BOOK INFO
The Sexual Spectrum
Olive Skene Johnson
Pacific Place Publishing, 2012
ASIN: B007N9Q3KC; 278 pages
Review by Kevin Baldeosingh
Although first published in paperback more than eight years ago, this book by psychologist Olive Skene Johnson remains one of the best overviews of human sexuality, and sexual orientation in particular.
“I have learned that we have to move past simple either/ors like male/female and gay/straight,” she writes in the Introduction, adding, “It’s become increasingly obvious that human sexuality is much closer to a complex mosaic than it is to simple either/ors. There are too many things that can’t be explained by these catch-all categories.”
You might infer from this that Skene Johnson favours the constructivist perspective on sexuality, which holds that attitudes and even orientation are socially determined. In fact, she holds neither to constructivism nor to the biological determinist view, noting that genes enable behaviour and that social norms are constrained by biological factors. “Human personality and behaviour, including sexual behaviour, develop from an interaction between biological and social factors,” she points out.
She also cites the scientific research which disproved the once-common view that sexuality is a continuum. “Until the early 1970s, it was believed that maleness and femaleness were arranged on a continuum: the more you had of one, the less you’d have of the other,” she writes. “Subsequently, however, it became clear that maleness and femaleness were not opposite ends of a spectrum but actually independent of one another…the brain actually has two separate neural pathways for masculine and feminine behaviour.”
On the issue of gender identity, the research is conclusive: there are distinct differences between males and females. Of the many threads of evidence, the most drastic comes from abnormal pregnancies. These differences begin in the womb. In one condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) female foetuses were exposed to excessive male hormones while in the womb. These girls were tracked until adulthood, and displayed more typically masculine traits and were more likely to be lesbians and bisexuals. Another condition is called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) and affects male foetuses. These males are born looking like girls, but have no uterus, ovaries or fallopian tubes. They are usually hyper-feminine, wanting only to marry and take care of children.
In respect to normal pregnancies, male foetuses are more active in the womb, which accounts for boys’ typically higher physicality compared to girls on average. And, although the sex differences in the brain are small (as shown in a recent brain survey in which the researchers argued that sex differences are purely social) Skene Johnson notes that even small neurological differences can have drastic effects.
What people may find surprising is that such differences extend to gay men and lesbians. “The average gay man is more feminine than straight men, but not less masculine,” writes Skene Johnson. “Similarly, the average lesbian is more masculine than her straight sisters but not less feminine.”
Apart from being comprehensive, Sexual Spectrum also includes several quizzes which can provide insights into the reader’s sexuality, which alone are worth the price.