Introduction to Sexual Orientation:

Though people might use other labels or none at all, sexual orientation is generally illustrated in terms of three classes: heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality. The three exist all along a continuum which ranges from completely heterosexual to exclusively homosexual, comprising different forms of bisexuality in between. This continuum doesn't suit everyone, though, as some people recognize as asexual. This linear scale is a simplification of the much more nuanced nature of the sexual orientation and sexual identity; most of the sexologists consider it to be oversimplified. Categorizing sexual desires or people on the basis of sexual orientation is a modern Western perception. Doubts have been increased regarding the validity of this theory in non-Western and indigenous societies, and also in the pre-modern West.

Sexual orientation differentiated from sexual identity and behavior:

Most of the definitions of sexual orientation comprise a psychological component, like the direction of an individual's erotic desire, and/or a behavioral component that focuses on the sex of the individual's sexual partners. A few people prefer simply to follow the individual's self-definition or identity. It is simply differentiated from other components of sexuality comprising biological sex, gender identity (that is, the psychological sense of being female or male), and the social gender role (that is, devotion to cultural norms for masculine and feminine behavior). Sexual orientation exists all along a continuum which ranges from exclusive heterosexuality to exclusive homosexuality and comprise different forms of bisexuality. Bisexual persons can experience emotional, sexual and affectional attraction to both their own sex and the opposite sex. Persons having a homosexual orientation are at times termed to as gay (both women and men) or as lesbian. Sexual orientation is dissimilar from sexual behavior as it refers to feelings and self-concept. Individuals might or might not state their sexual orientation in their behaviors. 

Sexual identity and sexual behavior are closely associated to sexual orientation; however they are differentiated, with identity referring to an individual's conception of themselves, behavior referring to real sexual acts performed through the individual and orientation naming to fantasies, attachments and longings.  Individuals might or might not deduce their sexual orientation in their behaviors. People who encompass a homosexual sexual orientation which doesn't align by their sexual identity are at times termed to as closeted.

Sexualities include:

Sexual orientation generally was stated as comprising heterosexuality, bisexuality and homosexuality. Asexuality is now regarded as a sexual orientation via some researchers and has been stated as the absence of a traditional sexual orientation; an asexual consists of little to no sexual attraction to females or males.

Gender, transgender, cisgender and conformance:

The initial writers on sexual orientation generally understood it to be intrinsically associated to the subject's own sex. For illustration, it was thought that a usual female-bodied person who is fascinated to female-bodied persons would encompass masculine attributes and vice-versa.

This was shared by most of the major theorists of sexual orientation from the mid 19th to early 20th century, like Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, Magnus Hirschfeld, Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Havelock Ellis, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud and also lots of gender-variant homosexual people themselves. Though, this understanding of homosexuality as sexual inversion was disputed at the time and, via the second half of the 20th century, gender identity came to be rousingly observed as a phenomenon dissimilar from sexual orientation. Transgender and cisgender people might be attracted to women, men or both, however the prevalence of various sexual orientations is quite dissimilar in such two populations.

An individual heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual person might be feminine, masculine or androgynous and in addition, lots of members and supporters of gay and lesbian communities now view the 'gender-conforming heterosexual' and the 'gender-nonconforming homosexual' as negative stereotypes. Though, studies by J. Michael Bailey and KJ Zucker have discovered that a mainstream of lesbians and gay men report being gender-nonconforming throughout their childhood years.

Relationships outside of orientation:

Lesbian and Gay people can encompass sexual relationships having someone of the opposite sex for a diversity of reasons comprising the wish for family with children and concerns of discrimination and religious barring. A few GLBT people hide their personal orientations from their spouses; others build up positive gay and lesbian identities whereas sustaining successful marriages.

Born bisexual, then monosexualizing:

Innate bisexuality or predisposition to bisexuality is the idea proposed by Sigmund Freud, based on the work by his associate Wilhelm Fliess. According to this concept, all humans are born bisexual however via psychological development that comprises both internal and external factors, become monosexual whereas the bisexuality remains in the latent state.

Efforts to change sexuality:

Efforts to change the sexual orientation are not likely to be successful and comprise some risk of harm, contrast to the claims of SOCE practitioners and advocates. Even although the research and clinical literature explain that similar-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings and behaviors are normal and positive variations of the human sexuality, in spite of of sexual orientation identity, the task force concluded that the population which experience SOCE tends to encompass strongly conservative religious opinions that lead them to seek to transform their sexual orientation.

Measuring sexual orientation:

Differing definitions and strong social norms regarding sexuality can make sexual orientation complex to enumerate.

1) Scales for assessment:

From at least the late 19th century in Europe, there was speculation which the range of human sexual response looked more similar to a continuum than two or three discrete groups. Berlin sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld published a scheme in the year 1896 which computed the strength of an individual's sexual desire on two independent 10-point scales, A (homosexual) and B (heterosexual).  A heterosexual individual might be A0, B5; a homosexual individual might be A5, B0; an asexual would be A0, B0; and somebody having an extreme attraction to both sexes would be A9, B9. The Kinsey scale evaluates sexual orientation from 0 (entirely heterosexual) to 6 (totally homosexual), having an additional category, X, for those having no sexual attraction to either women or men. Dissimilar to Hirschfeld's scale, the Kinsey scale is 1-D.

2) Mean of assessment:

Signifies typically employed comprise surveys, cross-cultural studies, interviews, physical arousal measurements sexual behavior, sexual fantasy and a pattern of erotic arousal. The most general is verbal self-reporting or self-labeling that based on respondents being accurate regarding them.

3) Biology:

Research has acknowledged some biological factors that might be associated to the growth of sexual orientation, comprising genes, prenatal hormones and brain structure. No single controlling cause has been recognized and research is ongoing in this area. 

a) Genetic factor:  Genes might be associated to the growth of sexual orientation. At one time, studies of twins appeared to point to a main genetic component; however problems in experimental design of the available studies have formed their interpretation complex and one latest study appears to prohibit genes as a main factor. 

b) Hormones: The hormonal theory of sexuality holds that, mere as exposure to some hormones plays a role in fetal sex differentiation; like exposure as well affects the sexual orientation which emerges afterward in the adult. Fetal hormones might be seen as either the main influence on adult sexual orientation or as a co-factor interacting by genes and/or environmental and social conditions. 

c) The auditory system: Sexual orientation based on the capability of one person to recognize the sex of the other. In humans, this is a learned mental procedure. In the year 2008, it was recommended that innate root cues and methods find out the sexual orientation of the adult. 

Such root cues and mechanisms procedure information that the child receives from the atmosphere. They recognize other sexual orientation cues which are embedded in the information flow and internalize them in information structures. At puberty, sexual orientation emerges. Adults of the similar sexual orientation share common root cues and methods. Various root cues and methods outcome in different orientations. Various life experiences cause personal variations in an orientation. 

4) Sexual arousal:

Studying of the human sexual arousal has confirmed a fruitful manner of understanding how women and men distinct as genders and in terms of the sexual orientation. A clinical measurement might employ penile or vaginal photoplethysmography, where genital engorgement by blood is measured in response to the exposure to various erotic materials.

A few researchers who study sexual orientation argue that the concept might not apply likewise to women and men. A study of sexual arousal patterns found that the women, when watching erotic films which exhibit female-female, male-male and male-female sexual activity (that is, oral sex or penetration), have patterns of arousal which don't match their declared sexual orientations and also men's. That is, heterosexual and lesbian women's sexual arousal to erotic films doesn't differ considerably by the genders of the participants (female or male) or through the kind of sexual activity (that is, homosexual or heterosexual). On contrast, men's sexual arousal patterns tend to be more in line having their stated orientations, by heterosexual men exhibiting more penis arousal to female-female sexual activity and less arousal to female-male and male-male sexual stimuli and homosexual and bisexual men being more aroused through films depicting male-male intercourse and less aroused via other stimuli.

The other study on women and men's patterns of sexual arousal verified at women and men have dissimilar patterns of arousal, independent of their sexual orientations. The study found that genitals of women become aroused to both human and non-human stimuli from movies exhibiting humans of both genders having sex (that is, heterosexual and homosexual) and from videos exhibiting non-human primates (that is, bonobos) having sex. Men didn't show any sexual arousal to non-human visual stimuli, their arousal prototypes being in line by their specific sexual interest (that is, women for heterosexual men and men for homosexual men). Such studies recommend that women and men are dissimilar in terms of sexual arousal patterns and that this is as well reflected in how their genitals react to the sexual stimuli of both genders or even to non-human stimuli. It should be illustrated that sexual orientation has numerous dimensions (that is, attractions, behavior and identity) of which sexual arousal is the mere product of sexual attractions that can be measured at present with certain degree of physical precision. Therefore, the fact that women are aroused via seeing non-human primates having sex doesn't signify that women's sexual orientation comprises this kind of sexual interest. A few researchers talk that women's sexual orientation based less on their patterns of sexual arousal than men's and that other components of sexual orientation (similar to emotional attachment) should be taken into account when explaining women's sexual orientations. In contrary, men's sexual orientations tend to be mainly focused on the physical component of attractions and, therefore their sexual feelings are more completely oriented according to sex.

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