Evidence that third gender traits are wrongly ascribed to man-man desire through the route of 'homosexuality' by western science

Speech, male sexual orientation, and childhood gender nonconformity

Peter Renn

University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

There is a widespread belief that some men’s sexual orientation can be judged on the basis of their voice (i.e. that some men “sound gay”). One currently untested explanation of the origins of gay sounding speech is that it acts as a social marker of membership in the gay male community. The current study casts doubt on that hypothesis. However, gay sounding speech was strongly related to recalled childhood gender nonconformity in both gay and heterosexual men. This is consistent with the hypothesis that gay sounding speech emerges early in life when boys mimic and adopt certain speech patterns more typical of females. Because gay men are significantly more likely to experience gender nonconforming childhoods, feminine speech patterns become associated with male homosexuality mainly through proxy.

Introduction

Stereotypes suggest that gay men’s speech differs from that of heterosexual men. As one scholar noted, “A dependable wellspring of this caricature [of gay men] is popular culture, which seemingly never tires of the lisping fag, whose roller coaster intonation and high pitched shrieks mark him as an object of comedy or contempt” (Kulick, 2000, p. 260). These stereotypes, however, are not new; case studies dating back to the nineteenth century frequently remarked on the distinctive nature of gay men’s voices (Shaw & Ferris, 1883). Accordingly, many people believe that they can determine a person’s sexual orientation based solely on the way that he speaks. A handful of studies investigating this issue have found that judgments of sexual orientation, based only on speech samples, are in fact usually accurate (Travis, 1981; Gaudio, 1994; Linville, 1998). Other researchers have isolated specific acoustic cues (also characteristic of female speech) that people attend to in making these judgments (Linville, 1998; Rogers & Smyth, 2001). Thus, the notion that gay men speak differently than heterosexual men has received some empirical support, although stereotypes may distort and exaggerate this difference.

This line of research has several implications. It contradicts the opposing belief that sexual orientation, unlike race or gender, is largely invisible in social interactions (Frable, Platt, & Joey, 1998). As others have noted, controversial policies such as “don’t ask, don’t tell” also rely on the assumption that sexual orientation only becomes apparent when one chooses to disclose it (Ambady, Hallahan, & Conner, 1999). Perhaps equally important, understanding the concomitants of sexual orientation may aid in understanding the origins of sexual orientation itself. Given the widespread belief that speech patterns are associated with sexual orientation, it is surprising that such little research has been conducted in this area.

Moreover, the existing studies in this area suffer from two major handicaps. First, they have relied on extremely small samples to determine the accuracy of judgments of sexual orientation and to estimate the magnitude of speech differences between gay and heterosexual men. The largest published study examining perceptual accuracy contained only 5 gay and 4 heterosexual male speakers (Linville, 1998). Second, and more importantly, no study to date has examined the possible origins of these speech differences. Therefore, the purposes of this paper are to replicate previous findings using a larger sample and to address the question of why some men, for lack of a better term, “sound gay.”

Current Explanations

One possible explanation is that gay sounding speech acts as a marker of membership in the gay male community and that gay men either consciously or unconsciously acquire this speech through exposure (Linville, 1998). Others have theorized that phonemic variation in general may signal group identity (Chambers & Trudgill, 1980). Thus, the implicit assumption is that gay sounding speech serves a functional purpose, such as uniting gay men from diverse backgrounds (Barrett, 1997). It is also possible that gay men adopt specific speech patterns in order to identify each other in diverse social settings. In that case, gay sounding speech would be analogous to nonverbal cues of homosexuality, such as rainbow-colored ornamentation. All these hypotheses presume that gay sounding men are also those who self-identify as gay (Kulick, 2000). For example, a closeted gay man may go to great lengths to conceal signs of his homosexuality rather than advertise it. Hence, openness about one’s homosexuality, i.e. outness, is hypothesized to mediate gay sounding speech.

Although gay sounding speech may be used for functional purposes, that does not necessarily imply that it exists because of them. There are four reasons to question the hypothesis that such a speech pattern develops in order to accomplish a particular goal, such as signaling one’s membership in the gay male community.

First, gay sounding speech appears to emerge early in life, well before a specific self-identification as gay. Two longitudinal studies examining the relationship between homosexuality and childhood gender nonconformity (discussed below) both noted feminine sounding speech in boys who disproportionately became gay in adulthood (Zuger, 1984; Green, 1987). Zuger (1984) collapsed feminine speech into a category with feminine gestures and found that 73% of the effeminate boys displayed some feature associated with this category. Likewise, one mother in Green’s study remarked that her son “talks like a girl, sometimes walks like a girl, acts like a girl” (1987, p. 2). These observations are quite common; mothers of boys with gender identity problems rate their sons’ speech and motor behavior as significantly more feminine than mothers of sons in control groups (with effect sizes ranging from 0.92–4.47) (Zucker, 1992). Thus, if gay (or feminine) sounding speech emerges early in life, this would be inconsistent with the hypothesis that such a speech pattern develops in response to something dependent on self-awareness of sexual orientation (e.g. a desire to signal other gay men).

Second, such a hypothesis fails to account for the fact that some gay men do not sound gay (Travis, 1981; Gaudio, 1994; Linville, 1998) and that, at least based on informal accounts, a few heterosexual men do. Thus, the literature demonstrating within-sex speech differences based on sexual orientation has largely ignored within-orientation differences. If gay sounding speech originates from a desire to unite gay men from diverse backgrounds, for example, it makes little sense why a sizable number of gay men do not possess this speech pattern and are usually misidentified as heterosexual. Likewise, under this hypothesis, heterosexual men who sound gay (though perhaps few in number) have no reason to adopt a speech pattern widely associated with a sexual orientation discordant to their own.

Notably, there are few stereotypes about lesbian speech (Zwicky, 1997), and the limited research comparing lesbian and heterosexual women’s speech has found few actual differences (Moonwomon, 1997; Waksler, 2001; but see Travis, 1981). At face value, though, many of the current hypotheses about the origins of gay sounding speech should apply equally well to speech differences between lesbians and heterosexual women. However, based on current research, these differences (assuming they exist) are far less perceptually salient than comparable differences in men. Any hypothesis attempting to explain the causes of gay sounding speech must also explain why there is such an apparent difference between gay and heterosexual men’s speech but not between lesbian and heterosexual women’s speech.

Third, none of the current explanations would predict that gay sounding speech differs from other types of speech specifically because it is shifted in a female-typical direction, which appears to be the case (Rogers & Smyth, 2001; Linville, 1998). Indeed, some have argued that there is no a priori reason to suspect that gay sounding speech shares greater similarity with female speech, and that our perception of gay sounding speech as feminine simply reflects our bias to interpret all deviations from cultural norms as feminine (Zwicky, 1997). For example, if the purpose of gay sounding speech is create a sense of unity among gay men (Barrett, 1997), one could just as easily imagine the adoption of some arbitrary deviation from convention—such as putting stresses on the wrong syllables or clucking in the place to pauses—to mark gay sounding speech. In reality, though, gay sounding speech differs in a very specific, female-shifted way.

Fourth, current explanations of gay sounding speech ignore the social costs that accompany sounding gay, such as stigmatization during childhood and adolescence. While gay male youth who are open about their sexual orientation often face harassment, the very perception of being gay (or feminine) may be an equally if not more relevant risk factor (Remafedi, Farrow, & Deisher, 1991). Sociolinguists have idealized the causes of gay sounding speech while seemingly ignoring the practical consequences of such speech in social interactions. Even in adulthood, most gay men prefer sex-typicality in their romantic partners (Bailey, Kim, Hills, & Linsenmeier, 1997) and frequently make proscriptions against feminine men (i.e. “No femmes” or “If I wanted to date a woman, I’d date one”). Thus, it is unlikely that many gay men consciously choose to sound gay, given the attendant costs of such a speech pattern in the romantic marketplace.

While some gay men who do not normally sound gay may occasionally adopt such a speech pattern as a “register” in certain social contexts (Barrett, 1997), this is a temporary deviation from their natural speaking styles, and does not negate the finding that most gay men desire masculine partners. Conversely, it is clear that some men “may have spoken in a stereotypically gay style for most or all of their lives” (Barrett, 1997, p. 194). It is these individuals that pose the more difficult question. What causes them to sound gay?

Alternate Explanation

There is at least one other possible explanation of the origins of gay sounding speech: gay sounding men may have been more likely during childhood to mimic and adopt the speech patterns more typical of females. Such a method of acquisition would be similar to that of a learned dialect. This female-shifted speech pattern, superimposed onto a male voice, produces what we perceive as gay sounding speech.

If gay sounding speech is learned, it must be acquired fairly early in life, given that some boys already begin to sound gay in childhood. Moreover, it is likely that certain behaviors facilitate or reinforce this acquisition. Research on the acquisition of accents may be relevant here. Children who immigrate with their parents to a foreign country tend to pick up the accent of the new location, rather than that of their parents, because they learn from and imitate their peers (Harris, 1998). For example, after a few months at a nursery school in California, the daughter of a British linguist began speaking “black English” (Baron, 1992). Although not all the children attending the school were black, the children she played with were, and their speech pattern was the one she adopted.

While it is unlikely that gay sounding men developed their speech patterns by mimicking other gay sounding boys in childhood (because they were probably rare), they might have adopted the speech patterns of other girls. The acoustic cues of gay sounding speech are also those more prevalent in female speech (Rogers & Smyth, 2001). For example, /s/ production in gay sounding speech (the cue accounting for the most variance in voice ratings) is longer and has a higher frequency than typical male speech—but it falls in the range of typical female speech (Linville, 1998; Avery & Liss, 1996). Given that boys and girls speak differently on average even before puberty (Bennett & Weinberg, 1979), it is possible that a small fraction of boys adopt the speech patterns more typical of girls (or women) and, as a result, sound gay. If so, the things that promote (or at least accompany) the development of gay sounding speech in childhood might include behaviors such as preferential affiliation with females, having more friendships with females, and taking a female role during role play; affective components serving a similar function might include feeling very feminine and greater self-identification with other females.

There is, in fact, a large body of evidence documenting such behaviors in the childhoods of prehomosexual boys. These behaviors generally fall under the label of “childhood gender nonconformity,” which takes into account behaviors such as same- versus opposite-sex peer affiliation, rough-and-tumble play, toy interests, fantasy roles, and dress-up play. These behaviors not only differ significantly between boys and girls on average but also between prehomosexual and preheterosexual children within each sex. As previously mentioned, two prospective studies have found that boys who exhibit marked levels of childhood gender nonconformity are much more likely to become gay in adulthood compared to controls (Zuger, 1984; Green, 1987). While these studies included boys with levels of childhood gender nonconformity high enough to meet the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) criteria for gender identity disorder, and hence may have limited generalizability for non-clinical populations, other studies relying on more representative samples of gay men replicate the finding that childhood gender nonconformity frequently precedes male homosexuality.

Bailey and Zucker’s (1995) meta-analysis of 41 studies demonstrated that, on average, gay men and lesbians recall significantly more gender nonconforming childhoods than their heterosexual counterparts (effect size = 1.19). These results cannot simply be attributed to factors influencing subjective recall, e.g. that gay men internalize of stereotypes about gay men’s femininity and thus expect to remember more gender-atypical childhoods. For example, a mother’s recall of her gay son’s gender-related childhood behavior is correlated with her son’s own recall (Bailey, Nothnagel, & Wolfe, 1995) but is uncorrelated with the extent of her knowledge about her son’s sexual orientation (Bailey, Miller, & Willerman, 1993).

This association between childhood gender nonconformity and homosexuality, however, must be accompanied by a caveat, which is relevant to the phenomenon of gay sounding speech: not all gay men recall childhood gender nonconformity and not all heterosexual men recall childhood gender conformity. In fact, about a third of gay men have recall profiles identical to that of heterosexual men (Bailey & Zucker, 1995). Likewise, a boy exhibiting levels of childhood gender nonconformity comparable to those recalled by most gay men has a 49% chance of becoming heterosexual in adulthood. Moreover, simply because childhood gender nonconformity precedes adult homosexuality, it does not necessarily follow that the former causes the latter. The predominant biological theory of homosexuality posits that sex-atypical prenatal hormone exposure partially shifts the organization of certain brain structures toward that of the opposite sex (for a review, see Rahman & Wilson, in press). This, in turn, affects sex-typed traits, such as sexual attraction to either males or females and certain childhood behaviors, which are usually—though not necessarily—clustered together.

If certain components of childhood gender nonconformity cause gay sounding speech, but are only imperfectly associated with adult homosexuality, this may explain why some gay men do not sound gay and why some heterosexual men do. Likewise, because childhood gender nonconformity is significantly more predictive of homosexuality in males than in females (Bailey & Zucker, 1995), the variation in adult female speech patterns may not correspond to female sexual orientation as well as does variation in male speech patterns for male sexual orientation. Thus, it might be the case that there are true differences between lesbian and heterosexual women’s speech, but that these differences are poor predictors of female sexual orientation and are less perceptually salient given greater overall variability in female speech. A causal relationship between childhood gender nonconformity and gay sounding speech would also be consistent with the evidence that many prehomosexual boys already begin to sound gay in childhood. Because this speech pattern persists into adulthood for a sizable number of men (against countervailing social forces), it appears relatively difficult to change, in much the same way that an accent is difficult to change once the critical period for language acquisition and development has passed (Munro, Flege, & MacKay, 1996; Bialystock & Hakuta, 1994). Not surprisingly, this critical period for language overlaps with the period of sex-typed childhood behavior.

Rationale for Present Study

The primary purpose of this study is to determine if there is an association between childhood gender nonconformity and gay sounding speech. This association may explain why judgments of sexual orientation based on speech are usually accurate, although the cues that people use to make judgments may depend more on childhood behaviors than on sexual orientation per se. Moreover, because many of the currently proposed explanations for gay sounding speech hypothesize a linkage between speech and openness about one’s homosexuality, one simple test of this would be to examine whether degree of outness correlates with how gay a man sounds.

Methods

Participants

Participants were recruited as part of a larger study investigating various concomitants of sexual orientation; however, the results reported here are limited to those relevant to gay sounding speech. The sample consisted of 30 gay, 4 bisexual, and 24 heterosexual males recruited primarily through networking (“snowballing”), flyers posted around the University of Texas at Austin campus and local coffeeshops, and (for a limited number of gay participants) through a posting to a local gay-oriented website. Bisexual males were omitted in any analyses explicitly comparing groups by sexual orientation but were otherwise included. All participants were paid $10 as compensation. The gay men were slightly older than the heterosexual men (mean age = 24 and 21.8, respectively), but this difference was not statistically significant. The ethnic compositions of the heterosexual and gay sample were comparable.

Measures

Sexual Orientation Sexual orientation was assessed by both self-report (heterosexual, gay, bisexual, or other) and the Kinsey scale, which allows individuals to rate themselves along a 7-point continuum from exclusively heterosexual (0) to exclusively homosexual (6). For participants to be considered heterosexual, they had to identify as such and score 0 or 1 on the Kinsey scale; for a male to be considered homosexual, he had to identify as such and score 5 or more.

Childhood Behavior Scale Childhood gender nonconformity was assessed using the Recalled Childhood Gender Behavior Scale (Mitchell & Zucker, 1991). The scale includes 18 items which assess both behavioral aspects of gender conformity (i.e. “As a child, I enjoyed playing sports such as baseball, hockey, basketball, and soccer”) as well as affective components (“As a child, I felt very masculine”). Participants were instructed to consider only the period before 12 years of age. Participants’ responses to individual items were averaged together, with higher scores indicating greater recalled childhood gender nonconformity.

Outness Inventory Participants identifying as gay completed the Outness Inventory, which assesses the degree to which a person is open about his or her homosexuality (Mohr & Fassinger, 2000). Overall outness is derived from averaging together the inventory’s subscales (outness to family, religion, and world).

Recording Procedures

All recordings were obtained with a microphone headset (Labtec Axis-521) attached to a computer. The use of a headset standardized the distance from the speaker’s mouth to the microphone. Voice samples were digitally recorded at 44.100 kHz using the 1^st Sound Recorder software with noise cancellation activated.

Before the recording, I explicitly requested that participants try their best not to alter their voice in any way from natural speech. In accord with Gaudio (1994) and Linville (1998), participants read an excerpt from a play (Torch Song Trilogy), first silently and then aloud using their natural speaking voices. The dialogue was a conversation between two individuals in a bar, but participants read the part of only one speaker. The advantage to having all participants read the same dialogue is that it controls for any differences in what participants say, focusing instead on how they say it. The obvious drawback to this method is that reading text aloud is an imperfect representation of a person’s actual, spontaneous speech. However, prior research found no interaction between the type of speech sample acquired (spontaneous versus reading) and sexual orientation on voice ratings of sounding gay (Travis 1981). In other words, although there may be perceptible differences between spontaneous and read speech, these differences are not immediately relevant to the phenomenon of gay sounding speech.

Participant Ratings

An excerpt (approximately 30 seconds long) was then extracted from the middle of the voice samples for playback. Each participant rating the voices (the listener) wore earphones. Presentation order of the samples was randomized and listeners had control over when to advance to the next voice. Listeners rated each voice on a 7-point scale for how gay it sounded. In a pilot study of 10 listeners and a partial sample of the voices, interrater reliability for the voice ratings was high (Cronbach’s α = 0.91). The results reported here are based on 4 listeners (not involved in any other part of the experiment) who rated all 58 voices. The reliability of these listeners’ voice ratings was also high (Cronbach’s α = 0.84).

Results

To determine whether or not listeners are accurate in judging sexual orientation from voice samples, previous studies have typically employed forced-choice items in which participants must classify each voice as belonging to either a heterosexual or gay male. However, the problem with this approach is that results may be distorted by listeners who are overly conservative or overly liberal in their judgments. For instance, a listener who rates the vast majority of voices as belonging to heterosexual males will have a very poor accuracy index. To avoid this problem, the present study used discriminant function analysis. In discriminant analysis, the independent variables are the predictors (the voice ratings of how gay a voice sounded) and the dependent variables are the groups (gay or heterosexual). Thus, based on all four listeners’ ratings of how gay a voice sounded, a prediction was made regarding the sexual orientation of each speaker and compared with that speaker’s actual sexual orientation. The overall accuracy of these predictions was 68.5%, which is significantly greater than what would be expected by chance. Broken down by sexual orientation, 75% of the heterosexual speakers were correctly classified, while 63% of the gay speakers were correctly classified.

A one-tailed t test revealed that gay men were significantly more gay sounding than the heterosexual men (t (52) = -3.964, p = .0002). The effect size for this difference was large (Cohen’s d = 1.12). Moreover, how gay a man’s voice sounded correlated with childhood gender nonconformity (full sample, r = .544, p < .0001) in both the gay (r = .429, p = .009) and heterosexual men (r = .365, p = .040). Figure 1 shows the relationship between these variables in the full sample.

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Insert Figure 1 here

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When controlling for sexual orientation, the correlation between childhood gender nonconformity and the gay voice ratings remained significant (partial r = 0.485, p < .001). However, when controlling for childhood gender nonconformity, the correlation between sexual orientation and the voice ratings became nonsignificant (partial r = .170, p = .207), suggesting that gay sounding speech is linked to childhood gender nonconformity rather than sexual orientation. Finally, there was no significant correlation between voice ratings and level of outness in gay men (r = -.261, p = .086).

Discussion

On average, gay men sounded significantly more “gay” than heterosexual men. This difference was highly significant and large in effect size. As such, listeners were able to judge sexual orientation from voice samples with moderate accuracy (68.5%). Moreover, how gay a man sounded correlated positively with the extent to which he recalled a gender nonconforming childhood (though not with his “outness,” as some theories would have predicted), and this was true for both gay as well as heterosexual men. Indeed, childhood gender nonconformity accounted for almost 30% of the variance in the voice ratings. When statistically controlling for sexual orientation, the correlation between childhood gender nonconformity and voice ratings remained; however, when controlling for childhood gender nonconformity, the correlation between voice ratings and sexual orientation became nonsignificant. In other words, “gay sounding” voices are probably “childhood gender nonconforming” voices and become associated with homosexuality only by proxy.

These results cast doubt on current explanations of gay sounding speech, none of which can account for (1.) why some men who are gay do not sound gay, (2.) why some men who are not gay do sound gay, and (3.) why childhood gender nonconformity correlates with sounding gay. Any competing hypothesis must explain, or at least allow for, each of these facts.

Before discussing the implications of the current research, an important caveat is in order. While the current study provides evidence consistent with the possibility that gay sounding speech is acquired early in life, it cannot provide definitive proof for such a hypothesis because of obvious practical and ethical limitations to experimental manipulation in this area of research. For example, it is also possible that gay sounding speech, like homosexuality itself, may be directly accountable by biological factors. Researchers have found gay men differ from heterosexual men in part of Wernicke’s area, which influences language comprehension (Reite, Sheeder, Richardson, & Teele, 1995), as well as the anterior commissure, which is associated with regions regulating phonological processing (Allen & Gorski, 1992; DiVirgiolio, Clarke, Pizzolato, & Schaffner, 1999). However, a more compelling case for a neural substrate to feminine speech patterns requires evidence of structural differences relevant to speech production or output (e.g. Broca’s area or the motor cortex), which is currently lacking. More importantly, though, some of the specific acoustic cues that female and gay sounding speech share in common (and that distinguish them from male typical speech) also vary across languages, which argues against direct biological causation. For example, there is substantial variability in the articulatory and acoustic properties of /s/ across several languages (Gordon, Barthmeier, & Sands, in press). Thus, it is unlikely that the cues differentiating gay and non-gay sounding speech can be solely attributed to culturally-invariant biological origins.

However, this does not imply that gay sounding speech is unique to standard American English; it merely suggests that the acoustic cues associated with gay sounding speech may vary across cultures. Indeed, if the current hypothesis that childhood behavior has an effect on speech patterns is correct, the extent to which a certain speech pattern is associated with homosexuality in any given culture should vary as a function of the extent to which childhood gender nonconformity precedes homosexuality. Current cross-cultural evidence, however, suggests that the linkage between childhood gender nonconformity and adult homosexuality is a near-universal phenomenon (Whitam & Mathy, 1986). As such, it would not be surprising if prehomosexual boys in other cultures are also more likely to adopt the speech patterns characteristic of females in that particular language. The ultimate origin of these particular (non-anatomical) sex differences in speech are beyond the scope of this paper; however, like speech differences based on location, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity, we can address their modes of transmission without directly knowing their cause.

Implications of Findings

Because previous research has relied on extremely small sample sizes, the present study is the first to reliably demonstrate that there are robust speech differences between gay and heterosexual men. This difference is plainly evident to most listeners and can be discerned from very short samples of speech. Thus, the belief that homosexuality can be concealed may not hold true for all gay men. While there are certainly volitional expressions of homosexuality (i.e. rainbow stickers on cars), “sounding gay” is different in that it appears to be a mostly involuntary phenomenon that cuts across virtually all social situations. This may be particularly important during times such as adolescence, when harassment of gay youth is high. To the extent that this mediates factors such as self-esteem, future studies should examine depression in gay men as a function of both childhood gender nonconformity and aspects of voice.

Perhaps equally important, the current findings add to our understanding of childhood gendered behavior in general, childhood gender nonconformity in particular, and sexual orientation. First, the results of the study provide additional support for the validity of retrospective measures of childhood gender nonconformity. Other researchers have criticized these measures for their vulnerability to subjective bias (for a review, see Bailey & Zucker, 1995); however, it is apparent that participants’ recall of childhood memories are not spurious or random, or else they would not have been so strongly linked to acoustic cues present in their voice. Second, although it might be the case that prenatal hormones cause both childhood gender nonconformity and adult homosexuality, childhood gender nonconformity by itself appears to play an important causal role in various outcomes (i.e. gay sounding speech patterns). Third, the fact that a substantial number of gay men continue to sound gay in adulthood (approximately 2 out of 3, based on current estimates), despite the negative reinforcement they probably received in childhood for this speech pattern, attests to the power and salience of the forces underlying childhood sex-typed behavior. Although some gay men may learn to “defeminize” their behavior over time (which may also explain the imperfect correlation between gay sounding speech and childhood gender nonconformity), it appears that the majority do not. The robustness of these speech patterns also lends credence to the hypothesis that they were acquired during the critical period of language acquisition (Bialystock & Halkuta, 1994).

Of course, the current study cannot answer the more ultimate question of why some boys would be so innately gender nonconforming in the first place. Several lines of evidence, however, suggest that childhood sex-typed behavior has a strong biological component. For example, males prenatally exposed to diethylstilbestrol (DES, a synthetic estrogen with masculinizing effects previously administered to women with at-risk pregnancies) recall slightly more masculinized play behavior in childhood (Kester, Green, Finch, & Williams, 1980). Likewise, environmental toxins such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can modulate sex steroid hormones during brain development and have recently been linked to masculinized play behavior in girls and more femininized play behavior in boys (Vreugdenhil, Slijper, Mulder, & Weisglas-Kuperus, 2002). Perhaps one of the most striking findings suggesting a biological factor in childhood play behavior comes from a recent animal study. When presented with sex-typed toys (such as a car and ball versus a doll and pot), even vervet monkeys displayed the same sex differences that human boys and girls show (Alexander & Hines, 2002). In humans, childhood sex-typed behavior is regulated mostly by gonadal hormones during prenatal development (Collaer & Hines, 1995).

While the current study provides support for the hypothesis that certain childhood behaviors (regardless of their origins) affect speech patterns, a more direct and simultaneous influence of hormones on brain and behavior cannot be ruled out. For example, while /s/ production appears to be the most salient cue distinguishing gay sounding speech from other types of speech (and is subject to variation across languages), there may be other components of gay sounding speech accountable by direct physiological factors. Vocal tract dimensions, for example, differ between men and women, and it is possible that they differ between gay and heterosexual men as well (Linville, 1998). Likewise, although there is no direct evidence of a neuroanatomical substrate to gay sounding speech, there is some evidence that motor behavior (which is controlled by neural structures overlapping with speech production) differs between men and women and between gay and heterosexual men. For example, people are able to judge sexual orientation at above chance levels based on muted video segments of movement (Ambady, Hallahan, & Conner, 1999). Indeed, stereotypes about gay men’s speech are often closely tied to stereotypes about their physical mannerisms and gestures as well. The ultimate cause of sex differences in motor behavior, however, is currently unclear. One possibility is that it is influenced by prenatal sex hormones. Females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, for example, are exposed to very high levels of androgenic hormones and subsequently show more masculine motor behavior than control groups (Dittman, 1992). As with gay sounding speech, cross-cultural studies may prove helpful in separating biological and environmental influences. If there are in fact biological influences on both speech and motor behavior, they may also be related to the genesis of homosexuality.

Finally, it must be stressed that in any trait showing a difference between gay and heterosexual males (or between lesbian and heterosexual women), there is always substantial variability within each of those groups. It would be inappropriate, for example, to assume that all gay men sound gay, as popular stereotypes would seem to suggest. The fact that not all gay men sound gay, and that not all gay men experienced gender nonconforming childhoods, suggests that there may be etiologically distinct subtypes of male homosexuality. Any explanation of the causes of homosexuality, or its concomitants, must take this into account.

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Mitchell, M. & Zucker, K.J. (1991, August). Recalled childhood gender behavior questionnaire: Psychometric properties. Paper presented at the 17^th Annual Meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research, Barrie, Ontario, Canada.

Mohr, J. J., & Fassinger, R. E. (2000). Measuring dimensions of lesbian and gay male experience. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 33, 66-90.

Moonwomon-Baird, B. (1997). “Toward a study of lesbian speech” in Livia, A. & Hall, K. (eds) Queerly phrased: Language, gender, and sexuality. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Munro, M.J., Flege, J.E., & MacKay, I.R.A. (1996). The effects of age of second language learning on the production of English vowels. Applied Psycholinguistics, 17, 313-334.

Rahman, Q. & Wilson, G.D. (In press). The psychobiology of human sexual orientation. Personality and Individual Differences.

Reite, M., Sheeder, J., Richardson, D., & Teale, P. (1995). Cerebral laterality in homosexual males: preliminary communication using magnetoencephalography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 24, 585-593.

Remafedi, G., Farrow, J.A. & Deisher, R.W. (1991) Risk factors for attempted suicide in gay and bisexual youth. Pediatrics, 87, 869-875.

Rogers, H. & Smyth, R. (2001). Vowel reduction as a cue in distinguishing gay- and straight-sounding male speech. Paper presented at the New Ways of Analyzing Variation Conference.

Shaw, J.C. & Ferris, G.N. (1883). Perverted sexual instinct. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 10, 185-204.

Travis, N. J.C. (1981). A study of the relationship of certain variables to sex characteristic identification from the speech of heterosexual and homosexual individuals (Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College). Dissertation Abstracts International, 42, (6-B), 2323B.

Vreugdenhil, H.J.I., Slijper, F.M.E., Mulder, P.G.H., & Weisglas-Kuperus, N. (2002). Effects of perinatal exposure to PCBs and dioxins on play behavior in Dutch children at school age. Environmental Health Perspectives, 110, A593-A598.

Waksler, R. (2001). Pitch range and women’s sexual orientation. WORD, 52, 69-77.

Whitam, F.L., & Mathy, R.M. (1986). Male homosexuality in four societies: Brazil, Guatemala, the Philippines, and the United States. New York: Praeger.

Zucker, K.J. (1992). “It ain’t the meat, it’s the motion”: Commentary on Rekers and Morey’s (1989) “Sex-typed body movements as a function of severity of gender disturbance in boys.” Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 5, 69-73.

Zuger, B. (1984). Early effeminate behavior in boys: Outcome and significance for homosexuality. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 172, 90-97.

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Figure 1. Relationship between childhood gender nonconformity and ratings of “gay sounding” voice.

http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/class/psy158h/prevhonors/z111/project.htm

Evidence that Freud was a bastard

Heterosexuality Is Unnatural, no matter what Sex Essentialists say

What follows is a book review from Achille's Heel: The Radical Men's Magazine

The Invention of Heterosexuality by Jonathan Ned Katz

Twelve years ago, Gore Vidal asserted that "there is no such thing as a homosexual or a heterosexual person. There are only homo- or hetero acts." He repeats this hypothesis in an argumentative foreword to Ned Katz's book. But Katz seeks to dig deeper than this and questions the assumptions that lead us to divide people, acts, relationships and feelings into binary opposites. Starting with the first appearance in the United States of the word hetero-sexual, in 1893, he shows how it has moved from its original medical definition to its use in describing "normal", different-sex eroticism.

The original definition is important in the argument that Katz develops. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, attempts were made to identify and name various deviations from the procreative norm. "Hetero-sexuality" described one type of non-procreative perversion involving different-sex desire. Erotic attraction was seen as a healthy sexual instinct when procreation was its aim, but not if it involved only the satisfaction of lustful impulses. It was these drives and impulses that were taken up by Freud, from 1905 onwards, in the development of his theories of sexuality.

It is difficult to imagine a time before knowledge of the powerful concepts and images that Freud put before us. Katz shows how the presumption of a predominantly male, heterosexual norm pervaded Freud's writing, creating an assumption of the biological and historical roots of the hetero/homo divide. In a similar way, Freud displaced the procreative norm and replaced it with the concept of sexual libido and its satisfaction.

In terms of individual development, the choice of sexual object (same- or opposite-sex) was not fixed or restricted, but Freud made it clear that a heterosexual outcome would be both normal and preferred. Homosexuality is seen as "fixated" and "immature" and an undesirable developmental outcome. This impression of an essential, historical and biological truth focussed negative attention on abnormal homosexuality. More importantly, it directed attention away from the heterosexual norm. Katz invites us to check the relative invisibility of discourse on heterosexuality by browsing the indices of relevant seminal texts. As an example, he cites the standard index to Freud's complete works. This contains only one reference to heterosexuality but more than a column of references to homosexuality. Katz goes on to show how heterosexuality grew rapidly from a preferred developmental outcome into a universal, cultural norm. He places Gore Vidal's distinction between persons and acts as post-Kinsey in that Alfred Kinsey's research, reported in "Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male" (1948), described a range of behaviour and practice that did not fit neatly into exclusively homo- or heterocategories.

In the same decade, the words "gay" and "straight" were being used as descriptions of sexual identity, with "straight" meaning "not homosexual". The concept of a gay or lesbian identity and the growth of identity politics have been instrumental in affirming the feelings and lifestyles of those who are glad to be gay. Ned Katz recognises the importance of this movement, but is pessimistic about its potential in the breaking down of the heterosexual norm.

Acceptance of genetically-determined sexual orientation is compared with similar biological "evidence" used to justify the practices of slavery, racism and sexism. Rather than argue on these grounds, he sees a way forward, through a focus on what is held in common and not through an emphasis on what makes us different from each other. His model for this is based on challenges to the dominant male, heterosexual culture posed by liberal, radical and lesbian feminists since the early 1960s. Katz draws together the strands of a feminist de-construction of heterosexuality, from Betty Friedan's dissatisfaction with arbitrary sexual designations, placing limits on women's potential, to Adrienne Rich's explicit criticism, in the early 1980s, of institutionalised heterosexuality.

Katz looks forward to a time when homo- and hetero- distinctions will become redundant. As Lisa Duggan points out in her afterword, this is bound to make some readers uncomfortable, if not downright hostile.

Conservative "essentialists" will perceive an attack against the institutions of marriage and the family. On the other hand, those working for lesbian and gay rights may feel that their position is undermined and that it is better to argue for equality on the basis of gains already made. Katz and Duggan both suggest that an acceptance of "difference" can lead, at best, to a state of tolerance, whereas true equality can only come if we "change the notion that heterosexuality is normal for the vast majority of people, and shift social, cultural and political practices based on that assumption".

Ned Katz's main aim in this book is to focus attention and to encourage debate on the problem of heterosexuality. In this respect, he has produced a valuable resource. "The Invention of Heterosexuality" distils almost fifteen years of discussion, research and writing. It contains a wealth of notes and references that will provide an excellent platform for further study. But, above all, this is an essential read and a fascinating journey through the sexual politics of the 20th century.

Andrew Martin

Copyright © Achilles Heel Collective

 

Source: A radical profeminist

Evidence that male sexuality is controlled through dirty politics of manhood

Book excerpts
"Growth into Manhood" by Alan Medinger

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter One Excerpt: The Journey
Homosexuality is at its core an identity problem. Such a man does not feel like a man, at least as he perceives the way other men feel about themselves. Dr. Bill Consiglio referred to this as "gender emptiness." He doesn't feel like a woman, and he may not yet have taken on a gay or homosexual identity, but he feels empty in some place where he senses he should feel solid….In terms of having gone through all the stages of growth that take most little boys from childhood to full manhood, he found the process too difficult or too painful, so he took his leave and skipped out of a part of it….

Now, 15 , 20 or 40 years later, if you want to resume your growth, you will have to venture back out into the world of men and boys. Essentially, you are going to have to develop your manhood in the same way that young boys do, through a process of learning, testing, failing, getting back up and testing again, and finally succeeding. We grow into the fullness of manhood by doing the things that men do.

Chapter Two Excerpt: Growth Into Manhood: Essential for Healing
(The homosexual man) will not recover until behavior, attractions and identity have all been dealt with and to some extent transformed. Although his natural inclination may be to focus on behavior and attractions -- because this is where he feels the most distress -- I believe that the richest fruit will be borne in his life if he focuses most strongly (and early on) in the area of identity.

This is true for two reasons: First, identity is more amenable to direct attack than behavior or attractions….(It) can be changed significantly through a program of conscious choices and specific actions…. Second, a man's incomplete male identity is what drives and directs homosexual behavior and attractions….

With respect to attractions, the essence of sexual attraction seems to be "differences" or "otherness"… What if a man does not have the inner sense that he is a man? Will he experience attraction to a woman? Will she be his "other"? No, and this is critical. If he feels that he is not complete as a man, his first longing will be not for women but for complete manhood; he will be drawn to the masculine in other males. This will be his "other." This will be his missing rib… It follows, then, that the development of our manhood - finding completion in ourselves -- will do great things both to decrease our same-sex attractions and to start drawing us sexually to women.

Chapter Three Excerpt: The Way a Man Develops
Growth encompasses the following steps:

1. Physiological…

2. Separating from the mother: This occurs…psychologically in the boy's taking on an identity separate from his mother.

3. Identifying with the father or "the man"…

4. Modeling after or imitating the father…

5. Testing his manhood: He wants to prove that he is like his father, so he tests himself to be affirmed that he is a man like his father, seeking affirmation first from his father and then from his peers.

6. Getting affirmed: He gets feedback from his father or peers that tells him he is indeed a man.

7. Accepting his manhood: Affirmation has been sufficient for him to accept internally that he is a man.

…Identification is a far less mysterious thing than bonding, and it is something that could occur at any time, even in adulthood. Hopefully, as you are reading this book, if you have never done so before, you will come to the point at which you will say, "Aha! I am not that different from other men. I am a man, and there is no reason why I can't grow into a full sense of my manhood."

…The primary affirmer in the early years usually is Dad…In early adolescence the search for affirmation is broadened. It focuses on peers. The process is competitive and has the potential to produce some losses and some pain. For this reason many boys will seek an environment where their successes will outnumber their failures. This process almost always takes place in a group environment, and the boy will start fulfilling that strange, almost universal male longing to belong to a group of men. The combination of achieving, being affirmed, and belonging can make this a wonderful experience for a young boy.

Chapter Five Excerpt: Is It Possible for Us Now?
If the steps outlined in chapter 3 are truly necessary for growth into manhood and you skipped some of them or went through them only partially, then at some point you still have to go through them if you are ever to experience full manhood. God heals our physical, emotional, and even our spiritual brokenness, but it is safe to say, God does not heal our immaturity. He wants us to grow out of it….In one way or another, you will have to go through all of the steps that lead to full, mature manhood - separating from the mother, identifying with the father or the "man," modeling, testing my manhood, getting affirmed, accepting my manhood.

…Like a boy, we must be affirmed by men; they are the ones we still see as having the authority to affirm manhood. And like it or not, like a boy, affirmation must come from what we do.

…Manhood is formed in the company of men, and so affirmation must be sought on their terms. This clearly presents a dilemma. You may not like watching football and you may have no ability to fix cars. But a broader understanding of masculinity will expand the areas in which you can recognize and receive affirmation from men. For example, if three men in your church have decided to rebuild the fence around the church playground and they decide to ask you to join them, the very asking will be affirming. Implicit in their asking is the statement that you are one of the men.

…The primary principle of the program is also the basis of this book: We grow into manhood by doing the things that men do.

Chapter Seven Excerpt: Understanding the Masculine
The problem in the homosexual man is not that he has too much of the feminine but too little of the masculine. Can there also be too much of the feminine? Could we have too great a capacity to nurture, to communicate, to understand, too great an ability to respond and help? No, any man who has a surplus of these things is blessed and is likely to be a blessing to others. Maybe in your homosexual struggles you have thought that you are too sensitive, too verbal, too intuitive. I don't think you can be. Look at yourself again. Do these qualities make your life difficult? Are they what hold you back from getting on with your life? I doubt it. Isn't it your inability to initiate, to exercise authority, to function as you are expected to do in the physical world of men that give you such distress?

…This is not the only problem at the root of male homosexuality, and I am not saying that it is present in every struggler, but it has been in most of the men whom I have encountered in this ministry over the last 20 years.

The good news -- the really great news -- is that it is not too late to develop the masculine part of you….

.....

Evidence that rape is considered manly and doesn't have the same stigma for men as 'sex with men'

In South Africa, rape is linked to manhood
Source: Mail & Guardian online
THE SMART NEWS SOURCE Jun 04 2010 15:03 LAST UPDATED Jun 04 2010 15:03

In South Africa, rape is linked to manhood
CELEAN JACOBSON MULDERSDRIFT, SOUTH AFRICA - Jul 09 2009 18:09

Dumisani Rebombo had not been circumcised, did house chores considered girls' work and was sick of being taunted for not being a man. So he took the only other course considered "manly" in his rural South African village: He raped a girl.

He was 15, the victim younger. Twenty years later he searched for the woman to beg her forgiveness -- a rarity in a nation where a culture of sexual violence is deeply embedded in society.

Rebombo agreed to share his story as researchers presented findings on Thursday at an international conference outside Johannesburg that more than one in four South African men surveyed admitted to committing rape.

A recent report published by Interpol said South Africa had the highest rape rate among its member states.

Police figures record about 54 000 rapes in South Africa in 2006 -- nearly 150 per day, or one for every 925 people in the country.

That does not tell the whole story: advocates say many attacks go unreported because of the stigma and trauma.

In comparison, Americans reported one rape for every 2 642 people in 2006 -- roughly a third of the South African rate.

"Rape is an expression of male sexual entitlement," said Rachel Jewkes, chief researcher of the survey.

"South Africa is an immensely patriarchal society. The history of the country has shaped the dominant forms of South Africa's racially defined masculinities."


CONTINUES BELOW



Preliminary findings of the report, carried out by the respected government-funded Medical Research Council and released last month, were met with horror. But many gender and human rights activists were not surprised.

"This tells the story of many boys, of many men," said Rebombo, now a 48-year-old divorced father of three.

His experience underscores the deep cultural roots of the problem in a country blighted by violent crime and the devastating emotional, social and economic legacy of apartheid's brutal racial segregation.

When Rebombo was a teen he was cruelly taunted for not being "a man".

Circumcision is considered a rite of passage by some -- but his father had almost been killed in the often unsanitary and brutal operation, and swore his son would not be abused that way.

So Rebombo was subjected to daily, constant jeering. "I was viewed as not man enough," said the large, soft-spoken man.

One way to prove manhood was rape.

Other boys pressured Rebombo to "teach a lesson" to one girl who did not want to go out with them. He resisted, fearful of his religious parents and their good standing in the community. Then he relented and a date was set. That Saturday, Rebombo was plied with beer and dagga to overcome his trembling.

"I had difficulty breathing ... I had never had sex before. I was terrified."

The girl was brought to a field and Rebombo and another boy were left with her.

"He started raping her. She fought him. I was just there, dizzy with all the stuff. He just stood up and said: 'Your turn.' I was there on top of her," he said, making a rocking motion with one hand.

Afterward, "she just ran home", said Rebombo. He said he could not even recall after the rape if he had had an erection.

Guilty, and fearful she would tell, he avoided her and a year later moved to another village.

In Johannesburg in 1996, working for a faith-based organisation involved with unemployed mothers, he was struck by the women's tales of abuse and bruises testifying to it. He started working with men to help stop the violence.

"That forced me to do my own introspection," he said. "I felt I needed to go find her and apologise."

So he went back to his village and tracked the woman down.

"I told her what I did those years back was wrong and I am here to ask for forgiveness."

Through sobs, she told Rebombo she had since been raped by two other men. Married with children, she kept the assaults secret, but sometimes cringed when her husband touched her.

Her life had never been the same, she said.

But she accepted Rebombo's apology and forgave him, saying it was difficult.

She also left him a task. "She told me: 'Maybe you could teach other men out there not to do the same thing."'

Today, Rebombo works for the Olive Leaf Foundation, helping parents and children deal with challenges including HIV/Aids, abuse and sexual violence.

"If more men would stand up and say 'This is wrong,' the better we can fight this carnage," he said.

Rape in South Africa is "deeply embedded in ideas about manhood", according to the study presented at the conference.

Researchers at this week's conference acknowledged the sexism inherent in most cultures but highlighted the strong patriarchal nature of African culture.

In South Africa, many blame the rape statistics on the violence, repression, poverty and psychological degradations of the white supremacist, apartheid regime that ended 15 years ago.

"Apartheid made violence an instrument of control and violence became the norm," said gender rights activist Mbuyiselo Botha. "Men would feel emasculated." Angry and humiliated, they took out their frustrations then -- and still today -- on the weakest victims, women and children, activists say.

About 5,2-million of South Africa's 50-million people are infected with HIV/Aids -- the highest rate in the world.

Despite one of the world's most advanced constitutions on human rights, traditional attitudes demeaning women persist and are perpetuated by the words and actions of leading figures in South Africa.

President Jacob Zuma, a proud polygamist with three wives, was acquitted of rape in 2006, but only after he acknowledged having unprotected sex with the HIV-positive daughter of a family friend.

Zuma's remarks about women, sex and Zulu culture caused major controversy and there were ugly scenes outside the courtroom with his supporters burning pictures of the woman.

While Zuma now speaks against violence against women, the trial did "tremendous damage" to efforts to encourage more modern attitudes toward women, Botha said.

"Fifteen years into democracy one had begun to think that life had started to normalise. This was a wake-up call."

Chief researcher Jewkes said rape in South Africa was "significantly associated" with childhood trauma and "abnormal" family structures caused by one or the other of the parents being forced to leave the household to seek work.

"Apartheid really destroyed South African families," she said.

Only a third of the men in their sample said their fathers were often or always at home while two-thirds said their mothers were.

"We know that if children are being raised by relatives they are much more vulnerable to being abused," Jewkes said, adding that 60% of women who report rape are assaulted by someone they know -- with children this figure goes as high as 80%.

Researchers, who gave no margin of error, interviewed men from about 1 700 households from a representative cross-section of the population in rural areas in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Daily headlines of rapes point to botched investigations and more humiliation for women.

On Monday, the Star carried a front-page story about a convicted rapist given a four-year jail sentence.

The judge said he was being lenient because the perpetrator was "well-educated" and his victim was "a grown-up woman" who had been hitchhiking. – Sapa-AP

Evidence that, in the west, manhood means the world to men, and they change their behaviour to how the society defines manhood,

Evidence that, in the west, even today
(i) manhood means the world to men, and they change their behaviour to how the society
(ii) they change their behaviour to how the society defines manhood, and that
(iii) there is a lot of politics and social engineering to change and control the behaviour of men through artificially defining what is considered masculine and what is not:

Evidence for (i) and (ii):
...consider the hardwiring of a boy’s heart. Researchers tell us that in every culture there is a code which defines what it is to be a man, a code which boys learn very quickly. This code helps a man overcome his natural instinct of self‐preservation to do what is best to protect the women and children of the tribe.
He fears harm less than he fears the shame from the rest of the males if he fails the test of manhood.
Masculinity is conferred on a male by the other males of the tribe. It is something he earns. If a man fails to be brave, stoic, and self‐sacrificing, he is branded a sissy and becomes an unmanly outcast of the men of the tribe. If a man succeeds in his manly endeavors he adds coins to his masculinity bank.
Males avoid anything that might drain their banks. That is why womanly behavior is so damaging to a male, especially a boy.
Interestingly if a woman engages in male behavior, she is often seen in a positive light, as a tomboy, or deliciously rebellious. Not so with a man who engages in womanly behavior. He will be branded a sissy at best, and often much worse. Men are embarrassed to appear feminine in public. Ask any man how he feels when he is asked to hold his wife’s purse even for a moment. Nearly every instinct in our son’s heart is to resist appearing to be feminine.

Excerpts from:

Boys, Masculinity, and the Church:
Why Boys Need a Strong Men’s Ministry

Evidence for (ii) and (iii):

So, if our boys see Christianity as feminine,what should we expect their attitude towards it to be?
Our churches need to appeal to our boy’s God‐designed masculine heart. John Eldredge writes, “When all is said and done, I think most men in the church believe that God put them on the earth to be a good boy…If they try real hard, they can reach the lofty summit of becoming a nice guy. Now let me ask my male readers: In all your boyhood dreams growing up, did you ever dream about becoming a Nice Guy?”ii
Men and boys dream about saving the world against impossible odds (and winning the heart of the beautiful princess in the process.) They are created for challenge, risk and reward, adventure, action,heroic sacrifice. Those motivations were precisely the masculine drives that Jesus appealed to when calling the twelve. Jesus had no problem attracting men. Fisherman dropped nets full of fish to follow
him. Hardened soldiers were awestruck by the power of his presence. Our sons need to hear the message, “Christ’s call to follow him never denies your masculinity. Rather it fulfills it, especially when you understand that to follow Jesus is to enlist in a war between two kingdoms.”
Our sons need to grow up in church where men have an identifiable presence as a band of brothers committed to being warriors in the spiritual battle together. They need to see in the men’s ministry that the church is a place for men and see that their masculine longings to compete, to be a warrior, to win, to take the hill for their commanding officer are fulfilled in their calling to follow Christ.
They need to be around men in the church who remind them that we are called by God to participate in nothing less than his grand plan of redemption for the universe, following King Jesus in the conquest of this entire world, spreading his kingdom geographically to the ends of the earth, and spiritually to the very gates of hell itself. Our passion, as his followers, is to see all of life redeemed, across the globe, for his honor and glory. Our calling is to something a little bigger than being a Nice Guy.

Exposing Michael Bailey as a crooked scientist

This is a document obtained by the moderator of the "Transexual Road map" website, of the leading pursuer of science's anti-man agenda -- M Bailey.

M. Bailey is one guy who has been relentlessly abusing science in order to further all of science's agenda against men, mentioned above. He has 'proved' that 'most effeminate males grow up to be gay', that 'heterosexual transexuals are not real transsexuals', and that "there is no real bisexuality, and the men claiming to be bisexuals are actually gays in hiding.'

Now, when 'scientists' like Bailey forward theories that male desire for men = male femininity, the masculine males who like men are unable to challenge the theory. For the most part, most masculine males who like men (which is nearly all of the straight male population) hide and unacknowledge their sexual need for men, and thus are disempowered to speak up for it. So, these theories go compeletly unchallenged, and in fact are supported by the 'homosexuals' who are actually the third gender who like men, and they fully validate the theory, being the only voice to speak for 'men's sexual desire for men.'

The few masculine males that take up the gay identity and own up their sexuality for men, are in any case not well-informed, and they do not have a space of their own, being dependent on the third gender 'gay' space. Masculine males who like men are not accepted in the straight identity.

However, the feminine 'heterosexuals' were thrown out by the heterosexual or the straight group, since it affects the heterosexuality = masculine image. And they were accepted by the third gender homosexual community, since they naturally share the same gender.  Once they had a space, they could challenge the proposed idea that 'heterosexual' transgendered males are not really feminine.

Here is the said document by Michael Bailey.

"Controversial ideas" by J. Michael Bailey

On 2 April 2003, Joseph Henry Press publicist Robin Pinnel sent out promotional materials for The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey, including the following attachment.

One of our investigators retrieved this from three attached files mentioned by Pinnel and sent the following analysis:

What's really important about these documents is one was written by Bailey, on his outdated little Mac, on December 3, 2002.

I decoded all three and was able to open them directly in Microsoft Word and see all three authors stats and electronic signatures, as well as see their thinking in their own words before the book went to press.

These docs are very damning, and really show some of the backroom thinking that was going on. JHP and Bailey won't be able to back away from their own words on what they "meant" and what they "intended" when it's all right here in black and white!

---

[controversial ideas.doc]

The Man Who Would Be Queen
by J. Michael Bailey

This book is controversial. It is about feminine men, from before birth to adulthood, to the rebirth experienced by those who decide to become women. Its three sections include one on very feminine boys, one on gay men, and one on transsexuals. These meld scientific studies with stories about real people.

Male femininity is a phenomenon that most people find interesting but which has been ignored by science due to concerns ranging from social conservatism to sensitivity (or less charitably, political correctness). For example, despite widespread stereotypes that gay men tend to be feminine, research related to the stereotype has only recently been conducted. 

Here are some of the topics and questions the book addresses:

FEMININE BOYS

Do very feminine boys become gay men?

Yes they usually do. As adults, nearly all are attracted to men.

Are feminine boys born or made?

Scientific studies of rare conditions in which boys are changed into girls soon after birth show that even the most extreme social manipulation can’t make a feminine boy. They seem to emerge that way from the womb.

How often do feminine boys become transsexual adults?

Although most feminine boys become gay men rather than transsexuals, a significant minority—perhaps 10%—of very feminine boys will choose to become women.

Do feminine boys need therapy to make them happy and well-adjusted adults?

This is controversial, and participants in the controversy tend to ignore the best points of the other side. On the one hand, treatment that focuses on extinguishing feminine behavior may make the boys masculine at the expense of shame and self-hatred. On the other hand, if we could make society completely accept feminine boys, more of them might choose to change into women.

GAY MEN

Are gay men feminine, like [sic] stereotypes suggest, or are they masculine, like social scientists have asserted for thirty years?

Yes. That is, gay men are a mixture of masculine and feminine traits. In some respects, they are remarkably feminine, but in some others, they are as masculine as straight men.

Gay men do in fact have feminine occupational and recreational interests, and this affects the jobs they choose and the ways they spend their time.

Gay men are also feminine in their speech patterns—there is a “gay voice”—and in their movement.

In some other ways, gay men are just like straight men. These include many aspects of sexual behavior. For example, gay men and straight men both enjoy casual sex—but gay men are able to have much more casual sex, because their partners also enjoy it.

Do some gay men act feminine in order to be accepted by other gay men? Do feminine and masculine gay men pair up as “husband and wife?”

No. Actually, gay men dislike feminine attributes in their romantic partners. Virtually all gay men prefer masculine rather than feminine partners.

Are gay men born or made?

Born. The best evidence for this is the feminine boys who will become gay men. These boys act that way despite, not because of, the social influences that surround them.

Aren’t we all really bisexual, like the ancient Greeks?

No. Men tend to be attracted to either men or women, but not both. Furthermore, the existence of feminine gay men transcends cultures and time.

TRANSSEXUALS

Are transsexuals women trapped in men’s bodies?

No. First of all, there are two very distinct types of males who become females. (Few scientists, much less laypeople, have understood the difference between them.) One of them—the type that likes only men—is naturally feminine in many respects, but not in all. The other is not at all feminine except as the result of effort.

What about men who become women only to be lesbians?

This is the second type of transsexual. They are primarily sexually attracted to the image of themselves as women, but they also are attracted to women.

Are transsexuals born or made?

The feminine transsexual is born feminine. However, whether he elects to become a woman depends on lots of social feedback. For example, will he be more attractive as a man or as a woman? The other, non-feminine, type of transsexual seems to develop his unusual sexual preference (for himself as a woman) without any social input.

Are transsexuals happy once they become women?

For the most part, they are happier than they were as men. However, they still do not lead conventional lives.

---

See the main page on Robin Pinnel for more materials put out by Joseph Henry Press.

References

Pinnel R. new book on homosexuality, transsexualism and science. via Indymedia.org, 2 April 2003.

http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-atlanta-audio/2003-April/000188.html