Research on the Determinants of Sexual Orientation
Introduction: According to Emily Cameron in New Moon (2004), some girls like boys, some girls like girls, and some girls just like people without worrying whether they're girls or boys. Whom you like romantically is called sexual orientation. It's usually divided neatly into groups of homosexual - being attracted only to people of the same sex, bisexual - being attracted to both sexes, and heterosexual - being attracted only to people of the opposite sex. In reality, the issue is more complex than these labels (Cameron, 2004, 18). According to an article in Education Week (2004), nationwide poll suggests that 5 percent of America's high school students identify themselves as homosexual ("Sexual Orientation", 2004, 16).
Frankowski, B., Kaplan, D., Diaz, A., Feinstein, R., Fisher, M., Klein, J., Yancy, W., Hertweck, S., Pearson, G., Kaufman, M., Perrin, E., Smith, K. Pediatrics (2004) sexual orientation refers to an individual's pattern of physical and emotional arousal toward other persons. Heterosexual individuals are attracted to persons of the opposite sex, homosexual individuals are attracted to persons of the same sex, and bisexual individuals are attracted to persons of both sexes. Homosexual males are often referred to as "gay"; homosexual females are often referred to as "lesbian."
In contrast, gender identity is the knowledge of oneself as being male or female, and gender role is the outward expression of maleness or femaleness. Gender identity and gender role usually conform to anatomic sex in both heterosexual and homosexual individuals. Exceptions to this are transgendered individuals and transvestites. Transgendered individuals feel themselves to be of a gender different from their biological sex; their gender identity does not match their anatomic or chromosomal sex. Transvestites are individuals who dress in the clothing of the opposite gender and derive pleas...