Physical Correlates of Sexual Orientation: The Association of Height, Birth Weight, and Facial Structure with Sexual Orientation.

Researchers have examined whether certain physical characteristics are associated with sexual orientation to gain insight into the mechanisms that may be implicated in its development. Three relatively new and/or understudied physical correlates (height, birth weight, facial structure) were investigated to determine whether they are reliably associated with sexual orientation and to gain insight into the specific mechanism(s) that may be driving the association between these physical correlates and sexual orientation. In Study 1, gay men were found to be shorter, on average, than heterosexual men in a nationally representative US sample. There was no significant height difference between lesbian and heterosexual women. No evidence was found that stress and nutrition at puberty mediated the association between sexual orientation and height in men. Thus, other mechanisms (e.g., prenatal hormones, genetics) likely explain the sexual orientation-height link. In Study 2, firstborn gay male only-children had, on average, a significantly lower mean birth weight than firstborn children in four other sibship groups. There was also evidence of increased fetal loss among mothers of gay male only-children. Birth weight and fetal loss have been shown to be indicators of a mother’s immune system responding to a pregnancy. Thus, Study 2 provides support for the idea that a maternal immune response (and one that appears to be distinct from the maternal immune response hypothesized to explain the traditional fraternal birth order effect) is implicated in sexual orientation development. In Study 3, lesbian and heterosexual women differed in 17 facial features (out of 63) at the univariate level, and four were unique multivariate predictors. Gay and heterosexual men differed in 11 facial features at the univariate level, and three were unique multivariate predictors. Some of the facial features related to sexual orientation implicated a sexual differentiation related mechanism (e.g., prenatal hormones), whereas others implicated a non-sexual differentiation mechanism (e.g., developmental instability) to explain the sexual orientation-facial structure association. In addition to extending the empirical literature on the physical correlates associated with sexual orientation, the studies included in this dissertation extend our understanding of the various mechanisms likely implicated in the development of sexual orientation

A Multi-Modal MRI Analysis of Cortical Structure in Relation to Gender Dysphoria, Sexual Orientation, and Age in Adolescents.

Gender dysphoria (GD) is characterized by distress due to an incongruence between experienced gender and sex assigned at birth. Sex-differentiated brain regions are hypothesized to reflect the experienced gender in GD and may play a role in sexual orientation development. Magnetic resonance brain images were acquired from 16 GD adolescents assigned female at birth (AFAB) not receiving hormone therapy, 17 cisgender girls, and 14 cisgender boys (ages 12-17 years) to examine three morphological and microstructural gray matter features in 76 brain regions: surface area (SA), cortical thickness (CT), and T1 relaxation time. Sexual orientation was represented by degree of androphilia-gynephilia and sexual attraction strength. Multivariate analyses found that cisgender boys had larger SA than cisgender girls and GD AFAB. Shorter T1, reflecting denser, macromolecule-rich tissue, correlated with older age and stronger gynephilia in cisgender boys and GD AFAB, and with stronger attractions in cisgender boys. Thus, cortical morphometry (mainly SA) was related to sex assigned at birth, but not experienced gender. Effects of experienced gender were found as similarities in correlation patterns in GD AFAB and cisgender boys in age and sexual orientation (mainly T1), indicating the need to consider developmental trajectories and sexual orientation in brain studies of GD

Direct Reproduction and Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity in Thailand

This is an accepted manuscript published by Springer.Human same-sex sexual attraction is considered to be an evolutionary paradox. This paradox rests on same-sex attracted individuals having lowered direct reproduction, indicating reduced direct fitness of genes that influence same-sex attraction. Yet, relatively few empirical studies have examined the relation between same-sex sexual attraction and direct reproduction. The present study examined direct reproduction (i.e., number of children produced) in a diverse Thai sample (N = 1623) of heterosexual men and women, gay and bisexual men, and lesbian and bisexual women, as well as unique Thai gender categories: sao praphet song (i.e., feminine androphilic third-gender males), toms (i.e., masculine gynephilic third-gender females), and dees (i.e., feminine females who are sexually attracted to toms). In males, heterosexual men were more likely to have produced children than other groups, especially as they aged, and none of the gay men or sao praphet song reported having children. In females, there was some degree of reproduction in each of the groups considered. On average, heterosexual and bisexual women had similar numbers of children, whereas heterosexual women had significantly more children than lesbian women, toms, and dees. Number of children was significantly positively associated with age among heterosexual women, bisexual women, toms, and dees. With age, the discrepancies in average number of children produced between heterosexual women and each of lesbian women and toms became significantly more pronounced. Discussion focuses on how these findings, in conjunction with those of prior studies, inform our understanding of evolutionary selection pressures related to human same-sex sexuality.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant awarded to DPV (RGPIN-2016-06446)

Facial Attractiveness of Sisters of Thai Gay Men and Sao Praphet Song

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Sex Research in April 2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2020.1742858Androphilia refers to sexual attraction toward adult males. Androphilic males’ female genetic relatives might offset the fitness cost of androphilia by having elevated numbers of offspring. Increased attractiveness relative to other women may enable these females to marry up the social hierarchy, providing greater access to resources to support more offspring. In Thailand, there is a marked status hierarchy and male androphiles are highly visible – identifying as gay men or as a third gender known as sao praphet song. Thus, a field experiment was conducted in which 208 heterosexual men rated the facial attractiveness of 25 sisters of Thai gay men or sao praphet song and 25 comparison women with no known same-sex attracted relatives. Contrary to the prediction, the comparison group was rated as more attractive than the sisters, casting doubt on hypotheses that posit greater attractiveness of female relatives of male androphiles as a proximate mechanism facilitating the evolutionary maintenance of genes influencing male androphilia. Also, men from rural areas rated the women, regardless of group, as more attractive than men from urban areas, consistent with some prior studies showing rural-urban differences in perceptions of attractiveness.This research was funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Discovery Grant [RGPIN-2016-06446] awarded to DPV

Handedness and Birth Order Among Heterosexual Men, Gay Men, and Sao Praphet Song in Northern Thailand

This is an accepted article published by Springer.Previous research has examined handedness and birth order to inform sexual orientation and gender identity/role expression development; however, sexual orientation and gender identity/role expression have rarely been disentangled to provide a more nuanced perspective. In Thailand, we investigated sexual orientation and gender identity simultaneously via comparison of 282 heterosexual men, 201 gay men, and 178 sao praphet song-i.e., androphilic, markedly feminine males recognized as a "third" gender. Handedness was examined as: extremely left-handed, moderately left-handed, ambidextrous, moderately right-handed, or extremely right-handed. Birth order was examined as numbers of older and younger brothers and sisters, by using Berglin's, fraternal, and sororal indices, and by examining the older brother odds ratio and sibling sex ratio. Compared with heterosexual men, gay men and sao praphet song were more likely to be extremely right-handed. Sao praphet song were also more likely to be extremely left-handed than heterosexual and gay men. Heterosexual men and sao praphet song had later sororal birth order compared with the expected Thai population value, suggesting stopping rules influenced when probands' mothers ceased having children. These findings provide new insights and replicate previous findings in a non-Western sample. Regarding handedness, in males, mechanisms related to extreme right-handedness likely influence the development of androphilia, whereas mechanisms related to both extreme right- and extreme left-handedness likely explain the combination of androphilia and feminine gender identity/role expression. Regarding birth order, similar to the conclusions of some prior research, stopping rules pose a challenge for testing the fraternal birth order effect.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant awarded to DPV (RGPIN-2016-06446)

An examination of the biodevelopment of gender expression in children ages 6- to 12-years

Previous clinical research on children who experience gender dysphoria has demonstrated links between marked childhood gender variant behaviour and several variables thought to provide a window on biological processes affecting brain sexual differentiation during the pre-/perinatal period. These variables include handedness, birth order, and birth weight. The present study investigated, via parent-report, whether these factors were associated with inter-individual variation in childhood gender expression in a large community sample (n ¼ 2377, 51.4% boys). Consistent with previous studies, elevated gender variance was associated with non-right-handedness in boys and girls, and later fraternal birth order in boys. In contrast to prior clinical studies, there were no associations between gender expression and birth order in girls, and no interactions of birth weight and birth order in predicting gender variance in boys. Thus, handedness in both genders and late fraternal birth order in boys appear to apply widely as predictors of inter-individual variation in childhood gender expression, whereas the other factors examined here may only predict more marked levels of gender variance as examined in previous clinical research of children who experience gender dysphoria

Male homosexuality and maternal immune responsivity to the Y-linked protein NLGN4Y

We conducted a direct test of an immunological explanation of the finding that gay men have a greater number of older brothers than do heterosexual men. This explanation posits that some mothers develop antibodies against a Y-linked protein important in male brain development, and that this effect becomes increasingly likely with each male gestation, altering brain structures underlying sexual orientation in their later-born sons. Immune assays targeting two Y-linked proteins important in brain development—protocadherin 11 Y-linked (PCDH11Y) and neuroligin 4 Y-linked (NLGN4Y; isoforms 1 and 2)—were developed. Plasma from mothers of sons, about half of whom had a gay son, along with additional controls (women with no sons, men) was analyzed for male protein-specific antibodies. Results indicated women had significantly higher anti-NLGN4Y levels than men. In addition, after statistically controlling for number of pregnancies, mothers of gay sons, particularly those with older brothers, had significantly higher anti-NLGN4Y levels than did the control samples of women, including mothers of heterosexual sons. The results suggest an association between a maternal immune response to NLGN4Y and subsequent sexual orientation in male offspring

Cortical Structure Differences in Relation to Age, Sexual Attractions, and Gender Dysphoria in Adolescents: An Examination of Mean Diffusivity and T1 Relaxation Time.

Recent research found that the combination of masculine gender identity and gynephilia was associated with cortical T1 relaxation time, which is considered to reflect gray matter density. We hypothesized that mean diffusivity (MD), a diffusion tensor imaging metric that reflects the degree to which water movement is free versus constrained, in combination with T1 relaxation time would provide further insight regarding cortical tissue characteristics. MD and T1 relaxation time were measured in 76 cortical regions in 15 adolescents assigned female at birth who experience gender dysphoria (GD AFAB) and were not receiving hormone therapy, 17 cisgender girls, and 14 cisgender boys (ages 12-17 years). Sexual orientation was represented by the degree of androphilia-gynephilia and the strength of sexual attraction. In multivariate analyses, cortical T1 relaxation time showed a weak but statistically significant positive association with MD across the cortex, suggesting that macromolecule-rich cortical tissue also tends to show water movement that is somewhat more constrained. In further multivariate analyses, in several left frontal, parietal, and temporal regions, the combination of shorter T1 relaxation time and faster MD was associated with older age and greater gynephilia in GD AFAB individuals and cisgender boys and with stronger attractions in cisgender boys only. Thus, for these cortical regions in these groups, older age, gynephilia, and stronger attractions (cisgender boys only) were associated with macromolecule-rich tissue in which water movement was freer-a pattern that some prior research suggests is associated with greater cell density and size. Overall, this study indicates that investigating T1 relaxation time and MD together can further inform how cortical gray matter tissue characteristics relate to age and psychosexuality