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 associated beliefs biological biomedical bisexual Boswell boys brain cognitive concepts desire Dörner emotional erotic feelings erotic interests erotic predispositions erotic relationships eroticism estrogen evidence evolutionary ex-gay example exclusive other-sex Freud function gender roles genes genetic genotypes groups Hamer Herdt heterosexual heterozygous hominid homosexual hormone exposure human sexual attraction hypothalamus identify individuals influence interaction interactionist theories intrasex label learning lesbians male-male masculine McConaghy model of sexual nanshoku neural other-sex erotic attraction otoacoustic emissions particular pheromones physical prenatal psychoanalytic rats reproductive success romantic Sambian same-sex attraction same-sex erotic attraction same-sex erotic behavior same-sex male Science scientists sex differences sex hormones sex-typed sexual activity sexual attraction sexual behavior sexual identity sexual orientation sexual partners sexual relationships significant similar social constructionism social constructionists social experiences stimuli studies testosterone theories of sexual theorists traits two-spirited undifferentiated erotic variability varied sexual attractions Western culture women