The direction of our sexual orientation has a large influence on our lives and how we are treated by others. Homosexuality, over time, has been rapidly emerging from a history of discrimination and oppression due to the increase in scientific findings about the orientation. However, Homosexuality has been present since the beginning of time in human and nonhuman species (Bullough, 1990). There have also been drastic improvements in the understanding of Homosexuality, scientifically and socially from the 1800’s to present time. There is still much to learn and many to inform.

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Jennifer Fiato
Laura Anderson
Human Sexuality Paper
Dec 2, 2015
Homosexuality from the 1800’s to 2015
The direction of our sexual orientation has a large influence on our lives and how we are
treated by others. Homosexuality, over time, has been rapidly emerging from a history of
discrimination and oppression due to the increase in scientific findings about the orientation.
Homosexuality is defined as one's sexual attraction to their own sex (Baldwin, 2015). It has been
viewed as a taboo sexual orientation by many in society by means of our past ancestors, elders
and some religious sects largely due to the lack of scientific research and understanding of the
orientation. However, Homosexuality has been present since the beginning of time in human and
nonhuman species (Bullough, 1990). There have also been drastic improvements in the
understanding of Homosexuality, scientifically and societally from the 1800’s to present time.
There is still much to learn and many to inform.
According to John Symond’s, author of “A Problem in Modern Ethics,” Homosexuality
was called “Anti-physical passions” in the 1860’s and went on to evolve into “Inverted
Sexuality” by the 1890’s. At the time, those who were considered “suffering” from the “disease”
were given over to medical psychologists to investigate (Symond, 1896). Biologists at the time
believed homosexuality was simply an 'unnatural trait' and left the phenomenon to psychologists
studying abnormal behavior instead of seeing it biologically-- as an inborn instinct (Hunter,
1994). Near the end of the 1800’s however, “Inverted Sexuality” was beginning to be considered
by medical physicians as inborn and inconvertible. Symond said that the general public in the

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1800’s were genuinely surprised at how intelligent, talented and of noble character the men
could be, given their “naughtiness” (Symond, 1896). It was also during this time that medical
writers began to decipher two ways of becoming sexually inverted and was labeled “The Inner
Conflict.” The first was called Psychopathic, defined as a derangement in the mind and in the
emotions of a person. The second, neuropathic, which was defined as an anomaly in the nervous
system. These early medical writers theorized that inverted sexuality was developed by early
habits of self-abuse, a term we now refer to as masturbation.
Freud, the creator of psychoanalysis; (a clinical method for helping psychopathological
patients by means of an open communication between patient and psychoanalyst) (1856-1939)
(wiki, 2015) believed that homosexuality was a sign of abnormal relationships in a family
system, while heterosexuality showed that the child came from 'normal' family functioning.
Some examples Freud gave in relation to 'abnormal' family functioning included distant or
emotionally unavailable mothers or fathers, sexually abusive mothers or fathers, or penis envy,
which Freud explained as the jealousy of a female child of her father or brother because they had
a penis. However, Freud's theories were never proven (Baldwin, 2015). Homosexuality was also
labeled a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association until 1973, when it was
dropped from the APA (Hunter, 1994).
Although Freud was not the only scientist that believed homosexuality was an abnormal
behavior (this was a common belief in the 1800’s and 1900’s), there were some whom, from the
mid-1800’s, looked at other approaches. Karl Ulrich was regarded as the first scientist to look for
biological causes of homosexuality in the 1860’s and the first to write about the concept of
homosexuality in 1864. Ulrich believed that homosexuality was something an individual was
born with, and was innately natural. He was known to have called homosexual’s the “third sex”

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defined by a woman having the mind of a man or vise-versa. Interestingly, the term
“homosexuality” was not derived as a medical label. It was first spoken by activists, writers and
lawyers as a neutral scientific term to free homosexuals from condemnation and ostracism
(Houston, 2012). Regardless of Ulrich’s new way of thinking at the time, homosexuality was still
mostly studied in the realm of psychology and not in biology. Biological theories attempt to
explain sexual orientation in terms of phenomena such as brain circuitry, hormones, genes and
evolution (LeVay, 2015).
Alfred Kinsey was an important pioneer in the realm of homosexuality in the mid-1900.
Kinsey developed a 7-point scale of sexual orientation that ranged from group 0 (exclusively
heterosexual) to group 6 (exclusively attracted to the same sex). The scale was developed in
order to show the vast amount of orientations that there can be. Kinsey found that many of his
participants had had thoughts of in-between-ness when it came to their sexual orientation, as well
as heterosexual and homosexual (Kinsey Institute, 1996). This was ground-breaking information
because it showed the emergence of accepting different sexual orientations based on simple
science.
The open discussion of homosexuality was brought about largely by the rapid spread of
AIDS (Hunter, 2015) in 1980, believed to have come from Cameroon, Africa. AIDS took the
lives of over 65,000 Americans, of whom the majority were gay or bisexual men. Sadly, the
response from the general public was anything but sympathetic. It was largely dismissed as a
“Gay Disease.” This brought on the beginning of AIDS, Gay and Lesbian activism. From 1983
to 2013, the percentage of American’s who said they knew someone personally that was gay rose
from 30% to 87%. It is believed that the increase in familiarity is a large factor in changing the
general public’s attitude toward homosexuality (Hunter, 2015.)

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The AIDS epidemic was not the only reason homosexuality became more generally
accepted. The Darwinian paradox and homosexuality brought on a spur in sexual orientation
research Homosexuality, when looked at through the lense of Darwinism was a paradox and
impossible to fit both pieces into a natural puzzle. According to Darwinian theory, animals mate
to reproduce. A mate is specifically chosen by a female because of their affective genes of
contributing to healthy offspring. Animals of the same sex engaging in mating and partnership
seem opposite of instinct, especially when adding the factor of reproduction- to produce strong
young that will survive to adulthood. For homosexuality to be considered part of evolution, it
must be natural and it must occur without any human involvement. Thus, scientists turned their
attention back to nonhuman species. If some animals were observed to participate in
homosexuality, then homosexuality would be seen as a natural phenomenon (Young, et Al.,)
when looking at humans as well.
There are many nonhuman species discovered to prefer a partner of the same sex.
Explanations of how homosexuality could be beneficial included the observations of Japanese
macaques, mountain gorillas and gibbons. These animals’ choice of a same sex partner resulted
in lower stress for the animals, lower tension between animals, and better grooming strategies
between the animals. Because these results add to the health of each animal, if could be projected
that in the long term, animals participating in homosexual “relationships” increases its chances of
reproduction as well as healthier offspring. Of course, this doesn’t mean the animal’s reproduce
together. Human as well as non-human species have offspring. For humans in a general survey,
of 262 self-identified lesbian women, 75% of them had had sex with men since 18 and 43% who
had always identified as lesbian had done so. When it comes to animals, similar results have
been found.

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A good example of an animal continually choosing their same sex to partner with for life
is the Albatross. A scientist named Lindsay C. Young studied Albatross birds in a colony at
Kaena Point, to which she found many female to female pairs who had been together from four
years to nineteen years (as far back as the researcher’s data went, in some cases). The Albatross
did everything from incubating the eggs together to raising their young together; everything but
mating and producing the eggs. Young found that each female Albatross, when first coming to
the point to nest, mated with a male, then continued on to find her female companion and thus
laying their eggs together and sharing their nest--much of what homosexual humans do (John
Mooallem & Lindsay Young., 2015).
More examples of animals displaying homosexual tendencies have been acknowledged
by researchers. Tree shrews and squirrel monkeys continue to be observed displaying this
tendency. Scientists wonder if these tendencies are a protection mechanism when the animal
needs to limit the population of their species, or they wonder if it is a way for the animal to avoid
wasting energy on reproduction, if the female happened to be putting her life at risk in the
process of having more offspring. However, scientific data has not seen a dramatic drop in
animal reproduction (Hunter, Kirch & Rodman, 1982). Thus, these examples of same-sex
relationships among animals coming to the forefront of science is another way homosexuality
began to become more accepted in the late 1900’s.
Other theories were considered in the late 1900’s as to where homosexuality biologically
comes from. One theory considered was the ‘gay gene.’ The idea was that individuals may turn
out gay biologically if carrying the 'gay gene' or straight, if not possessing the gene. This
manifested theory is unscientific, according to Hunter. Homosexual orientation has been around
for centuries and has not slowly deceased or even decreased in numbers, staying fairly

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consistent. If there was a 'gene' that predisposed one to the homosexual orientation, it would have
slowly disappeared from the gene pool because it would be a danger to the reproduction of
species; human and nonhuman alike (Hunter, 1994).
In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state laws banning gay sex were
unconstitutional. In 2011, the U.S. armed forces openly accepted gay and lesbian recruits in for
the first time (Levay, 2015). Another theory was researched in 2011 by Melissa Hines in her
study called “Prenatal endocrine influences on sexual orientation and on sexually differentiated
childhood behavior.” Basically meaning the study of a prenatal hormone known as androgen and
it’s affect on the brain if the threshold amount changes. The theory proposes that sexual
orientation depends on the level of androgens to which the brain is exposed during a sensitive
period during prenatal development. Higher levels of androgen to the brain for a female could be
influencing their later attraction to females, and vice-versa. The study concluded that sexual
orientation outcomes may not involve hormones at all, but still involve brain pathways (Hines,
2011).
Diana S. Fleischman, Daniel M.T. Fessler and Argine Evelyn did a study in 2014 that
was truly groundbreaking. They wanted to know what the motivation of homoerotic sexuality
entailed in humans; most of who did not even associate themselves as homosexual individuals,
yet still frequently showed homoerotic behavior. Fleischman et Al.’s definition of homoerotic
behavior consisted of “intimate erotic contact between members of the same sex and affiliation
as the motivation to make and maintain social bonds.” If they could figure out the control center
of the homoerotic behavior, they may attribute more to the area of study since Freud. Among
primates of human and nonhuman constituents, affiliation is one of the main drivers of
homoerotic behavior. Crossing cultures also plays a role in promoting social bonds. However,

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neither had been tested experimentally prior to Fleischman et. Al.'s study. Fleischman et.al.
found that higher levels of progesterone in an individual positively associated with homoerotic
motivation; meaning the individuals with higher progesterone levels were apt to be aroused by
homoerotic behavior. Progesterone is a hormone all humans have that promotes ‘bonding’ and
‘adaptive value’ behavior. Fleischman et. Al. suggested that males and females (based on their
progesterone levels) participate in social bonding by means of their sexuality, including towards
those of the same sex. The results of this study alone show that there is more to homosexuality
than meets the eye. Homosexuality can no longer be identified as “the opposite” of heterosexuals
in reference to sexual orientation because it all depends upon the levels of progesterone a male or
female possesses, according to Fleischman et. Al.’s findings (Fleischman et. al., 2014). These
findings have all been found in the genetic makeup of fruit flies. According to Alford, males that
have high levels of SSB (same-sex behavior) produced offspring with higher rates of
reproduction. Thus, it may be possible that genes associated with SSB could still be around
because they actually produce an advantage in females; Alford called it a fitness gene (Alford,
2015).
There have been drastic improvements in the understanding of homosexuality, as
individuals, communities and American society as a whole, learn and continue to inform others
of its scientific developments, theories, observations, and experimental research. It is within this
year, 2015 that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage across all states within the U.S.
(Levay, 2012).
It is important to continue to move forward in understanding homosexuality and the
individuals who practice it, because discrimination is still very much alive today for our friends
in the United States, and for those across the globe. For example, sex between two men has been

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legal since 1791 in France, but is still illegal for 2 billion people living in countries where gay
people lack legal protection from discrimination and physical harm (Levay, 2015). Some
religious sects are still openly anti-gay, and there are many homophobic individuals and
communities across our own country. As a whole, gay rights activism and scientific research has
come a long way in informing the general public and creating a better dynamic of orientation
acceptance, and it will continue to grow as more research is conducted on the orientation.

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Work Cited
Alford, Justine. "Scientists Discover Evolutionary Advantage For Homosexuality."
IFLScience. Iflscience, 29 May 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2015.
Baldwin, A. "Homosexuality." Conservapedia. N.p., 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.
Bullough, Vern. "The Kinsey Scale in Historical Perspective." In David P. McWhirter,
Stephanie A. Sanders, and June Machover Reinisch (eds.) Homosexuality/ Heterosexuality:
Concepts of Sexual Orientation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Cooper-White, Macrina. "Homosexuality May Have Evolved In Humans Because It
Helps Us Bond, Scientists Say." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Nov. 2014.
Web. 14 Nov. 2015.
Diana S. Fleischman, Daniel M.T. Fessler Argine and Evelyn Cholakians. Testing the
Affiliation Hypothesis of Homoerotic Motivation in Humans: The Effects of Progesterone and
Priming. November 25, 2014, Volume 44, issue 5, 1395-1404. DOI: 10.1007/s10508-014-0436-
6 Publisher- Springer US
Hines, M. (2011). Prenatal endocrine influences on sexual orientation and on sexually
differentiated childhood behavior. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology,32(2), 170–182.
"HIV Outbreak Began Decades Earlier Than Thought." Washington Post. The
Washington Post, 01 Oct. 2008. Web. 14 Nov. 2015.
Hunter, Preston. "A Paradox of Evolution." Www.adherants.com. N.p., 1994. Web. 14
Nov. 2015.
Levay, John Simon, and Janice Baldwin. Discovering Human Sexuality. 3rd ed. S.l.:
Sinauer Associates, 2012. Print. Pg.366-395.

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Mooallem, Jon, and Lindsay C. Young. "Can Animals Be Gay?" The New York Times.
The New York Times, 03 Apr. 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Symonds, John Addington. A Problem in Modern Ethics; Being an Inquiry into the
Phenomenon of Sexual Inversion, Addressed Especially to Medical Psychologists and Jurists.
London: n.p., 1896. Print.
Ulrich, Karl. "Behavior, Not a Person; 1860's- to 1940's." Chapter 2 The 1860s to the
1940s. Http://www.banap.net/spip.php?article86, 17 Nov. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2015.
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