(October 13, 2016 at 1:12 pm)Jesster Wrote: This thing reads like massive opinion article. How is this scientific? I can certainly see how someone would love the anti-LGBT edge to it, though.

Below is the list of references cited in Part One. Usually opinion pieces do not make so many scientific journal citations. I guess I don't understand the immediate dismissal on the assumption that the report is anti-LBGT. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. I haven't rendered any such judgment. My initial assessment is only that it is interesting and as of yet I haven't noticed anything suggesting any overt bias or political agenda. Maybe my initial opinion will change after reading the article in its entirety.

[small]Notes

[*] “Operationalizing” refers to the way social scientists make a variable measurable. Homosexuality may be operationalized as the answers that survey respondents give to questions about their sexual orientation. Or it could be operationalized as answers to questions about their desires, attractions, and behavior. Operationalizing variables in ways that will reliably measure the trait or behavior being studied is a difficult but important part of any social science research.
[1] Alex Witchel, “Life After ‘Sex,’” The New York Times Magazine, January 19, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/magazi...n-wit.html.
[2] Brandon Ambrosino, “I Wasn’t Born This Way. I Choose to Be Gay,” The New Republic, January 28, 2014, https://newrepublic.com/article/116378/m...-being-gay.
[3] J. Michael Bailey et al., “A Family History Study of Male Sexual Orientation Using Three Independent Samples,” Behavior Genetics 29, no. 2 (1999): 79–86, http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1021652204405; Andrea Camperio-Ciani, Francesca Corna, Claudio Capiluppi, “Evidence for maternally inherited factors favouring male homosexuality and promoting female fecundity,” Proceedings of the Royal Society B 271, no. 1554 (2004): 2217–2221, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.2872; Dean H. Hamer et al., “A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation,” Science 261, no. 5119 (1993): 321–327, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.8332896.
[4] Elizabeth Norton, “Homosexuality May Start in the Womb,” Science, December 11, 2012, http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/12/h...start-womb.
[5] Mark Joseph Stern, “No, Being Gay Is Not a Choice,” Slate, February 4, 2014, http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/...don_t.html.
[6] David Nimmons, “Sex and the Brain,” Discover, March 1, 1994, http://discovermagazine.com/1994/mar/sexandthebrain346/.
[7] Leonard Sax, Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences (New York: Doubleday, 2005), 206.
[8] Benoit Denizet-Lewis, “The Scientific Quest to Prove Bisexuality Exists,” The New York Times Magazine, March 20, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/magazi...xists.html.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Stephen B. Levine, “Reexploring the Concept of Sexual Desire,” Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 28, no. 1 (2002), 39, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/009262302317251007.
[12] Ibid.
[13] See Lori A. Brotto et al., “Sexual Desire and Pleasure,” in APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology, Volume 1: Person-based Approaches, APA (2014): 205–244; Stephen B. Levine, “Reexploring the Concept of Sexual Desire,” Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 28, no. 1 (2002): 39–51, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/009262302317251007; Lisa M. Diamond, “What Does Sexual Orientation Orient? A Biobehavioral Model Distinguishing Romantic Love and Sexual Desire,” Psychological Review 110, no. 1 (2003): 173–192, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.110.1.173; Gian C. Gonzaga et al., “Romantic Love and Sexual Desire in Close Relationships,” Emotion 6, no. 2 (2006): 163–179, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.6.2.163.
[14] Alexander R. Pruss, One Body: An Essay in Christian Sexual Ethics (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012), 360.
[15] Neil A. Campbell and Jane B. Reece, Biology, Seventh Edition (San Francisco: Pearson Education, 2005), 973.
[16] See, for instance, Nancy Burley, “The Evolution of Concealed Ovulation,” American Naturalist 114, no. 6 (1979): 835–858, http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/283532.
[17] David Woodruff Smith, “Phenomenology,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2013), http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/.
[18] See, for instance, Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality, Third Edition (New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, 1987).
[19] Marc-André Raffalovich, Uranisme et unisexualité: étude sur différentes manifestations de l’instinct sexuel (Lyon, France: Storck, 1896).
[20] See, generally, Brocard Sewell, In the Dorian Mode: Life of John Gray 1866–1934 (Padstow, Cornwall, U.K.: Tabb House, 1983).
[21] For more on the Kinsey scale, see “Kinsey’s Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale,” Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/...-scale.php.
[22] Brief as Amicus Curiae of Daniel N. Robinson in Support of Petitioners and Supporting Reversal, Hollingsworth v. Perry, 133 S. Ct. 2652 (2013).
[23] See, for example, John Bowlby, “The Nature of the Child’s Tie to His Mother,” The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 39 (1958): 350–373.
[24] Edward O. Laumann et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994).
[25] American Psychological Association, “Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality,” 2008, http://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/orientation.pdf.
[26] Laumann et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality, 300–301.
[27] Lisa M. Diamond and Ritch C. Savin-Williams, “Gender and Sexual Identity,” in Handbook of Applied Development Science, eds. Richard M. Lerner, Francine Jacobs, and Donald Wertlieb (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, 2002), 101. See also A. Elfin Moses and Robert O. Hawkins, Counseling Lesbian Women and Gay Men: A Life-Issues Approach (Saint Louis, Mo.: Mosby, 1982).
[28] John. C. Gonsiorek and James D. Weinrich, “The Definition and Scope of Sexual Orientation,” in Homosexuality: Research Implications for Public Policy, eds. John. C. Gonsiorek and James D. Weinrich (Newberry Park, Calif.: SAGE Publications, 1991), 8.
[29] Letitia Anne Peplau et al., “The Development of Sexual Orientation in Women,” Annual Review of Sex Research 10, no. 1 (1999): 83, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10532528.1999.10559775.
[30] Lisa M. Diamond, “New Paradigms for Research on Heterosexual and Sexual-Minority Development,” Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology 32, no. 4 (2003): 492.
[31] Franz J. Kallmann, “Comparative Twin Study on the Genetic Aspects of Male Homosexuality,” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 115, no. 4 (1952): 283–298, http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00005053-195201000-00025.
[32] Edward Stein, The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 145.
[33] J. Michael Bailey, Michael P. Dunne, and Nicholas G. Martin, “Genetic and environmental influences on sexual orientation and its correlates in an Australian twin sample,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78, no. 3 (2000): 524–536, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.78.3.524.
[34] Bailey and colleagues calculated these concordance rates using a “strict” criterion for determining non-heterosexuality, which was a Kinsey score of 2 or greater. They also calculated concordance rates using a “lenient” criterion, a Kinsey score of 1 or greater. The concordance rates for this lenient criterion were 38% for men and 30% for women in identical twins, compared to 6% for men and 30% for women in fraternal twins. The differences between the identical and fraternal concordance rates using the lenient criterion were statistically significant for men but not for women.
[35] Bailey, Dunne, and Martin, “Genetic and environmental influences on sexual orientation and its correlates in an Australian twin sample,” 534.
[36] These examples are drawn from Ned Block, “How heritability misleads about race,” Cognition 56, no. 2 (1995): 103–104, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(95)00678-R.
[37] Niklas Långström et al., “Genetic and Environmental Effects on Same-sex Sexual Behavior: A Population Study of Twins in Sweden,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 39, no. 1 (2010): 75–80, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-008-9386-1.
[38] Ibid., 79.
[39] Peter S. Bearman and Hannah Brückner, “Opposite-Sex Twins and Adolescent Same-Sex Attraction,” American Journal of Sociology 107, no. 5 (2002): 1179–1205, http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/341906.
[40] Ibid., 1199.
[41] See, for example, Ray Blanchard and Anthony F. Bogaert, “Homosexuality in men and number of older brothers,” American Journal of Psychiatry 153, no. 1 (1996): 27–31, http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/ajp.153.1.27.
[42] Peter S. Bearman and Hannah Brückner, 1198.
[43] Ibid., 1198.
[44] Ibid., 1179.
[45] Kenneth S. Kendler et al., “Sexual Orientation in a U.S. National Sample of Twin and Nontwin Sibling Pairs,” American Journal of Psychiatry 157, no. 11 (2000): 1843–1846, http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.157.11.1843.
[46] Ibid., 1845.
[47] Quantitative genetic studies, including twin studies, rely on an abstract model based on many assumptions, rather than on the measurement of correlations between genes and phenotypes. This abstract model is used to infer the presence of a genetic contribution to a trait by means of correlation among relatives. Environmental effects can be controlled in experiments with laboratory animals, but in humans this is not possible, so it is likely that the best that can be done is to study identical twins raised apart. But it should be noted that even these studies can be somewhat misinterpreted because identical twins adopted separately tend to be adopted into similar socioeconomic environments. The twin studies on homosexuality do not include any separated twin studies, and the study designs report few effective controls for environmental effects (for instance, identical twins likely share a common rearing environment to a greater extent than ordinary siblings or even fraternal twins).
[48] Dean H. Hamer et al., “A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation,” Science 261, no. 5119 (1993): 321–327, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.8332896.
[49] George Rice et al., “Male Homosexuality: Absence of Linkage to Microsatellite Markers at Xq28,” Science 284, no. 5414 (1999): 665–667, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.284.5414.665.
[50] Alan R. Sanders et al., “Genome-wide scan demonstrates significant linkage for male sexual orientation,” Psychological Medicine 45, no. 07 (2015): 1379–1388, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291714002451.
[51] E.M. Drabant et al., “Genome-Wide Association Study of Sexual Orientation in a Large, Web-based Cohort,” 23andMe, Inc., Mountain View, Calif. (2012), http://blog.23andme.com/wp-content/uploa...ter-v7.pdf.
[52] Richard C. Francis, Epigenetics: How Environment Shapes Our Genes (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012).
[53] See, for example, Richard P. Ebstein et al., “Genetics of Human Social Behavior,” Neuron 65, no. 6 (2010): 831–844, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2010.02.020.
[54] Dean Hamer, “Rethinking Behavior Genetics,” Science 298, no. 5591 (2002): 71, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1077582.
[55] For an overview of the distinction between the organizational and activating effects of hormones and its importance in the field of endocrinology, see Arthur P. Arnold, “The organizational-activational hypothesis as the foundation for a unified theory of sexual differentiation of all mammalian tissues,” Hormones and Behavior 55, no. 5 (2009): 570–578, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2009.03.011.
[56] Melissa Hines, “Prenatal endocrine influences on sexual orientation and on sexually differentiated childhood behavior,” Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 32, no. 2 (2011): 170–182, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2011.02.006.
[57] Eugene D. Albrecht and Gerald J. Pepe, “Estrogen regulation of placental angiogenesis and fetal ovarian development during primate pregnancy,” The International Journal of Developmental Biology 54, no. 2–3 (2010): 397–408, http://dx.doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.082758ea.
[58] Sheri A. Berenbaum, “How Hormones Affect Behavioral and Neural Development: Introduction to the Special Issue on ‘Gonadal Hormones and Sex Differences in Behavior,’” Developmental Neuropsychology 14 (1998): 175–196, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/87565649809540708.
[59] Jean D. Wilson, Fredrick W. George, and James E. Griffin, “The Hormonal Control of Sexual Development,” Science 211 (1981): 1278–1284, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.7010602.
[60] Ibid.
[61] See, for example, Celina C.C. Cohen-Bendahan, Cornelieke van de Beek, and Sheri A. Berenbaum, “Prenatal sex hormone effects on child and adult sex-typed behavior: methods and findings,” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 29, no. 2 (2005): 353–384, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.11.004; Marta Weinstock, “The potential influence of maternal stress hormones on development and mental health of the offspring,” Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 19, no. 4 (2005): 296–308, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2004.09.006; Marta Weinstock, “Gender Differences in the Effects of Prenatal Stress on Brain Development and Behaviour,” Neurochemical Research 32, no. 10 (2007): 1730–1740, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11064-007-9339-4.
[62] Vivette Glover, T.G. O’Connor, and Kieran O’Donnell, “Prenatal stress and the programming of the HPA axis,” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 35, no. 1 (2010): 17–22, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.11.008.
[63] See, for example, Felix Beuschlein et al., “Constitutive Activation of PKA Catalytic Subunit in Adrenal Cushing’s Syndrome,” New England Journal of Medicine 370, no. 11 (2014): 1019–1028, http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1310359.
[64] Phyllis W. Speiser, and Perrin C. White, “Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia,” New England Journal of Medicine 349, no. 8 (2003): 776–788, http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra021561.
[65] Ibid., 776.
[66] Ibid.
[67] Ibid., 778.
[68] Phyllis W. Speiser et al., “Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Due to Steroid 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline,” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 95, no. 9 (2009): 4133–4160, http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jc.2009-2631.
[69] Melissa Hines, “Prenatal endocrine influences on sexual orientation and on sexually differentiated childhood behavior,” 173–174.
[70] Ieuan A. Hughes et al., “Androgen insensitivity syndrome,” The Lancet 380, no. 9851 (2012): 1419–1428, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60071-3.
[71] Ibid., 1420.
[72] Ibid., 1419.
[73] Melissa S. Hines, Faisal Ahmed, and Ieuan A. Hughes, “Psychological Outcomes and Gender-Related Development in Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 32, no. 2 (2003): 93–101, http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1022492106974.
[74] See, for example, Claude J. Migeon Wisniewski et al., “Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome: Long-Term Medical, Surgical, and Psychosexual Outcome,” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 85, no. 8 (2000): 2664–2669, http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jcem.85.8.6742.
[75] Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis, “Gender Change in 46,XY Persons with 5α-Reductase-2 Deficiency and 17β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase-3 Deficiency,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 34, no. 4 (2005): 399–410, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-005-4339-4.
[76] Ibid., 399.
[77] See, for example, Johannes Hönekopp et al., “Second to fourth digit length ratio (2D:4D) and adult sex hormone levels: New data and a meta-analytic review,” Psychoneuroendocrinology 32, no. 4 (2007): 313–321, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2007.01.007.
[78] Terrance J. Williams et al., “Finger-length ratios and sexual orientation,” Nature 404, no. 6777 (2000): 455–456, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/35006555.
[79] S.J. Robinson and John T. Manning, “The ratio of 2nd to 4th digit length and male homosexuality,” Evolution and Human Behavior 21, no. 5 (2000): 333–345, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(00)00052-0.
[80] Qazi Rahman and Glenn D. Wilson, “Sexual orientation and the 2nd to 4th finger length ratio: evidence for organising effects of sex hormones or developmental instability?,” Psychoneuroendocrinology 28, no. 3 (2003): 288–303, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4530(02)00022-7.
[81] Richard A. Lippa, “Are 2D:4D Finger-Length Ratios Related to Sexual Orientation? Yes for Men, No for Women,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85, no. 1 (2003): 179–188, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.1.179; Dennis McFadden and Erin Shubel, “Relative Lengths of Fingers and Toes in Human Males and Females,” Hormones and Behavior 42, no. 4 (2002): 492–500, http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/hbeh.2002.1833.
[82] Lynn S. Hall and Craig T. Love, “Finger-Length Ratios in Female Monozygotic Twins Discordant for Sexual Orientation,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 32, no. 1 (2003): 23–28, http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1021837211630.
[83] Ibid., 23.
[84] Martin Voracek, John T. Manning, and Ivo Ponocny, “Digit ratio (2D:4D) in homosexual and heterosexual men from Austria,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 34, no. 3 (2005): 335–340, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-005-3122-x.
[85] Ibid., 339.
[86] Günter Dörner et al., “Stressful Events in Prenatal Life of Bi- and Homosexual Men,” Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology 81, no. 1 (1983): 83–87, http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0029-1210210.
[87] See, for example, Lee Ellis et al., “Sexual orientation of human offspring may be altered by severe maternal stress during pregnancy,” Journal of Sex Research 25, no. 2 (1988): 152–157, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224498809551449; J. Michael Bailey, Lee Willerman, and Carlton Parks, “A Test of the Maternal Stress Theory of Human Male Homosexuality,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 20, no. 3 (1991): 277–293, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01541847; Lee Ellis and Shirley Cole-Harding, “The effects of prenatal stress, and of prenatal alcohol and nicotine exposure, on human sexual orientation,” Physiology & Behavior 74, no. 1 (2001): 213–226, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(01)00564-9.
[88] Melissa Hines et al., “Prenatal Stress and Gender Role Behavior in Girls and Boys: A Longitudinal, Population Study,” Hormones and Behavior 42, no. 2 (2002): 126–134, http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/hbeh.2002.1814.
[89] Simon LeVay, “A Difference in Hypothalamic Structure between Heterosexual and Homosexual Men,” Science 253, no. 5023 (1991): 1034–1037, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1887219.
[90] William Byne et al., “The Interstitial Nuclei of the Human Anterior Hypothalamus: An Investigation of Variation with Sex, Sexual Orientation, and HIV Status,” Hormones and Behavior 40, no. 2 (2001): 87, http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/hbeh.2001.1680.
[91] Ibid., 91.
[92] Ibid.
[93] Mitchell S. Lasco, et al., “A lack of dimorphism of sex or sexual orientation in the human anterior commissure,” Brain Research 936, no. 1 (2002): 95–98, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0006-8993(02)02590-8.
[94] Dick F. Swaab, “Sexual orientation and its basis in brain structure and function,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, no. 30 (2008): 10273–10274, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805542105.
[95] Felicitas Kranz and Alumit Ishai, “Face Perception Is Modulated by Sexual Preference,” Current Biology 16, no. 1 (2006): 63–68, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2005.10.070.
[96] Ivanka Savic, Hans Berglund, and Per Lindström, “Brain response to putative pheromones in homosexual men,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102, no. 20 (2005): 7356–7361, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0407998102.
[97] Hans Berglund, Per Lindström, and Ivanka Savic, “Brain response to putative pheromones in lesbian women,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103, no. 21 (2006): 8269–8274, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0600331103.
[98] Ivanka Savic and Per Lindström, “PET and MRI show differences in cerebral asymmetry and functional connectivity between homo- and heterosexual subjects,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, no. 27 (2008): 9403–9408, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0801566105.
[99] Research on neuroplasticity shows that while there are critical periods of development in which the brain changes more rapidly and profoundly (for instance, during development of language in toddlers), the brain continues to change across the lifespan in response to behaviors (like practicing juggling or playing a musical instrument), life experiences, psychotherapy, medications, psychological trauma, and relationships. For a helpful and generally accessible overview of the research related to neuroplasticity, see Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (New York: Penguin, 2007).
[100] Letitia Anne Peplau et al., “The Development of Sexual Orientation in Women,” Annual Review of Sex Research 10, no. 1 (1999): 81, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10532528.1999.10559775. Also see J. Michael Bailey, “What is Sexual Orientation and Do Women Have One?” in Contemporary Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Identities, ed. Debra A. Hope (New York: Springer, 2009), 43–63, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09556-1_3.
[101] Mark S. Friedman et al., “A Meta-Analysis of Disparities in Childhood Sexual Abuse, Parental Physical Abuse, and Peer Victimization Among Sexual Minority and Sexual Nonminority Individuals,” American Journal of Public Health 101, no. 8 (2011): 1481–1494, http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.190009.
[102] Ibid., 1490.
[103] Ibid., 1492.
[104] Ibid.
[105] Emily F. Rothman, Deinera Exner, and Allyson L. Baughman, “The Prevalence of Sexual Assault Against People Who Identify as Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual in the United States: A Systematic Review,” Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 12, no. 2 (2011): 55–66, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1524838010390707.
[106] Judith P. Andersen and John Blosnich, “Disparities in Adverse Childhood Experiences among Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Adults: Results from a Multi-State Probability-Based Sample,” PLOS ONE 8, no. 1 (2013): e54691, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054691.
[107] Andrea L. Roberts et al., “Pervasive Trauma Exposure Among US Sexual Orientation Minority Adults and Risk of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder,” American Journal of Public Health 100, no. 12 (2010): 2433–2441, http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.168971.
[108] Brendan P. Zietsch et al., “Do shared etiological factors contribute to the relationship between sexual orientation and depression?,” Psychological Medicine 42, no. 3 (2012): 521–532, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291711001577.
[109] The exact figure is not reported in the text for reasons the authors do not specify.
[110] Ibid., 526.
[111] Ibid., 527.
[112] Marie E. Tomeo et al., “Comparative Data of Childhood and Adolescence Molestation in Heterosexual and Homosexual Persons,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 30, no. 5 (2001): 535–541, http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1010243318426.
[113] Ibid., 541.
[114] Helen W. Wilson and Cathy Spatz Widom, “Does Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, or Neglect in Childhood Increase the Likelihood of Same-sex Sexual Relationships and Cohabitation? A Prospective 30-year Follow-up,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 39, no. 1 (2010): 63–74, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-008-9449-3.
[115] Ibid., 70.
[116] Andrea L. Roberts, M. Maria Glymour, and Karestan C. Koenen, “Does Maltreatment in Childhood Affect Sexual Orientation in Adulthood?,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 42, no. 2 (2013): 161–171, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-0021-9.
[117] For those interested in the methodological details: this statistical method uses a two-step process where “instruments” — in this case, family characteristics that are known to be related to maltreatment (presence of a stepparent, parental alcohol abuse, or parental mental illness) — are used as the “instrumental variables” to predict the risk of maltreatment. In the second step, the predicted risk of maltreatment is employed as the independent variable and adult sexual orientation as the dependent variable; coefficients from this are the instrumental variable estimates. It should also be noted here that these instrumental variable estimation techniques rely on some important (and questionable) assumptions, in this case the assumption that the instruments (the stepparent, the alcohol abuse, the mental illness) do not affect the child’s sexual orientation measures except through child abuse. But this assumption is not demonstrated, and therefore may constitute a foundational limitation of the method. Causation is difficult to support statistically and continues to beguile research in the social sciences in spite of efforts to design studies capable of generating stronger associations that give stronger support to claims of causation.
[118] Roberts, Glymour, and Koenen, “Does Maltreatment in Childhood Affect Sexual Orientation in Adulthood?,” 167.
[119] Drew H. Bailey and J. Michael Bailey, “Poor Instruments Lead to Poor Inferences: Comment on Roberts, Glymour, and Koenen (2013),” Archives of Sexual Behavior 42, no. 8 (2013): 1649–1652, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-013-0101-5.
[120] Roberts, Glymour, and Koenen, “Does Maltreatment in Childhood Affect Sexual Orientation in Adulthood?,” 169.
[121] Ibid., 169.
[122] For information on the study, see “National Health and Social Life Survey,” Population Research Center of the University of Chicago, http://popcenter.uchicago.edu/data/nhsls.shtml.
[123] Edward O. Laumann et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994); Robert T. Michael et al., Sex in America: A Definitive Survey (New York: Warner Books, 1994).
[124] Laumann et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality, 295.
[125] The third iteration of Natsal from 2010 found, over an age range from 16 to 74, that 1.0% of women and 1.5% of men consider themselves gay/lesbian, and 1.4% of women and 1.0% of men think of themselves as bisexual. See Catherine H. Mercer et al., “Changes in sexual attitudes and lifestyles in Britain through the life course and over time: findings from the National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal),” The Lancet 382, no. 9907 (2013): 1781–1794, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62035-8. Full results of this survey are reported in several articles in the same issue of The Lancet.
[126] See Table 8.1 in Laumann et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality, 304.
[127] This figure is calculated from Table 8.2 in Laumann et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality, 305.
[128] For more information on the study design of Add Health, see Kathleen Mullan Harris et al., “Study Design,” The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/design. Some studies based on Add Health data use Arabic numerals rather than Roman numerals to label the waves; when describing or quoting from those studies, we stick with the Roman numerals.
[129] See Table 1 in Ritch C. Savin-Williams and Kara Joyner, “The Dubious Assessment of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Adolescents of Add Health,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 43, no. 3 (2014): 413–422, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-013-0219-5.
[130] Ibid., 415.
[131] Ibid.
[132] Ibid.
[133] “Research Collaborators,” The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/people.
[134] J. Richard Udry and Kim Chantala, “Risk Factors Differ According to Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Interest,” Journal of Biosocial Science 37, no. 04 (2005): 481–497, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021932004006765.
[135] Ritch C. Savin-Williams and Geoffrey L. Ream, “Prevalence and Stability of Sexual Orientation Components During Adolescence and Young Adulthood,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 36, no. 3 (2007): 385–394, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-006-9088-5.
[136] Ibid., 388.
[137] Ibid., 389.
[138] Ibid., 392–393.
[139] Ibid., 393.
[140] Miles Q. Ott et al., “Repeated Changes in Reported Sexual Orientation Identity Linked to Substance Use Behaviors in Youth,” Journal of Adolescent Health 52, no. 4 (2013): 465–472, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.08.004.
[141] Savin-Williams and Joyner, “The Dubious Assessment of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Adolescents of Add Health.”
[142] Ibid., 416.
[143] Ibid., 414.
[144] For more analysis of inaccurate responders in the Add Health surveys, see Xitao Fan et al., “An Exploratory Study about Inaccuracy and Invalidity in Adolescent Self-Report Surveys,” Field Methods 18, no. 3 (2006): 223–244, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/152822X06289161.
[145] Savin-Williams and Joyner were also skeptical of the Add Health survey data because the high proportion of youth reporting same-sex or both-sex attractions (7.3% of boys and 5.0% of girls) in Wave I was very unusual when compared to similar studies, and because of the dramatic reduction in reported same-sex attraction a little over a year later, in Wave II.
[146] Savin-Williams and Joyner, “The Dubious Assessment of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Adolescents of Add Health,” 420.
[147] Gu Li, Sabra L. Katz-Wise, and Jerel P. Calzo, “The Unjustified Doubt of Add Health Studies on the Health Disparities of Non-Heterosexual Adolescents: Comment on Savin-Williams and Joyner (2014),” Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43 no. 6 (2014): 1023–1026, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0313-3.
[148] Ibid., 1024.
[149] Ibid., 1025.
[150] Ritch C. Savin-Williams and Kara Joyner, “The Politicization of Gay Youth Health: Response to Li, Katz-Wise, and Calzo (2014),” Archives of Sexual Behavior 43, no. 6 (2014): 1027–1030, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0359-2.
[151] See, for example, Stephen T. Russell et al., “Being Out at School: The Implications for School Victimization and Young Adult Adjustment,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 84, no. 6 (2014): 635–643, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ort0000037.
[152] Sabra L. Katz-Wise et al., “Same Data, Different Perspectives: What Is at Stake? Response to Savin-Williams and Joyner (2014a),” Archives of Sexual Behavior 44, no. 1 (2015): 15, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0434-8.
[153] Ibid., 15.
[154] Ibid., 15–16.
[155] For example, see Bailey, “What is Sexual Orientation and Do Women Have One?,” 43–63; Peplau et al., “The Development of Sexual Orientation in Women,” 70–99.
[156] Lisa M. Diamond, Sexual Fluidity (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008), 52.
[157] Lisa M. Diamond, “Was It a Phase? Young Women’s Relinquishment of Lesbian/Bisexual Identities Over a 5-Year Period,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84, no. 2 (2003): 352–364, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.352.
[158] Diamond, “What Does Sexual Orientation Orient?,” 173–192.
[159] This conference paper was summarized in Denizet-Lewis, “The Scientific Quest to Prove Bisexuality Exists.”
[160] A. Lee Beckstead, “Can We Change Sexual Orientation?,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 41, no. 1 (2012): 128, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-9922-x.
Lawrence S. Mayer and Paul R. McHugh, "Part One: Sexual Orient
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Awesome, a text bomb.  That settles it. I;ve never understood why people throw a tizzy when they get called out for who they are and what they;re doing. You'd think they'd appreciate the recognition.

/ shrugs

(October 13, 2016 at 1:36 pm)Emjay Wrote:

(October 13, 2016 at 1:11 pm)Irrational Wrote: I just had a little bit of read of the article to see if it would interest me enough to read it all later. So I read the part about sexual orientation being fluid and not entirely genetic. Ok, so what? It's never been about that anyway. It's about accepting and respecting each person's identity "choice" and acknowledging their rights as individuals to live their lives the way they see fit, so long as what they do does not infringe upon the rights of others. To me, who you are is who and what you identify with, and not how other people feel they have to define you.

I've never held the view that it was biologically fixed anyway... as in literally born this way. Just essentially born this way through environmental learning that happens as you're growing up and largely under the radar... and probably with some genetic contribution directly or indirectly to certain aspects of it. That's my view. So if this report is plugging that with an agenda, it makes no difference to me; environmentally learned vs biologically fixed is presumably to the Christian the difference between changeable and not changeable, accountable and not accountable. But to me, subconscious learning in childhood is no less changeable or accountable than something that was fixed biologically by genetics. So this distinction they seem to be  trying to highlight is a moot point to me.

Exactly, and like with anything to do with being human, it's always going to be an interaction between genetics and environment.

I did try giving it a read. Specifically, I started in the area I am most involved in: gender identity. As someone who is living that, I can tell you that this grossly misinterprets what is going on. It may start an argument with fact, but then it devastates it with opinion about what the facts may mean. It then offers a few solutions that are just insulting.

No, I won't be reading further. That was enough for me today.

(October 13, 2016 at 1:39 pm)ChadWooters Wrote:

(October 13, 2016 at 1:12 pm)Jesster Wrote: This thing reads like massive opinion article. How is this scientific? I can certainly see how someone would love the anti-LGBT edge to it, though.

Below is the list of references cited in Part One

Yes, it has credible sources. It also makes its own shitty assertions about what it thinks of those sources.

I'm reading it too, little by little. Just out of curiosity, but I'm expecting there to be a catch and it looks like you've already found it. But I'll read it nonetheless.

(October 13, 2016 at 1:38 pm)Kingpin Wrote:

(October 13, 2016 at 12:53 pm)Rhythm Wrote: More predictability, lol.

I've already -heard- what chad has to say on this subject, and that he finds this article to be useful is no surprise to me or to anyone familiar with the publishers.  Just as it's no surprise that he presented it as some unbiased and purely scientific this that or the other....but lets talk about something else, right?  Like close-mindedness, or not listening to another's viewpoint or ignoring all op-ed pieces.

It's conservative, religious, luddite... socio-political propaganda masquerading as a scientific "journal".  You wanna go to bat for that Kingpin?  Be my guest.

I didn't say I wanted to go to bat for it, but I expect people to take time to read differing viewpoint and discuss it on its substance rather than bypass it altogether on the pre-conceived viewpoint of the author(s).  Just saying, either give it an objective look over and discuss it, or if you prefer to ignore than do everyone a favor and ignore posting about it.  

The discussion is not about your opinion of the author and your presumptions.  You've already labeled and stereotyped both the author and the content of the article without reading a single sentence.  That is close-mindedness and bigotry at its finest.

Well said.

The usual suspects chime in.  Would you, CL, like to go to bat for New Atlantis or the article in question? No one thought to ask whether I opened the link and took a look, huh. It couldn't possibly -be- that the opinion I expressed -was- my objective viewpoint of the article -and- it's source?

I called the article, and it's source..-precisely what they were and self identify as-. That, apparently, is bigotry and close-mindedness.



When reviewing a "scientific" article;

Step 1, check the source.
Step 2, read the conclusions.
Step 3, profit from misplaced christer indignation.

I actually read a good portion of this paper, and the full conclusion.  Here you go:

Quote:Yet despite the scientific uncertainty, drastic interventions are prescribed and delivered to patients identifying, or identified, as transgender. This is especially troubling when the patients receiving these interventions are children. We read popular reports about plans for medical and surgical interventions for many prepubescent children, some as young as six, and other therapeutic approaches undertaken for children as young as two. We suggest that no one can determine the gender identity of a two-year-old. We have reservations about how well scientists understand what it even means for a child to have a developed sense of his or her gender, but notwithstanding that issue, we are deeply alarmed that these therapies, treatments, and surgeries seem disproportionate to the severity of the distress being experienced by these young people, and are at any rate premature since the majority of children who identify as the gender opposite their biological sex will not continue to do so as adults. Moreover, there is a lack of reliable studies on the long-term effects of these interventions. We strongly urge caution in this regard.

Reducto absurdum.   No one is doing sex change operations on 2 year olds.  Therapy for kids undergoing distress is not the same thing at all.


And yet, I would presume this person determines the gender of all 2 year olds based on physical sex, and treats them as such. 


This second bolded part is true, HOWEVER, he fails to give complete information.  Most of them go on to identify as gay or lesbian.  

Although there have been a handful of cases where prepubescent children began gender changes, it is NOT recommended by ANY pediatric, health, or medical group or association.  No "science" is backing that up, quite the opposite already.  They suggest waiting until after puberty.  Anyone beginning before puberty is already going against scientific and medical research and suggestion.  Very few people, even among the public, advocate that.  
That being said, if your 2 year old boy likes to wear dresses, this paper seems to discourage letting that child gender identify even without medical intervention.  

This paper is full of politically driven hyperbole and rhetoric disguised as scientific curiosity.  It makes great points, then undermines itself repeatedly.

I mean..there's plenty of critiques of this study online, so both sides are easily findable.

I do have to say though..a journal that prides itself on not being peer-reviewed might not be the best starting spot.