True Nature: A Theory of Sexual AttractionI have long been awe-struck by authors' claims that their books had been in the making for 5, or 10, or even 15 years. I now have a better appreciation ofthe work involved in bringing a book to press. The seeds of this project have had a long germination. The impetus for this book began more than 10 years ago when I was a graduate student in clinical psychology. Having an interest in human sexuality-and in theories on the forms of sexual attraction specifically-I was perplexed by various perspectives on this subject. Disciplines of thought that I encountered medicine, evolutionary biology, developmental psychology, gay/lesbian theory, social constructionism, anthropology, Marxism, Christianity, and others-perceived the issue so differently, so strongly, with almost no overlap. I was fascinated that the question ofhow and why one is attracted to either one or both sexes could elicit such conviction and divergent points of view. There seemed to be no easy way to resolve these differences. Still, what frustrated me most in my readings were several conceptual problems among the two prominent proponents of contemporary sexuality theory scientists and social constructionists. One ofmy first frustrations with biomedical and social scientists who write about sexuality was that they often define sexual attraction in strict behavioral terms, as completed observable sexual acts--observable in the sense that such acts or their consequences are seen by others. |
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adult androgen andthe arenot associated biological biomedical bisexual Boswell boys brain characteristics classical conditioning cognitive concepts contemporary crossgendered differentiation Dörner emotional environment erotic feelings erotic predispositions erotic relationships eroticism estrogen evidence evolutionary exclusive othersex exclusive samesex explanation fellatio female Foucault Freud function gay”men gender genes genetic genotypes Herdt heterosexual hominid homosexual hormone exposure hypothalamus identify identity individuals influence interactionist inthe intrasex isnot learning lesbians malefemale malemale masculine McConaghy menand model of sexual modelof Money’s nanshoku neural nonWestern cultures ofsamesex ofsexual attraction ofthe onthe othersex erotic attraction otoacoustic emissions pheromones physical prenatal psychoanalytic reproductive success role romantic Sambian same samesex attraction samesex erotic attraction samesex erotic behavior samesex male scientists sex differences sex hormones sextyped sexual activity sexual attraction sexual attractionis sexual behavior sexual orientation sexual partners sexual relationships significant social constructionism social constructionists social experiences stimuli studies testosterone theorists tothe traits variability women