A critique of Bem's “Exotic Becomes Erotic” theory (1996) on the development of male homosexuality was offered. Limitations were outlined in light of relevant research findings. The authors proposed an alternative model to explain male homosexuality, i.e., reparation of early boyhood trauma, which better accounts for significant psychodynamic elements and available research. Finally, comparisons were made between specific elements of the two models.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AcostaF. X. (1975) Etiology and treatment of homosexuality: a review. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 4, 9–25.
2.
AppersonL. B.McAdooW. E.Jr. (1968) Parental factors in the childhood of homosexuals. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 73, 201–206.
3.
BaileyJ. M.BellA. P. (1993) Familiarity of female and male homosexuality. Behavioral Genetics, 23, 313–322.
4.
BatesJ. E.SkilbeckW. M.SmithK. V. R.BentlerP. M. (1974) Gender role abnormalities in boys: an analysis of clinical ratings. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2, 1–16.
5.
BellA. P.WeinbergM. S.HammersmithS. K. (1981) Sexual preference: its development in men and women.Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univer. Press.
6.
BemD. J. (1996) Exotic becomes erotic: a developmental theory of sexual orientation. Psychological Review, 103, 320–335.
7.
BeneE. (1965) On the genesis of male homosexuality: an attempt at clarifying the role of parents. British Journal of Psychiatry, 3, 803–813.
8.
BieberI. (1965) Clinical aspects of male homosexuality, in sexual inversion.New York: Basic Books.
9.
BieberI.BieberT. B. (1979) Male homosexuality. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 24, 409–421.
10.
BieberI.DainH. J.DinceP. R.DrellichM. G.GrandH. G.GundlachR. H.KremerM. W.RifkinA. H.WilburC. B.BieberT. B. (1965) Homosexuality: a psychoanalytic study of male homosexuals.New York: Vintage Books.
11.
Birkenfeld-AdamsA. S. (1995) Quality of attachment in young boys with gender identity disorder. Unpublished doctoral dissertation proposal, York Univer., Downsview, Ontario.
12.
BlanchardR.BogaertA. F. (1996) Homosexuality in men and number of older brothers. American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 27–31.
13.
BlanchardR.SheridanP. M. (1992) Sibship size, sibling sex ratio, birth order, and parental age in homosexual and non-homosexual gender dysphorics. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disorders, 180, 40–47.
14.
BlanchardR.ZuckerK. J.BradleyS. J.HumeC. S. (1995) Birth order and sibling sex ratio in homosexual male adolescence and probably pre-homosexual feminine boys. Developmental Psychology, 31, 22–30.
15.
BleibergE.JacksonL.RossJ. (1986) Gender identity disorder and object loss. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25, 58–67.
16.
BrandtstaedterJ.BernitzkeF. (1976) The technique of path analysis: a contribution to the problem of experimental construction of causal models. Psychologische Beitrage, 18, 12–34.
17.
ByneW. (1994) The biological evidence challenged. Scientific American, 270, 50–55.
18.
ByneW.ParsonsB. (1993) Human sexual orientation: the biologic theories reappraised. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50, 228–239.
19.
ChangJ.BlockJ. (1960) A study of identification in male homosexuals. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24, 307–310.
CoatesS. (1985) Extreme boyhood femininity: overview and new research findings. In DeFriesZ.FriedmanR. C.CornR. (Eds.), Sexuality: new perspectives.Westport, CT: Greenwood. Pp. 101–124.
22.
CoatesS.FriedmanR. C.WolfeS. (1991) The etiology of boyhood gender identity disorder: a model for integrating temperament, development, and psychodynamics. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 1, 481–523.
23.
CoatesS.PersonE. S. (1985) Extreme boyhood femininity: isolated behavior or pervasive disorder?Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 702–709.
24.
CoatesS.WolfeS. M.Hahn-BurkeS. (1994) Do boys with gender identity disorder have a shy, inhibited temperament?Poster presented at the meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research, Edinburgh, June.
25.
DeLamaterJ. (1982) Origins of sexual preference: book review. Science, 215(March 5), 1229–1230.
26.
DicksonG. (1996) Father-son relationships and male sexual development. In NicolosiJ. (Ed.), Collected papers from 1996 NARTH Conference.Encino, CA: National Association of Research and Treatment of Homosexuality. P. 99.
27.
DimockP. T. (1988) Adult males sexually abused as children: characteristics and implications for treatment. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 3, 203–221.
28.
EllisL.AmesM. A. (1987) Neurohormonal functioning and sexual orientation: a theory of homosexuality-heterosexuality. Psychological Bulletin, 1, 233–425.
29.
EvansR. B. (1969) Childhood parental relationships of homosexual men. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33, 129–135.
30.
FinchS. M. (1967) Sexual activity of children with other children and adults. Clinical Pediatrics, 6, 267–278.
FinkelhorD. (1981) The sexual abuse of boys. Victimology: An International Journal, 6, 162–174.
33.
FischhoffJ. (1964) Preoedipal influences in a boy's determination to be “feminine” during the Oedipal period. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 3, 273–286.
FriedmanR. C. (1988) Male homosexuality: a contemporary psychoanalytic perspective.New Haven, CT Yale Univer. Press.
36.
FriedmanR. C.SternL. (1980) Juvenile aggressivity and sissiness in homosexual and heterosexual males. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 8, 427–440.
37.
GagnonJ. H. (1981) Searching for the childhood of eros. New York Times Book Review, 86(Dec. 13), 10, 37.
38.
GreenR. (1974) Sexual identity conflict in children and adults.New York: Basic Books.
39.
GreenR. (1987) The “sissy hoy syndrome” and the development of homosexuality.New Haven, CT: Yale Univer. Press.
40.
GreensonR. R. (1966) A transvestite boy and a hypothesis. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 47, 396–403.
41.
GreensonR. R. (1968) Dis-identifying from mother: its special importance for the boy. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 49, 370–374.
42.
HaberC. H. (1991) The psychoanalytic treatment of a preschool boy with a gender identity disorder. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 39, 107–129.
43.
HaddenS. (1967) A way out for homosexuals. Harpers Magazine, March, 107–120.
44.
HareE. H.MoranA. P. (1979) Parental age and birth order in homosexual patients: a replication of Slater's study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 178–182.
45.
HetheringtonE. M. (1966) Effects of paternal absence on sex-typed behaviors in Negro and white preadolescent males. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 87–91.
46.
HornerA. J. (1984) Object relations and the developing ego in therapy.New York: Jason Aronson.
47.
HornerA. J. (1992) The role of the female therapist in the affirmation of gender in male patients. The Journal of The American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 20, 599–610.
48.
HydeJ. S. (1979) Understanding human sexuality.New York: Holt.
49.
IppH. (1986) Object relations of feminine boys: a Rorschach assessment. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, York Univer., Downsview, Ontario.
50.
IsayR. A. (1986) The development of sexual identity in homosexual men. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child41, 467–489.
51.
IsayR. A. (1997) Remove gender identity in the DSM. Psychiatric News, 32(22, Nov. 21), 9.
52.
JohnsonR. L.ShrierD. K. (1985) Sexual victimization of boys: experience at an adolescent medicine clinic. Journal of Adolescent Health Care, 6, 372–376.
53.
JohnsonR. L.ShrierD. K. (1987) Past sexual victimization by females of male patients in an adolescent medicine clinic population. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 650–652.
54.
JonasC. H. (1944) An objective approach to the personality and environment in homosexuality. Psychiatric Quarterly, 18, 626–641.
55.
KolersN. (1986) Some ego functions in boys with gender identity disturbance. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, York Univer., Downsview, Ontario.
56.
LoebL. R. (1992) Analysis of the transference neurosis in a child with transsexual symptoms. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 40, 587–605.
57.
LouganisG. (1995) Breaking the surface.New York: Random House.
58.
ManosevitzM. (1970) Early sexual behavior in adult homosexual and heterosexual males. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 76, 396–402.
59.
MarantzS.CoatesS. (1991) Mothers of boys with gender identity disorder: a comparison of matched controls. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30, 310–315.
60.
MillerP. R. (1958) The effeminate, passive, obligatory homosexual. AMA Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 80, 612–618.
61.
MillicJ. H.CrowneD. P. (1986) Recalled parent-child relations and need for approval of homosexual and heterosexual men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 15, 239–246.
62.
MischelW. (1966) A social-learning view of sex differences in behavior. In MaccobyE. (Ed.), The development of sex differences.Stanford, CA: Stanford Univer. Press. Pp. 56–81.
63.
MitchellJ. M. (1991) Maternal influences on gender identity disorder in boys: searching for specificity. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, York Univer., Downsview, Ontario.
64.
MitchellJ. M.ZuckerK. (1991) The Recalled Childhood Gender Identity Scale: psychometric properties. Poster presented at the meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research, Barrie, Ontario.
65.
MoberlyE. R. (1983) Homosexuality: a new Christian ethic.Greenwood, SC: The Attic Press.
66.
MoneyJ.RussoA. (1979) Homosexual outcome of discordant gender identity/role in childhood: longitudinal follow-up. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 4, 29–41.
67.
NicolosiJ. (1991) Reparative therapy of male homosexuality: a new clinical approach.Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
68.
NicolosiJ. (1993) Healing homosexuality—case studies.Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
69.
O'ConnorP. (1964) Etiological factors in homosexuality as seen in Royal Air Force psychiatric practice. British Journal of Psychiatry, 110, 381–391.
70.
PeplauL. A.GarnetsL. D.SpaldingL. R.ConleyT. D.VeniegasR. C. (1998) A critique of Bem's “Exotic Becomes Erotic” theory of sexual orientation. Psychological Review, 105, 387–394.
71.
PillardR. C. (1990) The Kinsey Scale: is it familial? In McWhirterD.SandersS.ReinischI. (Eds.), Homosexuality/heterosexuality: concepts of sexual orientation.New York: Oxford Univer. Press. Pp. 88–100.
72.
PillardR. C.WeinrichJ. D. (1986) Evidence of familial nature of male homosexuality. Archives of General Psychology, 43, 808–812.
73.
ReissI. L. (1982) Sex and gender: book review. Contemporary Sociology, 11, 455–456.
74.
RekersG. A. (Ed.) (1995) Handbook of child and adolescent sexual problems.New York: Lexington Books.
75.
RekersG. A.MeadS. L.RosenA. C.BrighamS. L. (1983) Family correlates of male childhood gender disturbance. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 142, 31–42.
76.
RekersG. A.MoreyS. M. (1989) Personality problems associated with childhood gender disturbance. Italian Journal of Clinical and Cultural Psychology, 1, 85–90.
77.
RekersG. A.SwihartJ. J. (1989) The association of gender identity disorder with parental separation. Psychological Reports, 65, 1272–1274.
78.
RemafediG. (1987) Adolescent homosexuality: psychosocial and medical implications. Pediatrics, 79, 331–337.
79.
RemafediG.ResnickM.BlumR.HarrisL. (1992) Demography of sexual orientation in adolescence. Pediatrics, 89, 714–721.
80.
RoeslerT.DeisherR. W. (1972) Youthful male homosexuality: homosexual experience and the process of developing homosexual identity in males aged 16 to 22 years. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 219, 1018–1023.
81.
SagarinE. (1976) Prison homosexuality and its effects on post-prison sexual behavior. Psychiatry, 39, 106–117.
82.
SaghirM.RobinsE. (1973) Male and female homosexuality.Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins.
83.
ShrierD.JohnsonR. (1988) Sexual victimization of boys: an ongoing study of an adolescent medicine clinic population. Journal of the National Medical Association, 80, 1189–1193.
84.
SiegelmanM. E. P. (1973) Birth order and family size of homosexual men and women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 41, 164.
85.
SiegelmanM. E. P. (1974) Parental backgrounds of male homosexuals and heterosexuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 3, 3–18
86.
SiegelmanM. E. P. (1981) Parental backgrounds of homosexual and heterosexual men: a cross national replication. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 10, 505–511.
87.
SipovaI.BrzekA. (1983) Parental and interpersonal relationships of transsexual and masculine and feminine homosexual men. Journal of Homosexuality, 9, 75–85.
88.
SocaridesC. W. (1978) Homosexuality.New York: Jason Aronson.
89.
SocaridesC. W. (1982) Abdicating fathers, homosexual sons: psychoanalytic observations on the contribution of the father to the development of male homosexuality. In CathS. (Ed.), Father and child: developmental and clinical perspectives.Boston, MA: Little, Brown. Pp. 509–521.
StephanW. G. (1973) Parental relationships and early social experiences of activist male homosexuals and male heterosexuals. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 82, 506–513.
92.
StollerR. J. (1966) The mother's contribution to infantile transvestic behavior. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 47, 384–395.
93.
StollerR. J. (1975) Sex and gender. Vol. 2. The transsexual experiment.London: Hogarth Press.
94.
StollerR. J. (1979) Fathers of transsexual children. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 27, 837–866.
95.
StollerR. J. (1985) Presentations of gender.New Haven, CT: Yale Univer. Press.
96.
StormsM. D. (1981) A theory of erotic orientation development. Psychiatry Review, 88, 40–53.
ThompsonN. L.SchwartzD. M.McCandlessB. R.EdwardsD. A. (1973) Parent-child relationships and sexual identity in male and female homosexuals and heterosexuals. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 40, 120–127.
99.
TownesB. D.FergusonW. D.GillamS. (1976) Differences in psychological sex adjustment and familial influences among homosexual and non-homosexual populations. Journal of Homosexuality, 1, 261–272.
100.
TuberS.CoatesS. (1989) Indices of psychopathology in the Rorschachs of boys with severe gender identity disorder: a comparison with normal control subjects. Journal of Personality Assessment, 53, 100–112.
101.
TysonP. A. (1982) Developmental line of gender identity, gender role and choice of love object. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 30, 61–68.
102.
Van den AardwegG. (1984) Parents of homosexuals—not guilty? Interpretation of childhood psychological data. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 38, 180–189.
103.
Van den AardwegG. (1985) Homosexuality and hope: a psychologist talks about treatment and change.Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Books.
104.
Van den AardwegG. (1986) On the origins and treatment of homosexuality: a psychoanalytic reinterpretation.Westport, CTPraeger.
105.
WestD. J. (1993) Male prostitutionNew York: Hawthorn.
106.
WolfeS. M. (1990) Psychopathology and psychodynamics of parents of boys with a gender identity disorder of childhood. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, City Univer. of New York.
107.
ZuckerK. J.BradleyS. J. (1995) Gender identity disorder and psychological problems in children and adolescents.New York: Guilford.
