Biomedical concepts of homosexuality: folk belief in a white coat.

Biological and medical tradition teaches that sexuality exists for the sole purpose of reproduction. Within this tradition homosexuality has no biological significance. It is conceived as a pathological condition wherein a homosexual has the internal or external characteristics of the opposite sex. The initial search for cross-sex physical characteristics in homosexuals (e.g., wide hips in males, wide shoulders in females) failed. The search then focussed on so-called sex hormones. It was hypothesized that homosexuals had an excess of hormones of the opposite sex. The researchers are now hypothesizing that homosexuals have a cross-sex brain organization. To date, no evidence for such cross-sex differentiation has been credibly demonstrated. This paper describes the results of unsuccessful attempts to replicate studies which are based on the assumption that homosexuals have a cross-sexed brain organization due to perinatal hormonal factors.