Sexual Orientation: Toward Biological Understanding

by Lee Ellis

Overview

Genetic, hormonal, neurological, and other biological factors need to be taken into account to fully understand sexual orientation. This work represents the latest research and theory on causes of variation in sexual orientation. It looks at sexual orientation as a cross-species phenomenon with numerous determining factors.

This work is a collection of chapters by some of the leading researchers in the scientific study of sexual orientation. The theory that many genetic, hormonal, neurological, and other biological factors need to be taken into account to fully understand sexual orientation is espoused in this book. It presents much of the latest research on the causes of variation in sexual orientation and related phenomena. It views sexual orientation as a cross-species phenomenon with both biological and environmental determinants.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275956516
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/30/1997
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)
Lexile:	1460L (what's this?)

About the Author

LEE ELLIS is Professor, Department of Sociology at Minot State University. He has conducted research on biological influences on sexual orientation since the mid-1980s. His major interests are in the areas of the effects of genes, sex hormones, and brain functioning on all aspects of behavior, particularly behavior having to do with aggression, criminality, social stratification, and sexual orientation. Ellis is editor of several books, including Male/Female Differences in Behavior (Praeger,forthcoming), Social Stratification and Socioeconomic Inequality, Volume I (Praeger, 1993) and Volume II (Praeger, 1994), and (with Harry Hoffman) Crime in Biological, Social, and Moral Contexts (Praeger, 1990).

LINDA EBERTZ helped organize the 1995 International Behavioral Development Symposium (along with Lee Ellis). She is a graduate of Minot State University.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Brian A. Gladue
Preface
Genetic and Perinatal Influences on Sexual Orientation
Neuroendocrine Foundations of Diverse Sexual Phenotypes in Fish by Matthew S. Grober
Experimental Alterations of Prenatal Determinants of Sexual Orientation and Sex-Typical Behavior in Non-Human Mammals by Craig H. Kinsley, Kelly Gurley Lambert, and Hendree Jones
The Role of Prenatal Estrogens in Sexual Orientation by Heino F. L. Meyer-Bahlburg
Sexual Behavior and Sexual Orientation in Females with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia by Ralf W. Dittmann
Perinatal Influences on Behavior and Health, with Special Emphasis on Sexual Orientation and Other Sex-Linked Behavior by Lee Ellis
Neurological and Physiological Aspects of Sexual Orientation
Sexual Differentiation of the Brain and Partner Preference in the Male Rat: Behavioral, Neuroanotomical and Neuroimmunocytochemical Studies by Julie Bakker and A. Koos Slob
Sexual Orientation in the Domestic Ram: Some Biological and Social Correlates by Anne Perkins and James A. Fitzgerald
Sexual Differentiation of the Human Hypothalamus: Differences According to Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Transsexuality by D. F. Swaab, J. N. Zhou, M. Fodor, and M. A. Hofman
Sexual Orientation and Handedness: A Reanalysis of Recent Data and Research Considerations for Future Inquiry by David W. Holtzen
Transsexuality and Adextrality: Do They Share a Common Origin? by Anna Herman-Jegliska, Stanislaw Dulko, and Anna Grabowska
Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Cognition by Diane F. Halpren and Marciana Crothers
References
Name Index
Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

Offers research findings and theoretical interpretations of research into biological contributions to variations in sexual orientation, based on the premise that such orientation can be fully understood only within a biological context. Covers genetic and perinatal influences and neurological and physiological aspects. The 11 papers are from a summer 1995 international symposium in Minot, North Dakota. The symposium also considered biological contributions to sex-typical behavior, the papers on which are to be published by Praeger in 1998 as . Includes a name index without phone numbers. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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