Paper Title
T11-O-07 Prenatal exposure to progesterone and sexual orientation in humans
Keywords
- Prenatal Exposure
- Progesterone
- Sexual Orientation
- Bisexuality
- Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort
- Sexual Behavior
- Same-Sex Attraction
- Heterosexuality
- Two-Dimensional Model
- Sexual Identity
- Sexual Orientation Continuum
- Sexual Development
- Maternal Treatment
- Sexual Attraction
- Human Sexuality
Journal
Research Impact Tools
Publication Info
Volume: 17 | Issue: 1 | Pages: S157
Published On
April, 2008
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Abstract
Objective Evaluate the effects of prenatal exposure to progesterone (via maternal medical treatment) on the sexual orientation of offspring. Design and methods Data collected in young adulthood were analyzed for 34 exposed-unexposed matched pairs (17 male pairs and 17 female pairs) from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort. Mean age at assessment was 23.2 years. The following sexual orientation variables were assessed as part of a structured interview conducted by a psychologist: self-labeled sexual orientation; lifetime attraction to own sex; current attraction to own sex or both sexes; kissed with own sex and with other sex, having been partially undressed in a sexual situation with own and with other sex, having been fully undressed in a sexual situation with own and with other sex, “intercourse” with own and with other sex. Questionnaires assessed the following: having “gone to bed with” a person of own sex, masturbation together with another person(s) of the same sex and of the other sex, and composite measures of attraction to males and attraction to females. Results Exposure was associated with decreased likelihood of identifying as heterosexual, greater likelihood of having engaged in same-sex sexual behavior, increased same-sex attraction, and higher scores on a scale of male attraction. Differences were not found on measures of heterosexual behavior. Conclusions These subjects’ sexual orientation appears to be bisexual. Based upon these findings we suggest that sexual orientation may be more accurately and productively conceptualized in terms of a two-dimensional model, rather than a bipolar continuum.
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