Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology, University of LethbridgeLethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4, Canada
Abstract
The manner in which male androphilia is publicly expressed varies cross-culturally. As such, it is unclear whether distinct or common underlying causal processes characterize male androphilia in different cultures. Establishing the existence of cross-cultural universals in male androphilia is one means of ascertaining whether common biological bases underlie this phenomenon despite its culturally distinct forms. The evidence that the number of older biological brothers increases the odds of androphilia in later-born males has been well documented for Western samples (i.e. the
fraternal birth order effect
); but there is little evidence for this effect in non-Western samples. Here, we compare the birth order of androphilic males (i.e.
fa'afafine
) and gynephilic males from the politically autonomous Polynesian nation of Independent Samoa. Results indicate that relative to gynephilic males,
fa'afafine
tend to have more siblings and are generally later born when birth order is quantified using Slater, fraternal and sororal indices. More specifically,
fa'afafine
tend to have a greater number of older brothers, older sisters and younger brothers. We discuss the observed effects in relation to the differing reproductive patterns exhibited by the mothers of
fa'afafine
and gynephilic males, and to existing social and biological theories for sexual orientation.
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine
Cited by
71 articles.
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