific and philosophical currents, and consequently of different social movements advocating the recognition of sexual diversity, queer theory has emerged. The latter assumes that both gender and sex are social constructs (consequently, sexual orientation in broad terms is also a social construct). As such, they generate a series of norms, desires and possibilities for action, as well as practices of exclusion, segregation and segregation. practices of exclusion, segregation and pathologization..

In this same context, the biologist Joan Roughgarden has taken up Darwinian theories on sexuality, but to turn them upside down. Her research suggests the existence of different sexual genders, and questions the existence of a sex-gender questions the existence of a binary sex-gender (i.e., one that is reduced to (i.e. that which is reduced to the possibility of being male or female, giving primacy to heterosexuality). The latter is visible not only in humans but also in many intersex animal species and species that have the possibility of changing their biological sex during their lifetime.

6. Homosexuality in other species

In the late 1990s, Bruce Bagemihl theorizes about sexual behavior in animals and proposes that, contrary to what was believed, such behavior takes different forms, even among animals belonging to the same species. From his research he reports that homosexual behavior in animals is visible in more than 500 species, ranging from primates to primates.ranging from primates to worms, including birds and mammals from different ecosystems.

Such behavior includes copulation, genital stimulation and in general behaviors of sexual exhibition between animals of the same sex. The same author discusses the evolutionary functions of homosexuality and proposes that they cannot be the same for all species. The criticisms made towards these investigations go in the same direction, that of finding reproductive and evolutionary benefits of sexual diversity from biological paradigms; which can also have repercussions in the disqualification of the same.