Neuroscience Program, Michigan State University, 293 Farm Lane, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X9, Canada.
Horm Behav. 2019 May;111:23-30. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.12.006. Epub 2018 Dec 27.
For nearly 60 years since the seminal paper from W.C Young and colleagues (Phoenix et al., 1959), the principles of sexual differentiation of the brain and behavior have maintained that female-typical sexual behaviors (e.g., lordosis) and sexual preferences (e.g., attraction to males) are the result of low androgen levels during development, whereas higher androgen levels promote male-typical sexual behaviors (e.g., mounting and thrusting) and preferences (e.g., attraction to females). However, recent reports suggest that the relationship between androgens and male-typical behaviors is not always linear - when androgen signaling is increased in male rodents, via exogenous androgen exposure or androgen receptor overexpression, males continue to exhibit male-typical sexual behaviors, but their sexual preferences are altered such that their interest in same-sex partners is increased. Analogous to this rodent literature, recent findings indicate that high level androgen exposure may contribute to the sexual orientation of a subset of gay men who prefer insertive anal sex and report more male-typical gender traits, whereas gay men who prefer receptive anal sex, and who on average report more gender nonconformity, present with biomarkers suggestive of low androgen exposure. Together, the evidence indicates that for both mice and men there is an inverted-U curvilinear relationship between androgens and sexual preferences, such that low and high androgen exposure increases androphilic sexual attraction, whereas relative mid-range androgen exposure leads to gynephilic attraction. Future directions for studying how individual differences in biological development mediate sexual behavior and sexual preferences in both mice and humans are discussed.
近 60 年来，自 W.C. Young 和同事的开创性论文（Phoenix 等人，1959 年）以来，大脑和行为的性分化原则一直认为，女性典型的性行为（例如，发情）和性偏好（例如，对男性的吸引力）是发育过程中雄激素水平低的结果，而较高的雄激素水平促进男性典型的性行为（例如，交配和射精）和偏好（例如，对女性的吸引力）。然而，最近的报告表明，雄激素与男性典型行为之间的关系并不总是线性的——当雄性啮齿动物中的雄激素信号通过外源性雄激素暴露或雄激素受体过表达增加时，雄性继续表现出男性典型的性行为，但它们的性偏好发生了改变，即它们对同性伴侣的兴趣增加。与这种啮齿动物文献类似，最近的发现表明，高水平的雄激素暴露可能导致一部分更喜欢插入式肛交并报告更多男性典型性别特征的男同性恋者的性取向，而更喜欢接受式肛交的男同性恋者，并且平均报告更多的性别非传统，表现出低雄激素暴露的生物标志物。总之，这些证据表明，对于老鼠和人类来说，雄激素和性偏好之间存在着一种倒 U 型曲线关系，即低和高雄激素暴露会增加男性恋性行为吸引力，而相对中等范围的雄激素暴露会导致女性恋吸引力。讨论了研究个体生物发育差异如何调节老鼠和人类的性行为和性偏好的未来方向。
