University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

A Sociological Approach To The Etiology Of Female Homosexuality And The Lesbian Social Scene

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A Sociological Approach To The Etiology Of Female Homosexuality And The Lesbian Social Scene

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Content 70-25,057
POOLE, Kenneth Alfred, 1922-
A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE ETIOLOGY OF
FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE LESBIAN SOCIAL
SCENE.
University of Southern California, Ph.D., 1970
Sociology, family
University Microfilms, A X E R O X Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan
i
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED
A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE ETIOLOGY OF FEMALE
HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE LESBIAN SOCIAL SCENE
by
Kenneth Alfred Poole
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Sociology)
June 1970
UNIVERSITY OF SO U TH ER N CALIFORNIA
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 9 0 0 0 7
dissertation, written by
&NM&3M. 3 .0 . 4 £..
under the direction of h Dissertation C o m
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by The G ra d u
ate School, m partial fulfillment of require
ments of the degree of
D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y
{.7n
aju o
\ J Dean
D a te ^ne_l_970
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To the members of my doctoral dissertation comnit-
tee, Dr. LaMar T. Empey, Chairman, and Dr. Sanford I.
Labovitz, both of the Sociology Department, and Dr. Herman
Harvey of the Psychology Department, I here express my
appreciation for their advice, encouragement and under
standing .
My thanks also to Dr. Donald R. Cressey, former
chairman of the Sociology Department at UCLA, for fostering
a career when it was in jeopardy, to W. Dorr Legg, Director
of One, Inc., for indicating respondents when they seemed
unattainable, to Helen E. Niehaus, President of the Society
of Anubis, for providing enthusiastic cooperation when it
Iwas most needed, and to my friend Dr. Alcon Devries,
Research Psychologist, for assistance with data analysis
when time was at a premium.
I acknowledge my deep gratitude to all the women
who made this study possible, and most especially to my two
wives, Sabina and Jennifer, and my two daughters, Katrina
and Sabina.
I
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................. ii
LIST OF TABLES.................................. v
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION ............................... 1
The Problem of Female Homosexuality
The Problem and This Area of Research
II. THE PSYCHIC, GENETIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL
EXPLANATIONS ............................ 9
The Psychic Explanations
The Genetic and Physiological Explanations
III. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND LEARNING EXPLANATIONS . 22
The Effect of Early Experiences
The Learning Content and Cognitional
Function
Factors of Gender Role Development
IV. A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE ETIOLOGY OF
HOMOSEXUALITY.......................... 37
Cooley, Mead and the Development of
Selfhood
The Relationship of the Physical,
Psychological and Sociological
V. DISCUSSION OF THE ETIOLOGY OF HOMOSEXUALITY . 45
Problems of Theories and Theorizing
An Opinion on the Etiology of Female
Homosexuality
I Comments on the Cultural Implications
iii
Chapter
VI. THE METHOD AND THE PILOT STUDY
Page
60
The Pilot Study
The Development of the Questionnaire
A Discussion of the Questions
VII. THE APPROACH TO THE MAIN STUDY............. 75
Drawing the Homosexual Sample
The Problem of Obtaining Lesbian Respondents
Drawing the Heterosexual Sample
VIII. ANALYSIS OF THE EMPIRICAL DATA............. 85
Area 1: Experience with Role Learning
Area 2: Early Attitudes toward Sex
Functions
Area 3: The Relationship between Mother
and Daughter
Area 4: The Mother's Role Performance
Area 5: The Relationship between Father
and Daughter
A Summary of the Empirical Findings
IX. A NONPARTICIPATING OBSERVER'S OBSERVATIONS ON
THE LESBIAN SCENE....................... 147
A Problem in the Concept of Sexual Deviation
The Matter of Respondent Resistance
Personality Facets of the Lesbian
The Social Background of the Female
Homosexual
The Lesbian's Sexual Behavior
Lesbians as a Deviant Subculture
X. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION ................. 171
Reiteration and Summary
Suggestions for Future Research
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................... 184
APPENDIX........................................ 191
I
i
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Experience with Heterosexual Role Learning . . 89
2. Sexual Orientation by Experience Playing Grown
up Lady, Partialled for Mother's Attitude
toward the Subject of Sex................ 91
3. Sexual Orientation by Experience Playing Mother
with Dolls, Partialled for Mother's Attitude
toward the Subject of Sex................ 94
4. Sexual Orientation by Experience Playing at
Having a Baby, Partialled for Mother's
Attitude toward the Subject of S e x ....... 96
5. Sexual Orientation by Experience Playing House,
Partialled for Mother's Attitude toward the
Subject of S e x ............................ 99
6. Sexual Orientation by Marriage Anticipation,
Partialled for Mother's Attitude toward the
Subject of S e x ............................ 101
7. Early Attitudes toward Physical Sex Function . 104
8. Sexual Orientation by Reaction to Menstruation,
Partialled for Mother's Attitude toward the
Subject of S e x ............................ 107
9. Sexual Orientation by Understanding of the Sex
Act, Partialled for Mother's Attitude toward
the Subject of S e x ....................... 109
10. Sexual Orientation by Thoughts of the Genital
Area of the Opposite Sex, Partialled for
Mother's Attitude toward the Subject of Sex . Ill
| 11. Sexual Orientation by Reaction to Sexual
Experience with a Male, Partialled for
! Mother's Attitude toward the Subject of Sex . 113
Table Page
12. The Mother-Daughter Relationship............ 117
13. Sexual Orientation by Mother's Influence,
Partialled for Mother's Happiness in Her Role
as Wife and Mother....................... 119
14. Sexual Orientation by Affectionate and Under
standing Mother, Partialled for Mother's
Happiness in Her Role as Wife and Mother . . 121
15. Sexual Orientation by Mother Being Harsh and
Unsympathetic, Partialled for Mother's
Happiness in Her Role..................... 123
16. Sexual Orientation by Association with Mother,
Partialled for Mother's Happiness in Her Role 125
17. Mother's Role Performance................... 127
18. Sexual Orientation by Mother's Happiness as a
Wife and Mother, Partialled for Her Influence 129
19. Sexual Orientation by Mother's Attitude toward
the Subject of Sex, Partialled for Her
Influence................................ 131
20. The Father-Daughter Relationship ............ 134
21. Sexual Orientation by Father's Affection and
Understanding, Partialled for Father's
Influence................................ 136
22. Sexual Orientation by Father's Attitude toward
the Subject of Sex, Partialled for Father's
Influence................................ 138
23. Sexual Orientation by Father Being Harsh and
Unsympathetic, Partialled for Father's
Influence................................ 140
24. Sexual Orientation by Being Attached to a Male
Other Than Father, Partialled for Father's
Influence................................ 142
"The souls of little children are
marvellously delicate and tender
things and keep for ever the shadow
that first falls on them. ..."
Olive Schreiner (1883) : The Story
of an African Farm.
vii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The Problem of Female Homosexuality
The research of the staff of the Institute for Sex
Research, Indiana University, indicates that adult female
homosexuality has an incidence in the general population of
|11 to 20 per cent having had such experience, and 3 to 8
| per cent being definitely of homosexual orientation.^
While the number of female homosexuals is appreciably lower
than that of male homosexuals as reported, not only by
* Kinsey et al. but also by researchers such as Havelock
I
Ellis, it appears obvious that there is a population here
such that justifies serious, objective research. The
problem of male and female sex deviants has been relatively
|ignored by researchers with a positivistic bent, with the
foregoing exceptions. This neglect of a sizable minority
i
J of the population is particularly obvious amongst sociolo
gists. Generally, sociologists have left the study of this
i
"^Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell B. Pomeroy, Clyde E.
Martin, and Paul H. Gebhard, Sexual Behavior in the Human
Female (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1953), pp. 487-
3M7
1
! 2
i
I
| behavior to the psychologists, psychiatrists, physiologists
2
and physicians. As an example, one of the most scientif-
I ically orientated publications in this field lists the
participants at the 1961 and 1962 Conferences on Sex and
Behavior, organized and sponsored by the National Academy
iof Sciences of the National Research Council, and no
3
'sociology department is represented. The list includes
individuals from philosophy, communications, anthropology,
psychiatry, psychology, physiology et al., but sociological
!representation is conspicuous, to a sociologist at least,
by its absence. Similarly, none of the articles in this
!outstanding book is the work of a sociologist who identi
fies himself as such.
Despite the absence of a well recognized practi-
I
tioner, sociological phenomena and concepts are well
recognized in the presentation. Such a quotation as the
|following is not uncommon: "It appears that both normal
!and deviant gender role establishment is markedly
I
influenced by the salient behavioral features of the role
model.This penchant for sociological explanation for
i _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I o
David A. Ward and Gene G. Kassebaum, Women1s
|Prison (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 1965), p. vi.
| O
| Frank A. Beach (ed.), Sex and Behavior (New York:
|John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1965), pp. xi-xvi.
^John L. Hampson, "Determinants of Psychosexual
Orientation," in Sex and Behavior, ed. Frank A. Beach
(New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1965), p. 125.
homosexual phenomena is not limited to the Beach publica
tion. Hendrik Ruitenbeek, an authority on the subject of
homosexuality and a practicing psychoanalyst, calls for a
sociological study of the subject.^ Another authority and
prominent Freudian analyst, Frank Caprio, declares that
Lesbianism is a sociological, rather than a psychological,
phenomenon. The publications of the Institute for Sex
Research, Indiana University, present similar points of
view.
Something of an exception to the sociological
neglect is to be found in the work of such individuals as
Clinard, Kassebaum, Leznoff, Reiss, Schofield, Ullman,
Ward, Weinberg and Westley.^ Sanford M. Dornbusch and
Albert K. Cohen even had a part, albeit a relatively minor
one especially on Cohen's part, in a work group that met at
Stanford University in 1962, 1963 and 1964, to discuss sex
differences. The discussion of the group led to the
publication of the book, The Development of Sex Differ
ences . edited by Eleanor E. Macoby, in 1966. As Dornbusch
himself mentioned, he was the lone sociologist participating
^Hendrik M. Ruitenbeek, The Problem of Homosexual-
; ity in Modern Society (New York: E. P. Dutton and Co.,
|Inc., 1963), p. xiv.
^Frank S. Caprio, M.D., Variations in Sexual
Behavior (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1955), p. 166.
^The bibliography at the conclusion of this study
iprovides references to the pertinent publications of all of
1 these persons.__________________________________________
; in the seminar and his contribution in the book is a
g
; synthesis of the points of view presented.
To reiterate, it is to be noted that while study
areas other than sociology have called for a sociological
approach to the subject, few sociologists have responded,
in any depth, as of this time.
As regards the public, the attitude is changing to
a slightly more tolerant point of view. The mass media in
the form of newspaper, radio, magazine, television and film
have been able to approach the subject if only to titillate
rather than educate. More particularly, the educated
population is becoming vaguely aware of the problems of the
homosexual. Such awareness in Great Britain produced the
1963 Wolfenden Report with its radical recommendation,
since acted upon by the legislative authority, "... that
homosexual behavior between consenting adults in private be
9
no longer a criminal offense.
Presuming a value judgment that a harmoniously
operating society with a low level of disruptive social
tension is desirable, and that such can be obtained through
the dissemination of knowledge obtained by objective
O
Sanford M. Dornbusch, "Afterword," in The Develop
ment of Sex Differences, ed. Eleanor E. Macoby (Stanford,
Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1966), p. 205.
g
Report of the Comnittee on Homosexual Offenses and
|Prostitution, The Wolfenden Report (New York: Lancer
Books, 1964), p. 221.
i _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
! 5
i
jresearch, then it would seem that sociology, as a scholarly
endeavor, has a responsibility to engage itself in the
study of this form of deviant behavior.
The sophisticated American public, taking their
lead from certain popular psychiatric explanations, are
inclined to view homosexuality as some sort of a spreading
!sickness that can hopefully be eradicated by psychoanalysis
lor some such psychotherapy. The less sophisticated public
|leans rather to the opinion that the behavior is willful,
sinful and vicious, and that it should be eradicated by
I
firm authoritative action leading to incarceration or
worse. An aspect of the problem that is often overlooked
!by many points of view is that related to the suffering
iinflicted on such deviants when they are subjected to the
scorn, derision and persecution of the ostensibly conform
ing population.
This research is a minor attempt to involve
'sociology, and sociologists, in the "in depth" study of
homosexuality, and thus provide not only a better under
standing of the phenomena by students of human behavior,
I but also objective information for public dissemination.
I ^
!
The Problem and This Area of Research
Here the focus of the study is on the etiology of
female homosexuality which will also be referred to as
Lesbianism. This commonly used latter term derives from
!the Island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea, which was the
I birthplace of Sapho, the great Greek poetess, who had
I
homosexual inclinations and expressed them in her poetry.
Present knowledge of this subject is based largely on
clinical experience, case studies, the subjective inter-
!
j pretation of a variety of non-academic writers and the
Jtheoretical assumptions based on these sources. As regards
|the empirical study of the causative factors in female
! 10
I homosexuality, they do not appear to be available.
Studies of homosexuality are obtainable, but objective
research dealing specifically with the etiology of Lesbian
behavior has not been published at this time.
It is the opinion of this writer that Lesbians are
j
created by an early socialization process that alienates
the female from the heterosexual sex behavior role. Avail-
'able information will be extensively reviewed in this work
!to buttress this point of view, and the research approach
will be oriented to ascertaining if such an opinion has any
■^Harold E. Edwards, "Early Life Experiences with
;Parents and Adult Male Homosexuality" (unpublished doctoral
thesis in psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville,
1963), p. 68.
[degree of validity.
Ideally, research of this type would entail a long
term longitudinal study during which the social develop
mental process of a large random sample of neonates would
t
be scrutinized intensively through time, in order to
ascertain whether those children exposed to independent
variables, relating to a primary theory, eventually
i
embraced the role of Lesbian as contrasted with infants not
so exposed who, as adults, characterized themselves as
heterosexual and performed such a role without ambiguity.
Obviously, for practical and economic reasons, such
i
research is impossible in this area at this time and even
i
to consider such borders on the absurd. Therefore, the
process employed in this study is to be considered in the
nature of a "strategy of discovery." It will be concerned
more with generating than testing hypotheses, more with
I
providing leads for further research than providing
definite information. However, within the realm of the
possible, objectivity is stressed and striven for arduously.
Under the circumstances, a random sample is not
[possible, and valid assumptions cannot be made about the
population. Therefore, considering the reality of the
I
1 situation, the responses to the questionnaire used in this
i
research are to be analyzed on a simple percentage, phi
i
I coefficient and chi square basis. The analysis of the data
to be supplemented by the observations of the researcher
gained from creating the questionnaire with female homo
sexual help, seeking respondents and various candid
interviews with cooperating Lesbian individuals.
CHAPTER II
THE PSYCHIC, GENETIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL
EXPLANATIONS
i
]
On the general subject of homosexuality a great
j
deal has been written but most of this writing has been
concerned with the male deviant and relatively little with
|the female. As a matter of fact, if only the literature on
female behavior was to be considered, this review would be
i 9
brief indeed. Such being the case, consideration will be
I
igiven here to the literature pertaining to the etiology of
i
homosexuality, whether male or female specific. It appears
reasonable to assume, in any case, that the etiology of the
I male parallels that of the female. With some notable
I
|exceptions, as has already been pointed out, much of the
writing on homosexuality tends to be on the speculative and
subjective level. While insight is not limited to the
objective approach, here will be considered only that
material presumed to be most influential, pertinent or
iobjective.
10
The Psychic Explanations
: Undoubtedly, the most influential opinion on the
jsubject has been that of Sigmund Freud. Freud, in his
imuch-quoted letter to an American mother, mentioned that
|homosexuality was nothing to be ashamed of, and could not
I be classified as an illness but was the result of arrested
sexual development.^" Despite Freud's personal opinion,
many psychoanalysts have tended to treat homosexuality as
an illness, although retaining the notion of the behavior
i being produced by arrested sexual development. Marie
|
I Bonaparte, an analyst of the classical Freudian school,
|
jleans toward this frame of reference. Her attitude is
summed up in the following: "Where the ego of the homo
sexual female fully accepts its psychosexual make-up and
I
| its own mode of erotic satisfaction, health may then be
! 2
compatible with this 'anomaly.'" A stronger opinion
considering the behavior "unhealthy" was expressed by the
|
Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry when it declared,
"When such homosexual behavior persists in an adult, it is
Sigmund Freud, "Letter to an American Mother," in
The Problem of Homosexuality in Modern Society, ed. Hendrik
M. Ruitenbeek (New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., Inc.,
1963), p. 1.
2
Marie Bonaparte, Female Sexuality (New York:
Grove Press, Inc., 1953), p. 1^3.
11
then a symptom of severe emotional disorder."
I Frank Caprio, the Freudian analyst already men-
jtioned, has declared that "female homosexuality at best is
a form of cooperative, or mutual, masturbation--a sympto
matic expression of a neurotic personality; a disturbance
!in the infantile psychosexual development."^
|
The psychologists Thorpe, Katz and Lewis, while
supporting the opinion that homosexuality is the result of
jenvironmental forces, agree that "the consensus of both
j psychoanalytic and non-psychoanalytical clinical research
1
jand experience is that homosexuality is an expression of
! abnormal personality development due to psychological
factors.
i
What is important at this juncture is the emphasis
of these theorists on the matter of psychological factors,
abnormal personality, neurosis and lack of health, for it
is the contention of this study that homosexuality, per se,
does not necessarily involve lack of mental health, and
3
Committee on Cooperation with Governmental
(Federal) Agencies of the Group for the Advancement of
Psychiatry, Report on Homosexuality, with particular
!emphasis on this problem in governmental agencies, Report
No. 30, January 1955, p. 7.
j ^Frank S. Caprio, M.D., Variation in Sexual
| Behavior (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1953), p. T43.
I ^Louis P. Thorpe, Barney Katz, and Robert T. Lewis,
The Psychology of Abnormal Behavior (New York: The Ronald
Press Co., 1961), p. 3^1.
| furthermore the factors that precipitate the deviation are j
the result of interaction between individuals. The
behavior being a consequence of interaction, it is at least
I
as much a sociological phenomenon as it is psychological.
But, to return to the original Freudian opinions
j
that have been so influential in the formulation of expla-
i nations for homosexuality, Freud postulated the existence
of instincts with their energy counterpart, the libido.
Neurosis developed with the repression of perverse sexual
instinctual impulses. Here, though, a contemporary psycho-
t
analytic dilemma appears, for it seems to follow that a
"pervert" who expressed such instinct without inhibition
could hardly be neurotic, and as psychoanalytic therapy is
I
considered to work best with neurotics, then homosexuals,
i
I
as "perverts" and thus not neurotic, could hardly respond
to conventional psychoanalytic treatment. This returns us
i
to Freud himself and his opinion that the behavior involved
is no sickness.
While the Freudian model is adaptational, the
stress is on internal instinct, with its constitutional
basis, and the individual adapting his, or her, predisposi
tion to the social environment in search for gratification.
I
!This stress on instincts, if such is defined as complex,
i
Smolar, predetermined behavior patterns, is not supported by
objective research, and is to be contrasted with the ideas
|of an individual like Walter Mischel who leans heavily in
| 13
i
i the direction of a social learning interpretation of the
development of sex-typed behaviors and provides supportive
■research evidence.^
This is not to imply that we can discard the
'Freudian model as invalid, for if we consider its essence,
istripped of the vague terminology, it has definite merit.
| If we interpret Freud's use of the term instinct to mean
only physiological predisposition, then this, coupled with
the opinion of adaptation, reveals a most insightful point
:of view. Recent researchers with a physiological frame of
j
I reference state that the evidence does indicate that "human
;beings are definitely predisposed at birth to a male or
| female gender orientation.11^ Diamond, who specifically
!presents the foregoing opinion, does however explain this
j as only a physiological potential that is greatly modifi-
i
iable by life experiences. Beach supplies a supportive
|notion:
i Nevertheless, without questioning the primary
i importance of individual experience and social
learning in gender-role development, the potential
contribution of constitutional factors can be
regarded as an unresolved issue. It is conceivable
that there are sex differences in the functional
Walter Mischel, "A Social Learning View of Sex
jDifferences in Behavior," in The Development of Sex Differ-
ences, ed. Eleanor E. Macoby (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford
|University Press, 1966), p. 56.
j ^Milton Diamond, "A Critical Evaluation of the
Ontogeny of Human Sexual Behavior," Quarterly Review of
jBiology. 40 (1965), 167.
14
characteristics of the male and female brain, that
such differences are manifest at birth, and that
they have some effect upon the acquisition of
social behavior tendencies including learning the
gender role.°
i
| An element of support is thus provided for Freud's
| subjective interpretation of clinical experience.
Another theory that has had influence, though much
less than Freud's, is that of Carl Gustav Jung. Jung's
analytic theory explains individual personality as the
essence of its ancestral history, and so for him personal
ity has a racial origin. Human beings are born with a
complex of predispositions bequeathed by ancestors, and
these predispositions determine in large part conduct,
awareness and what will be responded to in the world of
experience. The total personality consists of separate but
interacting systems. The most important for this consider
ation is what Jung referred to as the ego, the collective
unconscious and its archetypes, notably the anima and
animus.
The collective unconscious is the psychic residue
of man's evolutionary development, and this residue predis
poses man to certain actions such as being afraid of the
dark, or being afraid of snakes. Because of the collective
unconscious the shape of the environment into which a human
Q
Frank A. Beach, "Retrospect and Prospect," in Sex
and Behavior, ed. Frank A. Beach (New York: John Wiley
and Sons, Inc., 1965), p. 565.
15
Q
being is born is "already inborn in him, a virtual image."
iIn this collective unconscious are the archetypes anima and
|animus. In males the feminine archetype is referred to as
I
|the anima, whereas its counterpart in woman is the animus.
!These archetypes can be affected by genetic and physiolog-
i
|ical structure, but basically they are the outcome of the
|
!racial experiences of males with females and females with
i
imales. The archetypes cause women to manifest the charac
teristics of men and men to manifest the characteristics of
I
women.
I
This is the basic Jungian explanation of homosexu
ality. Personality is a matter of conflict between the
various systems and the attempt is to achieve balance
around the center referred to as "self." When anima or
animus successfully overwhelms the ego, then the balanced
center is thrown off and the individual behaves as a
homosexual.
j It has been declared that next to Freud, Jung may
well be considered the most outstanding modern psycholo
gist.^^ Despite this acclaim, the direct influence of
Jung on the literature concerned with the etiology of
| -
I Carl Gustav Jung, Collected Works♦ Vol. 7. Two
!Essays on Analytical Psychology (New York: Pantheon Press,
11953), p. TM7
i "^Calvin S. Hall and Gardner Lindzey, Theories of
i Personality (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1957),
p. 78.
homosexuality is not obvious although there is little doubt
|that indirectly his theory has had an effect. However, no
objective research of any great merit has been able to
validate the Jungian explanation of homosexuality. In fact
the whole opinion violates the basic scientific require-
!
iments of definition and possibility of verification. The
theory does not easily generate testable hypotheses. The
ideas of collective unconscious and racial memory are
i
|doubtful at best. Moreover, the predictive capability is
merely a matter of words, inasmuch as a woman becomes a
j
Lesbian because her animus dominates her ego, or she does
i
i
not become a Lesbian because her animus does not dominate
j
her ego; and we cannot manipulate the animus to establish
I
I causation because it has no empirical referents. Perhaps,
in the future, testable propositions may be drawn from this
theory, but at this time it appears to be merely a matter
of intellectual exercise.
| Thus, Freud and Jung present the two most outstand
ing analytic points of view on the subject of homosexuality
| and both fail, especially in the latter case, to provide a
i
j theoretical structure that satisfactorily explains the
I etiology of the phenomenon.
i
Clinical psychologists have stressed the matter of
5 homosexuality being a case of psychological disturbance or
|abnormal personality development, as previously mentioned.
! 17
But such opinion is not supported by the view of the
psychiatrist Clara Thompson who stated, "... homosexual
ity is not a clinical entity. . . ."^ Similarly, the
research of one of the most prominent psychologists in the
area of the objective study of male homosexuality refutes
the idea of homosexuals being psychologically disturbed.
This psychologist, Dr. Evelyn Hooker, a Research Associate
at the University of California at Los Angeles, did a
comparative study of the personality structure and adjust
ment of a group of thirty homosexuals, matched for age, IQ
and education, with a group of thirty heterosexuals. The
measuring instruments were a battery of projective tech
niques, attitude scales and intensive life history
interviews. The administrators were prominent psychia
trists and a psychologist. With the foregoing procedure
no significant differences could be established between the
12
two groups.
The evidence indicates that homosexuals are no more
psychologically disturbed than the heterosexual population.
In a later study, Evelyn Hooker sought to establish whether
^Clara Thompson, "Changing Concepts of Homosexual
ity," in The Problem of Homosexuality in Modern Society.
|ed. Hendrik M. Ruitenbeek (New York: E. P. Dutton and Co.,
Inc., 1963), p. 46.
12
Evelyn Hooker, "The Adjustment of the Male Overt
!Homosexual," Journal of Projective Techniques. 21, No. 1
j (1957), 25.
I 18
i
or not homosexuals could be distinguished from hetero
sexuals on the basis of the Rorschach protocol. Her
research produced the following opinion:
Continued use of the Rorschach alone for diagnosis
of homosexuality, without other substantiating
evidence, will not only fail in a large number of
instances to find it where it actually occurs,
identify it as present when it is not, but will
also perpetuate erroneous concepts and greatly
delay our understanding of a problem, which is at
least as much "cultural" as "clinical."13
j
I
The Genetic and Physiological Explanations
! The explanation of homosexuality as being of
genetic origin has had, as one of its leading exponents,
Franz J. Kallman of the New York State Psychiatric Insti
tute of Columbia University. Using psychogenetic studies
of twins, Kallman declares that "one of the highest one-egg
concordance rates reported has been that for homosexual
„ 14
behavior in the adult male. This is to be contrasted
with the Kinsey observation that as regards homosexual
i
responses, "there are no sufficient data to show that
13
Evelyn Hooker, "Male Homosexuality in the
Rorschach," Journal of Projective Techniques. 22, No. 1
|(1958), 53.
j ^Franz J. Kallman, "Psychogenetic Studies of
Twins," in Psychology: A Study of a Science, Study I,
Vol. 3, ed. Sigmund Koch (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.,
1959), p. 352.
19
15
specific hereditary factors are involved."
Judd Marmor, a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at
the University of California at Los Angeles, reports that
Kallman1s findings on homosexuality have not been dupli
cated or verified by any independent investigators and that
the scientific objectivity of the research is open to
• I fi
question. Evelyn Hooker is specifically critical of
Kallman's study, and states that the New York Psychiatric
Institute and herself have been familiar with identical
twins in which one was homosexual and the other hetero
sexual . ^
As regards the phenomenon being of constitutional
or glandular origin, Allen, as a medical authority,
declares emphatically that "... there is no discernible
difference between the physique of the homosexual and
heterosexual by any tests, microscopical, macroscopical,
biochemical or endocrine of which we are aware at
1 f t
present."
! ^Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell B. Pomeroy, Clyde E.
| Martin and Paul H. Gebhard, Sexual Behavior in the Human
i Female (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1953), p. 447.
I 16
| Judd Marmor, "Introduction," in Sexual Inversion,
ed. Judd Marmor (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1965), p. 7.
^Evelyn Hooker, "Homosexuality--A Summary of
Studies," in Sex Wavs— In Fact and Faith, ed. E. M. Duvall
and S. M. Duvall (New York: Association Press, 1961),
p. 167.
18
C. Berg and C. Allen, The Problem of Homosexual
ity (New York: The Citadel Press, 1958), p. 43.
20
Reference may be made again here to the work of
jMilton Diamond who, being critical of an environmental view
of sexual development, strongly supports Kallman1s study,
while declaring that in human beings sexual behavior
19
patterns are subject to prenatally organized mediation.
I Oddly, at the same time, he appears to contradict himself
by agreeing on the modifying effect of life experiences, as
was pointed out earlier. If we use logic and pragmatism on
Diamond's view, we can first agree that the very fact of
I the difference between male and female genitalia and
i
morphology proves inherited difference and evolutionary
inheritance no doubt established erotic drive, as he
implies, but such does not determine the class of objects
that will constitute the stimuli from which a contemporary
individual may obtain sexual tension reduction. Objects
considered sexually attractive are socially defined. The
contemporary sexually attractive female or male is estab
lished by fad, fashion and commercialism operating through
the mass media. The objects vary in time and space. These
;sexually attractive objects vary through time with a
j
particular culture, and vary even more widely cross
culturally. The objects, being socially defined, their
i
perception as desirable is a matter not of physiology or
1 Q
Milton Diamond, "A Critical Evaluation of the
Ontogeny of Human Sexual Behavior," Quarterly Review of
Biology. 40 (1965), 150.
! 21
j
genetics as such, but the function of the cerebral cortex
and its cognitive process. The basic male-female object
choice tends to dominate the scene because it perpetuates
the numerical survival of the society and because of its
physiological efficiency.
A concluding legitimate opinion on the matter of
homosexuality being inherited is expressed by Cory: "If
Lesbianism were hereditary, Lesbians would not reproduce—
20
and Lesbianism would disappear." Other opinions contra
dicting the genetic, constitutional and glandular theories
I
will receive further support when the research of Money,
the Hampsons and the Harlows is considered.
! 20
Donald Webster Cory, The Lesbian in America
j (New York: Macfadden-Bartell Corporation, 1965), p. 48.
j CHAPTER III
j
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND LEARNING EXPLANATIONS
j There is a developing opinion amongst scientific
I
researchers concerned with the physiological function of
both human and animal organisms, that a phenomenon referred
j
to as imprinting, which occurs as a matter of established
i
fact in birds and probably in animals, also occurs in the
human developmental process. One of the first scientific
!observers to focus attention on this behavior amongst birds
i and animals was the zoologist Konrad Lorenz. Curiously,
l
imprinting appears to have been noticed early in the six
teenth century by Sir Thomas More who wrote, "The chykens,
assone as they be come oute of the shell follow men and
women in steade of the hennes."^
| Imprinting may be defined as a rapid, brief process
;of learning which once accomplished tends to be most
stable. This process affects the very young, developing
|organism and, in animals at least, three types of behavior
|may be observed: preferences for certain features of the
!
I
j
^Sir Thomas More, Utopia, ed. J. Churton Collins
I(Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1904), p. 51.
23
; 9
j environment, social behavior and choice of sexual objects.
| According to John Money, an Associate Professor of
i
Medical Psychology and Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins
University, the phenomenon of imprinting allows and
explanation of the fact that a person can be involved in a
homosexual act when past the critical period without
becoming a homosexual, but another individual, efficiently
imprinted, at the crucial time to respond as a homosexual,
3
becomes such. Imprinting, if it exists in the human
|situation, may account for the wide variety of human sexual
I
jbehavior, but at this time such is conjecture, for imprint-
jing, as it relates to human beings, has not been positively
established by any research technique.
The Effect of Early Experiences
Despite this conjecture the researchers generally
agree that the early experiences of the human organism have
ia profound effect on their adult behavior. D. 0. Hebb of
Ithe University of Montreal, an outstanding behavioral scien
tist, states that "... the effect of early experience
i
j
i ------------------------------------------------- ---- —— _
2
Wladyslaw Sluckin, Imprinting and Early Learning
(Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 1965), p. 120.
O
John Money, "Sex Hormones and Other Variables in
iHuman Eroticism," in Sex and Internal Secretions. Vol. II,
ed. William C. Young and George W. Corner (3rd ed.;
Baltimore: The Williams and Wilkins Co., 1961), p. 1397.
24
upon adult behavior is inversely correlated with age."^
I
Perhaps the most pertinent research in this area of
j
|the "socialization" of animals affecting their subsequent
| sexual behavior, and this being generalized to the human
|scene, has been done by the Harlows. Accepting the humani
tarian and practical impossibility of experimenting on
human subjects, these psychologists studied the development
of social behavior in rhesus monkeys at the Primate Labora
tory of the University of Wisconsin. They have observed
i
that while monkeys born in the wild carry on normal sexual
activity, not one of the laboratory born animals exhibited
normal sexual behavior. Close examination showed that the
laboratory born animals did not lack in sex drive but that
they did not succeed in mating. Monkeys raised in partial
isolation in wire cages did not, in adult life, express
much in the way of social interaction with other monkeys,
and no heterosexual behavior has ever been observed between
such male and female cage mates, even between those that
I have been confined together as long as several years."*
i
| Generalizing to the human infant, the Harlows state
that social deprivation may not do much harm in the first
six months of life. However, subsequent months produce
^Eckhard H. Hess, "Imprinting in Animals,"
Scientific American. March, 1958, p. 82.
^Harry F. Harlow and Margaret K. Harlow, "Social
Deprivation in Monkeys," Scientific American. November,
1962, p. 478.
25
cumulative damage so that ". . .by one year of age he may
sustain enduring emotional scars and by two years many
| ^
| children have reached the point of no return." Their
i studies lead them to the opinion that the mother-infant
j
| relation plays an important part in the development of
iheterosexual relations.
j The facts indicate that monkeys are much affected
by their early socialization process, and while one can
never generalize from monkeys tto men with certainty, it
I would seem that in this instance we can generalize with a
high degree of probable validity. It is empirically
obvious that man is most dependent for survival on the
I
isocialization process, even more so than monkeys. Survival
|for man depends on the use of his brain with its relatively
large area of cerebral cortex that enables him to store
information, and then on the basis of it predict and
symbolieally communicate. Thus, if developing monkeys are
affected permanently by early social experience, it seems
logical to assume that human beings are even more so
!affected.
i
I Essentially, then, what the work of the Harlows
i
i indicates is that environmental conditions acting on
|developing, high level organisms such as monkeys, and by
extension human beings, precipitates behavior, especially
i
|--------------------------------------------------------------------
^Ibid.. p. 484.
| 26
! of a sexual nature, that is characterized by permanence.
Ford and Beach, as authorities in the area of human
sexual behavior, are decidedly of the opinion that such
performance is the product of early learning. They agree
that all complex human behavior is very dependent on
'cortical processes, and thus is susceptible to development
! in accordance with past experience. This past experience,
; if it involves variant emotional conditioning, can precipi
tate a variety of sexual behavior in later life, and it is
this, they declare, rather than abnormal physiological
constitution that establishes the pattern. Their research
has shown that when, for instance, large amounts of
androgen are administered to male patients diagnosed as
exclusively homosexual, the outcome has been an intensifi
cation of the sex drive with no change in its direction,
! and, as is specifically pointed out, the "reproductive"
|hormones may intensify the drive but they do not organize
the behavior through which it finds expression. An inter
esting conclusion of Ford and Beach is that ". . .it seems
s*
probable that all men and women possess an inherited
capacity for erotic responsiveness to a wide range of
stimuli."^ Other research evidence seems to justify this
I latter opinion, and the behavior under consideration will
be referred to in this presentation as "pansexuality,1 1 a
^Frank A. Beach and C. S. Ford, Patterns of Sexual
Behavior (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1951), p. 236.
27
O
term borrowed from Donald Webster Cory.
Support for the argument that patterns of hetero-
!
sexual and homosexual behavior are the function of early
learning experience is also to be found in the Kinsey
Reports. In the Reports it is pointed out that these
learning factors depend on the mores of the particular
9
culture in which the individual is raised. Kinsey et al.
dismiss the influence of hormonal factors on the direction
of sexual activity, saying, in effect, that they know of
no data to support such opinion, nor do they accept the
influence of hereditary factors. In the same manner they
j discount theories that relate homosexual behavior to child
hood attachments, fixation at some particular infantile
level, manifestation of neurotic or psychopathic abnormal
ity and moral degeneracy. Such theories are contrary to
the specific information yielded by their research.^
The Kinsey studies do present the opinion, derived
from their data, that the factors leading to homosexual
behavior involve:
i
1. The basic physiological capacity of every mammal
| to respond to any significant stimulus.
! Q
! Donald Webster Cory, The Lesbian in America
(New York: Macfadden-Bartell Corporation, 1965), p. 50.
g
Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell B. Pomeroy, and Clyde
E. Martin, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (Philadelphia:
iW. B. Saunders Co., 1948), p. 660.
10Ibid., p. 447.
! 28
i
| 2. The accident which leads the individual into
| his, or her, first sexual experience with a
| person of the same sex.
|
| 3. The conditioning effects of such experience.
4. The indirect but powerful conditioning which
the opinions of other persons and the social
codes may have on an individual's decision to .
accept or reject this type of sexual contact.
Certainly, the foregoing is most pertinent to this,
or any other sociological study of the phenomenon of sex
behavior, and particularly is this true of item four, being
concerned, as it is, with the effect of the opinions of
other persons and the social codes involved. Item two has
a term, "accident," that this sociological study disagrees
with. It is the observation here that it is not a matter
of accident which leads an individual into his, or her,
first voluntary sexual experience. Psychological predis
position has to be present, plus social opportunity, even
for a casual involvement. This is particularly true as it
relates to the development of a relatively permanent
! pattern of behavior, not that Kinsey appears to disagree
|with this point, but rather that there could be the inter-
I pretation t’ at an accident can lead to a type of behavior
j
j such as homosexuality. It is the contention of this study
that the development of female homosexuality is never an
j accident, in the sense that its development is related to
mere chance or haphazard occurrence.
• ^Ibid., p. 447.
j 29
i
The Learning Content and
Cognitional Function
j
In line with the Kinsey Report's emphasis on a
social explanation for homosexuality is the belief that
moral restraint on pre-marital heterosexual activity is a
very vital variable in the development of a female homo
sexual pattern, and that the evidence did not show any
correlation of this variable with social class back-
12
ground.
! Pertinent to the matter of cognitional function is
!the report of John Money on the only example of psycho-
i
analysis applied to a hermaphrodite, which was done in 1942
1 Q
! by three analysts. The subject of the analysis was a
male hermaphrodite aged seventeen, boyish in build and
ihormonally unfeminized, who had lived his life as a girl.
The psychoanalytic sessions were run on a daily basis for
isix months with the objective of attaining research
information. The analysis confirmed that, without excep
tion, the young male's free associations were typically
those of a young girl. The logical assumption from such a
case is that erotic thought, fantasies and dreams, which
Money refers to as "cognitional rehearsals," are not
12Ibid., p. 461.
■^^Money, op. cit.. p. 1384.
! dependent on hormonal sex.^ Hts study of the cases of
twenty-two older children with precocious hormonal puberty
; showed that their erotic play and the thematic content of
their dreams reflected not hormonal age but social age.
Here, again, the important point made is that sex hormones
I
have no direct correlation with the direction of erotic
inclination in the human situation.
Money states, "... the gender role and gender
orientation of hermaphrodites becomes established in
accordance with the sex of assignment and rearing."^ This
psychologist is of the opinion that homosexuality and other
variations in sexual behavior are essentially disorders of
cognitional eroticism which are established early in the
i
developing child. These disorders, he declares, may well
be established during the phenomenon of imprinting, and
16
thus he suggests the concept of "misprinting." His study
| points out that it becomes psychologically hazardous to
make sex reassignments of hermaphrodites after three years
of age, the critical period for the establishment of gender
role and orientation being between eighteen months and
three years. This, it is to be observed, corresponds with
^the time for the establishment of native language.
14Ibid., p. 1392.
j 15Ibid.. p. 1396.
16Ibid., p. 1397.
31
In Money's study we find more support for a sociological
approach to sex deviation, and his remarks on the corres-
I ponding time of the establishment of language are, from a
symbolic interactionist perspective, intellectually
provocative.
!
j Sociologically, the use of the term "misprint" is
also provocative, but from a different frame of reference.
Imprinting has an objective, physio-psychological defini
tion which we have already established and which says
| nothing about the content of the "imprint." If the imprint
i
is to be labelled misprint, then something more has been
added to the definition. That something more is the value
judgment which says that deviation from a norm, such
behavior norm being established socially as Money himself
states, is in itself a bad or wrong print. A similar point
may be made concerning his use of the word disorder with
out, at the same time, providing a clarifying definition.
When any observer seeking to be objective makes such deft
twists in the terminology, the cultural context in which
, the behavior exists is being overlooked, and at that stage
the detachment necessary in science is being violated.
Drawing from their research, the psychiatrists,
John and Joan Hampson of Johns Hopkins University, also
| declare that an individual's psycho-sexual frame of refer
ence, once it has been established, is thereafter an
unalterable part of the personality structure, and
32
|therefore experience and learning are the important aspects
!in the development of sexual performance. Their research
evidence comes out strongly against inherited, predeter
mined sexual behavior patterns. Agreeing with other
authorities, the Hampsons present the five variables of sex
and add two of their own:
1. Chromosonal sex; which can be established by
the sex chromatin pattern of the body cells.
2. Gonadal sex.
3. Hormonal sex.
I
j 4. Internal accessory reproductive structures.
5. External genital morphology.
6. Sex of assignment and rearing; this refers to
sex status and it can be assigned to a child
by parental, medical or legal decision. It
is not to be confused with the next variable.
7. Gender role or psychologic sex; this last
means all those things that a person says or
does to disclose himself or herself as having
the status of boy or man, girl or woman,
respectively. It includes, but is not
restricted to, sexuality in the sense of
eroticism. Gender role is appraised in rela
tion to the following: general mannerisms,
deportment and demeanor; play preferences and
recreational interests; spontaneous topics of
talk; content of dreams; replies to inquiries;
evidence of erotic practice and person s own
I replies to inquiry.
It is the contention of the Hampsons that the
|gender role is not vitally determined by any one of the
John L. Hampson and Joan G. Hampson, "The Onto
genesis of Sexual Behavior in Man," in Sex and Internal
Secretions. Vol. II, ed. William C. Young (3rd ed.;
Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins Co., 1961), p. 1406.
33
previous factors but is mostly established by number six,
the sex of assignment and rearing. They express the notion
that gender role is not present at birth but develops
during the experience of growing up. The individual is
seen as psychosexually neutral at birth and such neutrality
is considered as permitting the establishment of multiple
patterns of sexual orientation.
Again, in this presentation, the problem of seman
tics arises because when these psychiatrists use the term
"neutral," they are not referring to "indifference" but
rather to a condition "not differentiated when the child is
i
| I Q
born." If such interpretation is correct, then their
|
j opinion does not contradict the use of the concept, pan-
sexual, to refer to the sexual stimulus response potential
of the young child, as previously mentioned in this study.
Factors of Gender Role Development
! The clinical psychiatrist Judd Marmor theorizes
that for homosexual adaptation to occur there must be an
I impairment of gender-identity, a fear of intimate contact
with members of the opposite sex and the opportunity for
19
sexual release with members of the same sex. In the same
19
! Judd Marmor, "Introduction," in Sexual Inversion,
ed. Judd Marmor (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1965), p. 5.
|publication Cornelia B. Wilbur mentions that the female
!
homosexual behavior pattern appears to be related to a
I
I
particular type of family constellation which tends to
20
include an antiheterosexual mother.
! In a more recent article, the previously mentioned
i
John L. Hampson sums up his research experience and
I
j theorizes that out of psycho-sexual neutrality at birth
develop permanent patterns in accordance with life experi
ences. To a significant degree these patterns of gender
'role development coincide "... with the development of
' 21
language, from eighteen months to two years of age."
i
This mention of language development relates agreeably with
the comment of Money, already considered.
Walter Mischel of Stanford University, discussing
|the social learning view of sex differences in behavior,
jmentions that sex-typed behaviors are those that generally
j
jresult in dissimilar rewards for males than for females.
j
The development of such role performances is created by the
same principles of learning as are other aspects of
behavior. An individual learns sex-typed behavior patterns
j
|while at the same time learning to discriminate between the
^Cornelia B. Wilbur, "Clinical Aspects of Female
Homosexuality," in Sexual Inversion, ed. Judd Marmor
(New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1965), p. 276.
21
John L. Hampson, "Determinants of Psychosexual
Orientation," in Sex and Behavior, ed. Frank A. Beach
| (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1965), p. 125.
I 35
I
!
! patterns. He, or she, learns to adapt these patterns to
i situations and how to perform the sex role behavior deemed
i
| appropriate to the action. Imitation- or identification-
learning (the term used depends on the frame of reference)
i
|is acquired from exposure to live or symbolic role models.
! The extent to which the developing child acquires the
jmodel, or model's behavior, is influenced by the control
j the models are seen to have over the environmental
resources. The success, or lack of it, that takes place
when the child originally performs a sex-typed act is an
important determinant of whether the performance will be
repeated or not. While reinforcement is a critical deter-
! minant of behavior pattern selection and retention, there
!
are other factors, such as the "... sensory and cognitive
processes that may be facilitated by reinforcement but are
not dependent upon it. Such learning includes concept
22
formation and a semantic repertoire."
In concluding this review of some of the major
research literature that supports a sociological explana-
|
tion of the etiology of homosexuality, it seems appropriate
to give an outstanding woman anthropologist the last words:
22
Walter Mischel, "A Social-Learning View of Sex
Differences in Behavior," in The Development of Sex
Differences. ed. Eleanor E. Macoby (Stanford, Calif.:
Stanford University Press, 1966), p. 60.
36
There is no more reason to insist that sexual
preference for own sex is learned than that
heterosexual behavior is learned. But most
human societies are so constituted that it is
heterosexual behavior that is learned. . . .
If the term natural be taken to mean behavior
of which all human beings are potentially
capable, then one may also argue that the
individual who is wholly incapable of a homo
sexual response has failed to develop one
human potentiality.23
I
i
Margaret Mead, "Cultural Determinants of Sexual
Behavior," in Sex and Internal Secretions. Vol. II, ed.
William C. Young (3rd ed. ; Baltimore: wTlliams and Wilkins
Co., 1961), p. 1470.
CHAPTER IV
A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE
ETIOLOGY OF HOMOSEXUALITY
As mentioned by William J. Goode, the classic func
tions of the family are: reproduction, status placement,
biological maintenance, socialization and sexual controls.^
j
iIt is in these last two functions, as they relate to the
i
| development of homosexuality, that this research is most
|interested. It has already been established that, while
inherited physiological structure cannot be discounted, the
overwhelming factor influencing the development of the
characteristics that go to make up the individual's organ
ization of predispositions to behavior, or the personality,
is the early life experience of that individual. Such
early life experience is herein referred to as the process
of socialization.
The neonate is a pliable organism which can be
molded into various behavior patterns within certain
H/illiam J. Goode, "The Sociology of the Family,"
in Sociology Today, ed. Robert K. Merton, Leonard Broom,
and Leonard S. Cottrell, Jr. (New York: Basic Books, Inc.,
1959), p. 189.
37
38
physiological limits. As the child grows, his awareness of
others develops from constant interaction with them, and
out of this interaction grows his knowledge of their
expectations and how best to maintain his own ego equilib
rium by responding to these expectations. The evidence
indicates that whether imprinting exists or not, and the
probability is that it or a similar phenomenon does, the
patterns of behavior thus elicited from the infant take on
a stability and permanence with time that in later life it
|is difficult, if not impossible, to erase. The channels
into which the behavior is directed by the socializing
agents are responsible for the type and nature of the
interpersonal, physical contact, cognitional rehearsals.
In other words, the content of thought, imagery, fantasies
and dreams are dependent, in large part, on the activity of
socializing agents, and this is particularly true of the
erotic cognitional rehearsals that come into being with
the physiological maturing of the child.
I
j Cooley. Mead and the Development of Selfhood
At this juncture it is pertinent to review certain
sociological opinions on the emergence of that unique human
phenomenon, the development of the awareness of other
|persons and personalities, and how one differs from these
jothers. This process of attaining "selfhood" was
j considered, in sociology, first by Charles H. Cooley, and
! later by George Herbert Mead.
The essential aspect of Cooley's point of view,
pertinent here, is his "looking glass self" model in which
: the individual acquires his concept of himself from those
! around him who are reflecting their social impression of
■ 2
! what they observe.
George Herbert Mead elaborated on the concept of
S selfhood at some length. The major contention of Mead's
theory is that reason and self awareness come about as the
I
j result of social interaction, and thus a person is depend-
I
ent upon society for those distinctive aspects of human
| existence, self and mind. Interaction with others precedes
language, reason and self consciousness. Before verbal
language there must be nonverbal interaction, and this
interaction, according to Mead, takes the form of a con
versation of gestures. As the developing child learns the
meaning of such gestures he acquires significant symbols,
and when the child uses these gestures as communication it
involves his taking the attitude of others toward his
3
: personal gestures. Taking the attitude of others and
i
observing the attitude of others to these significant
2
Charles Horton Cooley, Human Nat tire and the Social
Order (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1922), p. 184.
3
George Herbert Mead, Mind. Self and Society
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1^34), p. 47.
40
symbols involves the young child in a mental process. This
mental process proceeds most rapidly when symbolic interac-
!
tion is bolstered by and fosters the use of words. With
the use of words the youngster adds to the complexity of
his mental process, and there comes into existence what we
refer to as mind. At such point dreams, fantasy and cogni
tional rehearsals take social form. With the coming of
language and mind, the concept of self emerges as an object
in itself, with a reality that separates it from other
|aspects of the body.
| The persons who provide the meaningful symbols,
|verbal and otherwise, which are incorporated into the
|
|psychic structure of the human organism, and who establish
the awareness and nature of the self, Mead referred to as
the "generalized others."4 The child ". . .is continually
taking the attitudes of those about him, especially the
roles of those who in some sense control him and on whom he
depends."^ With maturity the capability to respond to
generalized others and the more specific most influential,
|significant others, develops. Paralleling this response is
the just mentioned internalization of the attitudes of
these others, both generalized and significant.
Mead advanced the opinion that the self has two
aspects, the "I" or the creative, spontaneous factor, and
4Ibid., p. 154. 5Ibid.. p. 174.
41
the "Me" which represents that part of the self that
! involves the internalized attitudes of others and the
related susceptibility to social control. With his
conception of the "I" Mead escapes the problem of deter
minism that the Freudian model, which Mead's theory tends
to echo, is enmeshed in. This creative, spontaneous factor
of the self allows the individual, working within attitudes
derived from experience, to establish a unique approach to
his personal environment. We can thus understand why a
mature individual is not an exact replica of his signifi
cant or generalized others. As an adult he may resemble
them, but his behavioral predispositions will be uniquely
his own.
Relating the opinions of Cooley and Mead on self
hood to the contemporary physiological, psychological and
social research, as discussed already in this study, not
only points up the merit of these theorists, particularly
the latter, but also focuses sharply again on the need for
j a sociological approach to the study of sexual behavior,
■ deviant or otherwise.
42
The Relationship of the Physical,
Psychological and Sociological
As if to summarize the logic of considering such
behavior as sociological phenomena and make the transition
from the physiological through psychological, Bredemeier
and Stephenson state that because the infant is dependent
for the satisfaction of his biological needs on socializing
others, he cannot resist being sensitized to those things
that are socially important to those others. They see the
biological needs as forming the bridge for the acceptance
of the mother's, or mother surrogate's, cultural defini
tions and here is established the motivation for the child's
absorption of these definitions, and this cultural influ
ence, in turn, affects cognition. Physiological tension
reduction is attained by conforming to the structural
requirements of the social system as perceived by the
mother. The child learns by association that the mother's
iattitude in relation to him is of vital importance in
regard to whether he will be gratified or deprived. He
therefore comes to accept and ". . .to value the mother's
j g
favorable attitude." It is in such interaction between
I
child and parent that sentiments are formed, which are
essentially behavioral systems established in the learning
Harry C. Bredemeir and Richard M. Stephenson, The
Analysis of Social Systems (New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, Inc., 1962), p. 65.
! 43
i
process, that enable the learner to cope with significant
others.^
j Obviously, then, any study of the etiology of
I sexual attitudes has to take the family background into
account. Sutherland, in his theory of differential
association as an explanation of criminal behavior, states
that such associations may vary in frequency, duration,
Q
priority and intensity. Lasswell points out that all of
|these factors are important aspects of the function of the
family, and such being the case the family ". . .is phys-
|
lically, socially, psychologically and culturally 'set up'
| Q
jfor maximum impact on the personalities of its members."
| Ullman's study of parental participation in child
I rearing, as it related to male deviant sexual behavior,
I
found that for prison inmates, at least, child rearing
practice was not correlated with adult sexual deviancy
except for homosexuals. The homosexuals were characterized
as having aggressive, hostile mothers and a "weak" father,
^Tamotsu Shibutani, Society and Personality
’(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1961),
ip. 584.
! 8
Edwin E. Sutherland and Donald Cressey, Principles
of Criminology (5th ed.; New York: J. B. Lippincott Co.,
1955), p. 78V
Q
Thomas E. Lasswell, Class and Stratum (New York:
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1965), p. 332.
I 44
! 10
j or no father at all. Some small support for the assump-
; tions of this research may be taken from Ullman's work,
! indicating, as it does, that the early social experience of
| the individual precipitates adult homosexual identity.
Paul S. Uliman, "Parental Participation in Child-
rearing as Evaluated by Male Social Deviates," The Pacific
Sociological Review. 3, No. 2 (Fall, 1960), 89-153 "!
CHAPTER V
DISCUSSION OF THE ETIOLOGY OF HOMOSEXUALITY
The theorizing of various authorities plus the
available research material, as presented in this work,
provides support for the opinion, expressed above, that
homosexuality has its etiological roots in the early
socialization process. As has been noted, within the
recent past, many considerations of such deviant activity
j
!have produced opinions which stress the matter of early
!
I learning: "learned as a part of one's sex role," as
i
Clinard mentions. Similarly, Dick Leitsch, a homosexual
himself and the President of the Mattachine Society, the
nation's largest homophile organization, in a most intelli
gent article attacking the conventional theories of
jhomosexual causation, declares that in his view, "...
j homosexuality can be learned as easily as heterosexual-
I ..2
tty.
^Marshall B. Clinard, Sociology of Deviant Behavior
(3rd ed.; New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.,
1968), p. 369.
o
Dick Leitsch, "The Psychotherapy of Homosexual
ity," Psychiatric Opinion. 4, No. 3 (June, 1967), 28-35.
45
46
In regard to the specific factor theorized as
causing homosexuality, many environmentalists stress
"identification," and this identification refers to the
female identification in male homosexuality and, by logical
3
extension, male identification in female homosexuality.
Money observes the specific as disorder of cognitional
eroticism. The Hampsons see it as gender role confusion,
and Marmor declares for impairment of gender identity and
fear of intimate contact with the opposite sex.
| Problems of Theories and Theorizing
All of the foregoing points of view have merit but
there are aspects of them which, examined from a sociolog
ical frame of reference and from empirical observation,
indicate that they fall short as etiological explanations.
Considering the suggestion of "identification," it is to be
pointed out that any theory which stresses this concept is
ignoring the fact that homosexuals are not by any manner or
imeans a homogeneous group, either male or female. Not only
are their personalities diverse but their sex-social role
performance is also most varied. In this latter behavior,
amongst Lesbians for instance, there are those who play
O
Harold E. Edwards, "Early Life Experience with
Parents and Adult Male Homosexuality" (unpublished doctoral
thesis in psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville,
1936), p. 9.
47
extremely feminine roles and those who mimic masculine
'behavior in the extreme; ranged between are the many,
I
|including those who choose to fluctuate from "butch" to
"fem," depending on the situation. Surely, if it was a
matter of masculine identification, Lesbians would display
I a consistent and similar role performance. In fact, there
| is indeed a "great deal of role shifting" in the social-sex
performance
The idea of cognitional disorder, while in itself
also implying a form of similarity, contains a definite
value judgment. Some females, in their cognitional
rehearsals, may be "disordered," but for others disorder is
intuited by the bias of the observer. Gender role confu
sion may well describe some homosexuals, as it may well fit
some heterosexuals, but here again, from the point of view
of many Lesbians, their gender role performance is not at
all confused. A particular Lesbian's gender role perform
ance may differ from that of many heterosexuals, but for
her the gender role requirements, as she incorporates them
!into herself, may be less confusing than the requirements
of performance necessary for heterosexual characterization
by a non-deviant. Impairment of gender identity similarly
contains the value term "impairment." Some Lesbians may
j 4
Marshall B. Clinard, Sociology of Deviant Behavior
(3rd ed.; New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.,
1968), p. 371.
48
| feel impaired, but one has only to read the Lesbian publi-
! cations or talk with a few of the outspoken individuals to
realize that there are such deviants who are as firmly
established in their deviation as some heterosexuals are in
j
their conformity.
To approach the matter from another angle, there
j appears to be submerged in these opinions a degree of
! semantic confusion. Order in cognitional eroticism or
]
iunimpaired gender identity is by definition the property of
'heterosexuals and deviation from heterosexuality is defined
as disorder or impaired. By verbal fiat the behavior is
I explained. This is culture bias and something which, as
jobjective observers, we must eschew most carefully.
Marmor's theory, relating the phenomenon to fear of
|
j intimate contact with members of the opposite sex, is most
I
insightful, but the word fear is too strong a word. The
j evidence indicates that many heterosexuals have had homo
sexual contact without what is usually considered fear.
This being the case it would seem to follow that homo
sexuals can have heterosexual contact also without fear.
No small number of homosexuals have married members of the
opposite sex and produced children, as there is ample
evidence to show. They may not have relished the reproduc
tive function, but it does not follow from this that they
feared the intimate contact involved.
49
Another shortcoming of these theories is that the
factors that relate to the behavior are mentioned but not
the "sine qua non," or what may be called the precipitating
independent variable, the "cause." Methodologically, what
is necessary is that we develop a theory which, while
incorporating much of the preceding established informa
tion, indicates a more specific independent variable than
just "learning": a theory that specifically points up the
process by which Lesbianism comes into being. A theory
that explains the distribution of the behavior in time and
4
space.
In attempting to formulate such a theory for female
homosexuality, certain factors have to be taken into
account. One important factor is that, as previously
mentioned, Lesbians are as varied in their personality
structures as heterosexuals except, of course, in their
preference for females as a source of sexual or emotional
tension reduction. In this society female homosexuals
appear to be of all ages, economic status, education,
racial origin and intelligence. Therefore, to combine all
Lesbians into a homogeneous mass and then attempt to estab
lish a comprehensive theory of the etiology of female
^Donald R. Cressey, "The Development of a Theory:
Differential Association, in The Sociology of Crime and
Delinquency, ed. Marvin E. Wolfgang, Leonard Savitz, and
Norman Johnston (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,
1962), p. 81.
50
homosexuality would certainly entail a most difficult
intellectual task. This work will, however, as it
i
i
proceeds, make suggestions in this direction.
Agreeing with Arthur Wood that typological classi
fications are important whenever general explanations are
sought for the activity of unique individuals, it is to be
understood that this study deals only with the category of
homosexual and the basic classification Lesbian.^ A more
complex empirical typology within the Lesbian classifica
tion will hopefully develop when, and if, further research
is undertaken in this area. That future complex typology
will have to take into account not only those women who
appear to have developed the behavior pattern because of a
physical appearance that repulsed men, such as masculine
features or heavy muscular big boned structure, but also
those conventionally very attractive, feminine women who
find such masculine appearing females much more attractive
than men themselves.
Another typological problem relates to the matter
|of secondary deviation. While, as Lemert points out,
homosexuality lends itself to secondary deviation because
it "requires partners of similar inclination,"^ amongst
^Arthur Lewis Wood, "Ideal and Empirical Typologies
for Research in Deviance and Control," Sociology and Social
Research. 53, No. 2 (January, 1969), 227-241.
^Edwin M. Lemert, Human Deviance. Social Problems
and Social Control (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,
Inc., 1967), p. 47.
51
Lesbians, at least; many cannot be considered as involved
Q
in secondary deviation as he defines it. However, on the
contemporary big city scene, probably due to the growing
emancipation of females, secondary deviation is becoming
more manifest. Lesbian bars are now appearing more
frequently in the large urban areas of the United States,
plus the establishment of clubs and social organizations.
The major, female only, organization, the Daughters of
Bilitis Incorporated of San Francisco, while relatively
small in membership, energetically promotes the integration
I
of the female homosexual into society mainly through its
publication, "The Ladder."
There are some few Lesbians who ostentatiously
display their homosexuality, especially when not confronted
by an audience of the "straight" world, but most Lesbians
are quite conservative in their display, and there appear
to be many who shun not only any form of personal show but
also the association of women manifesting anything that
i
j might easily be characterized as secondary deviation. It
is not unusual to hear Lesbians denounce, in the most
derogatory terms, those women who play a publicly obvious
homosexual role.
Observing all the subtle and complex facets of
Lesbian performance any explanation of the etiology of
Q
Edwin M. Lemert, Social Pathology (New York:
McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1951), p. 76.
homosexuality will, of necessity, have both sociological
and psychological characteristics. While this study has
within it the plea for a sociological approach to the sub
ject, this is not an attempt to dichotomize the study
jareas. In this matter the writer concurs most strongly
!with the statement "... that the sociological analysis
!of many problems is either impossible or severely limited
!
! unless we make explicit use of psychological theory and
! Q
|data in conjunction with sociological theory and data."
I
!Talcott Parsons has a similar opinion: "... Good theory
in the field of human action, no matter how firmly grounded
|in one discipline, is inevitably interdisciplinary
theory."10
An Opinion on the Etiology of
Female Homosexuality
Considering much of the theorizing and research
data with which this study has been concerned, the follow-
! ing point of view, enlarging on opinion already expressed
here, appears justified.
In the beginning the human organism has the
Q
Alex Inkeles, "Personality and Social Structure,"
in Sociology Today, ed. Robert K. Merton, Leonard Broom and
Leonard S. Cottrell, Jr. (New York: Basic Books, Inc.,
1955), p. 250.
10Talcott Parsons, "General Theory in Sociology,"
in Sociology Today, ed. Robert K. Merton, Leonard Broom and
Leonard S. Cottrell, Jr. (New York: Basic Books Inc.,
1955), p. 37.
53
physiological potential of pansexuality, while at the same
time entering a critical learning phase. The conditioning
events taking place during this phase leave an indelible
imprint on the psychological modalities referred to as
personality. Physical interpersonal contact behavior and
the related cognitional symbolic manipulations are partic
ularly susceptible to such social conditioning because of
the powerful tension reduction factors involved.
It would appear that in this matter of female homo-
|sexuality there is the probability that the significant
other, parent or parent surrogate, interacts with the
infant in such a manner that the child does not experience
positive learning exposure to the conventional heterosexual
adult female role performance, particularly as it relates
to sexuality and related behavior. In such circumstance
the child is not encouraged to play the heterosexual role
learning games of "father and mother," "caring for baby,"
"grown-up lady," and so on. This lack of encouragement
could come either from failure to observe the mother gain
[emotional satisfaction from such activities or such behav
ior on the part of the child not being fostered by the
significant parent. In cases where the child may be
allowed, or even encouraged, to play the games the inclina
tion toward heterosexual performance can be checkmated by a
strict taboo on the related physical sex activity.
A socialization experience as described precipitates an
54
alienation from heterosexual activity and an aversion to
interpersonal physical contact with males of an erotic
nature.
Therefore, it is here opinioned that adult sexual
orientation is established in the early formative years
through the learning process, and most especially through
the acquisition of significant symbols as they relate to
erotic inclination. Symbols so established precipitate
cognitional rehearsals which are directed and channeled in
response to social experience. In this manner a particular
erotic orientation is built up, and once being established
it crystallizes as a permanent part of the individual's
sexual-social inclination.
A female conditioned, as mentioned previously, to a
value orientation that negatively defines erotic interac
tion with a male can achieve relatively little satisfaction
from such behavior even if she voluntarily cooperates in
it. Such a woman still experiences the need for human
!response and association and in the process of maturation
!and development she comes into intimate contact with other
females, or a female. The intimate contact provides her
with emotional or physical tension reduction that she is
not able to obtain from men. Therefore, she is motivated
to continue the female association. With a continued
satisfying relationship, she comes to accept the reality
of her desire and being familiar with the definition of
55
homosexuality or Lesbianism, as established by society, she
comes also to accept that as her self definition.
Comments on the Cultural Implications
Western cultures such as ours tend to produce
Lesbians because of the rigid traditional concept of the
abomination and sinfulness of heterosexual activity.^
When this taboo is established in the extreme for a child,
usually with the intention of keeping the child from "sin,*'
it can have, to borrow from Robert K. Merton, the "latent
12
function" of promoting homosexuality. In the family that
transmits the rigid tradition, homosexuality is also
13
taboo, but in concentrating upon the evils of heterosexu
ality parents may easily, and inadvertently, condition
children toward homosexuality.
Historically, the heterosexual behavior taboo has
presumably produced "frigid" women, but with the coming of
technology and its concomitant social disorganization,
women are achieving emancipation. Emancipation allows for
individuation, and therefore the contemporary woman is able
■^Bertrand Russell, Marriage and Morals (New York:
Bantam Books, Inc., 1929), pp. 30-42.
12
Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social
Structure (Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1957),
pp. 60-69.
■^Leviticus 18: 22-26.
56
to more freely socially associate with other women. Under
these circumstances the potential Lesbian has the oppor
tunity to satisfy a personal need, develop a self-concept
of Lesbian, and even, for the few as yet, enter the budding
sub-culture of Lesbiana.
Certainly other societies have produced homosexu
als, with the classic example of Greece, but in that
instance the behavior was an expression of a pansexuality
that had not been inhibited by the socialization process.
It would appear that unless erotic inclination is chan-
I
nelled into particular behavior patterns, the mature
: individual takes his, or her, erotic pleasure where it is
most efficiently satisfied, convenient and easily obtain
able. A culture may well come to apply sanctions against
such inhibited sexual expression because of its perceived
failure to promote social stability or develop the
numerical strength of the society. But a culture defining
homosexuality as deviant, while at the same time socializ-
i
ing some of its developing members as to the horrendous
[nature of heterosexual activity, is inadvertently promoting
sexual deviation.
The process of becoming a Lesbian in this culture
is fraught with threat. The young woman becomes aware that
the activity can produce drastic social criticism and
vicious social sanctions. Tradition defines the deviation
as moral degradation, and as the Lesbian usually develops
I 57
I
j in a family where the traditional sex attitudes are
| accepted, albeit the most rigid and heavy socialization
| process is against heterosexual sex performance, she finds
herself confronted with a deep sense of guilt that is not
i
| easily erased. Her general attitude toward deviation, her
I own and others, is inclined to be one of traditional
I
| convention.
! The parallel with Becker's marihuana user is
i
j apparent, but unlike the marihuana user one set of norms is
not often discarded in favor of another.^ There are many
Lesbians who will denounce their own behavior as "queer"
in intimate personal conversation and mean it. Many thus
accept the conventional definition of themselves with its
j
derogatory connotation. On the other hand, some homo-
I
j sexuals will ardently provide justifications for their
i Lesbianism. These justifications are in many instances
i
classic examples of the techniques of neutralization,
!although they take a different form from those expressed by
delinquents.^ These techniques do serve to soften the
|self accepted stigma and promote a degree of self-esteem.
i
I 1,1 ■ " — ■■■■■■■ — ■— ■■■ — '
! 14 „
Howard S. Becker, Marihuana Use and Social
Control," Social Problems, 3 (July, 1955), 35-44.
^Gresham M. Sykes and David Matza, "Techniques of
jNeutralization: A Theory of Delinquency," in Marvin E.
Wolfgang, Leonard Savitz and Norman Johnston (eds.), The
Sociology of Crime and Delinquency (New York: John Wiley
and Sons, Inc., 1962), pp. 249-25*4.
58
Goffman's set of social processes, or social dynamics,
common to normal deviants such as self-hate; the tendency
to internal ranking leading to distantiation from one's
extremely deviant sisters; concern lest one's innocent
actions be taken as signs of deviation; publication of
magazines dealing with the virtues of one's grouping and
the injustices of society; all of these can be applied in
varying degrees to Lesbians.^
In summary, the opinion is being expressed in this
study that Lesbianism is learned in a similar manner to
the learning of heterosexuality. The process is similar
but the content is different. The heterosexual feels
revulsion at the prospect of sexual involvement with mem
bers of her own sex, or at least such is not considered
desirable. The Lesbian feels revulsion at the prospect of
sexual involvement with members of the opposite sex, or at
least such is not viewed as desirable. The contention here
is that erotic arousal and action has a vital symbolic
i
component that is socially established.
Unlike the heterosexual, the female homosexual has
to cope with a hostile social environment and this has far-
reaching implications for her psychological well being.
While her homosexuality as such cannot be considered a
Erving Goffman, "Normal Deviants," in Mental
Illness and Social Processes, ed. Thomas J. ScheT?
(New York: Harper and Row, 1967), pp. 267-271.
59
mental aberration the sanctions applied to her by the
society at large makes the attainment of mental equilibrium
!
a more difficult process.
As a closing note to this section on the etiology
of female homosexuality, it is suggested that the foregoing
comments also apply, with some reversal of terminology, to
male homosexuality.
CHAPTER VI
THE METHOD AND THE PILOT STUDY
The original plan of this research, in its major
part, was to begin with a pilot study of a small group of
homosexuals and obtain as much information from them as
possible in an informal situation. This information,
especially as it applied to early social experience, was
then to be contrasted with the experience of a similar
small group of heterosexual females. After comparing the
i
early life histories of the two groups, a large number of
questions, considered as indicators of difference, were to
be established, and these synthesized through further
discussion with both Lesbians and heterosexuals in the
attempt to formulate a brief questionnaire that would be an
I efficient and effective instrument. This instrument would
be used in the task of exploring further the suspected
!differences in the socialization experience of the two
groups.
Having developed the questionnaire, it was thought
that it could be administered to a sample of fifty homo
sexuals and fifty heterosexuals matched for such factors as
60
| age, education, social class and ethnic background.
Subsequent analysis would hopefully indicate whether the
I
I suspicion of difference, and its form, had a degree of
I justification.
While the basics of the plan were adhered to in the
■research operation, reality forced compromise as regards
j
! sampling technique and matching. With the limited
i
i
: resources of this study and the difficulty of obtaining
I
respondents, matching, other than for age, and that rather
|roughly, was found not possible. Thus, as was mentioned
!early in this presentation, with the emphasis being on
|discovering possible approaches for future research a
percentage procedure, supplemented with phi coefficients
!and chi square calculations, was deemed most appropriate
j
jfor the analysis of the research data and adopted,
i Respondents were most difficult to obtain, but the
i
j consequent prolonged nature of the task of respondent
i
seeking exposed the researcher to an "in depth" awareness
of the female homosexual social scene that could not other
wise have been obtained. Observations of this scene are
! presented as a supportive supplement to the questionnaire
i
i analysis. Sections of this study will include some of the
perceptions and comments, but specifically such information
is presented under the heading, "A Non-Participant
Observer's Observations of the Lesbian Social Scene."
62
The Pilot Study
Over a period of three years, factors considered
to be related to the etiology of Lesbianism were discussed
with six homosexual women who were firmly committed to
Lesbian preference both by their own admission, and this
researcher's observation. At the same time, subscription
membership was taken out in the two leading Lesbian
organizations of the English speaking world: The Ladder.
| published by the Daughters of Bilitis, Incorporated, of
San Francisco, and Arena Three, published by Esme Langley
and Company of London, England. These publications provide
unique insights into the world of Lesbiana and are essen
tial reading for any objective, serious student of the
phenomenon of female homosexuality.
Of the six cooperating women, two were later
included as respondents for the established questionnaire,
two declined to respond to it despite strenuous assurance
of anonymity, and two, having left the State, could not be
i
located. All six had some college education and were
occupationally professional or semi-professional people.
The six had for much of their lives passed amongst conven
tional associates and acquaintances as heterosexuals. All
had been involved at one time or another in physical sexual
contact with a man or men. Two had been married although
for only short periods, inasmuch as one marriage lasted
63
but two weeks and one six months. They ranged in age from
nineteen years to forty. The youngest, being very
attractive, was involved, from time to time, in what
amounted to prostitution. In such activity she did not
receive, or request, cash as such but rather food, shelter
and money loans that were never repaid. Presumably in her
sexual performance with men she was an accomplished actress
because not only did she boast of this in intimate discus
sion with the interviewer, but of the men known to the
interviewer, who had sexually associated with her, none
gave any indication of suspecting her Lesbian inclinations.
All six were most varied in personality, ranging from the
youngest, just mentioned, who was very extroverted and
played the feminine role, to the oldest who was somewhat
introverted and performed a rather vague masculine role.
The researcher, perhaps because of a stereotyped
masculine appearance, had difficulty building rapport, and
in some instances it took months with beginning contacts
|being of only a few minutes duration in a week or more,
jEventually, the interviews grew to hours, but it took many
weeks usually before the basic topic could be approached,
even for a brief mention. However, once rapport was
established, the subjects could discuss intimate personal
attitudes and behavior with little inhibition. The six
Lesbians were not interviewed as a group. Occasionally
they were talked to as individuals, other times as couples,
64
and this is particularly true of the couple who were living
together as "married," and who had been together for some
ten years. This latter couple were acquainted somewhat
with two of the others, but the two who left the State were
not acquainted with each other or the other four. This
would indicate that the interview opinions expressed by the
women were not being socially controlled by group require
ments or so structured as to yield a uniform opinion that
was not really that of a particular individual.
As the interviews progressed, certain factors
became most apparent. All of the women, while they could
socially interact with men without particular difficulty,
expressed varying degrees of revulsion at the thought of
intimate sexual contact with males, although the idea of
similar physical contact with females was considered most
aesthetically pleasing and desirable. The member of the
group who had prostituted herself declared that the idea of
sexual contact with a male was repulsive as a thought but
s
| as a reality she treated it as a physical exercise devoid
I of emotional meaning. One of the Lesbians considered men
as pleasant social companions, but the thought of the male
penis was to her disgusting and she declared that the sight
or feel of it might well make her vomit. Another expressed
the opinion that while the male-female reproductive process
jwas, to use her phrase, "ick," the worst aspect was the
j implication of pregnancy and the ugly bloating of what may
65
have been a beautiful female body.
None of the women, as young children, had experi-
j
enced a close, affectionate, permissive, long-term
relationship with a father or a father surrogate. Two
|reported a most unpleasant relationship with a distant and
|
| authoritarian father. Around this stage of the interview
progression a peculiarity emerged, in the interviewer's
observation. The six homosexual females, when questioned
and cross-questioned closely about their relationship with
parents, would express a deep-rooted dislike for one, or
both, parents. Sometimes these feelings would be expressed
j
| most vehemently; sometimes with a caustic comment almost as
I
an aside, but always with the regaining of composure the
women would soften their criticism as if a sense of loyalty
had been so instilled that they had difficulty expressing
their true feelings. The researcher's subjective inter
pretation of this is that indoctrination to a negative norm
in relation to physical heterosexual behavior is likely to
be found in rigid families that also socialize to family
loyalty, and the norm against allowing internal family
conflict situations to become public information. This,
it is suggested, also has the effect of distorting
responses on questionnaires concerned with the internal
harmony of the family of orientation.
While fathers came in for a great deal of criticism
mothers were similarly resented. As a matter of fact, two
66
of the most intellectually experienced and sophisticated of
the women repeatedly informed the interviewer that if he
j was to find the cause of Lesbianism, he would find it in
j the person of an overprotective, dominating, inhibited
mother whose daughter found herself unable to disengage
from her emotionally, although holding dislike, rather than
affection, for that same mother.
| Related to the foregoing comments was the revela-
| tion that all of the group came from socio-sexual inhibited
i families. In the families, if there was any mention of
i
|
j physical-sex activity it was in the form of obscene stories
i
|or jokes, usually told by the father. Physical sex was
never discussed in any manner that might convey socially
acceptable pleasure. On this point the Lesbians had
trouble believing that any family could actually have an
appreciation of heterosexual pleasure and convey it to their
children. Interestingly, none of the women experienced
pleasure with the onset of menstruation and three of them
i
argued that any woman who said she did, in any form, was an
obvious liar.
Four of the six expressed no desire for children
whatever or the custody of children. On being questioned
about the female-mother role and its relation to the care
and nurturing of infants, they seemed to lack a fluent
response as if uninterested and unfamiliar with the
subject. The two who did express a desire for a child
seemed not so interested in the phenomenon of pregnancy,
but rather in a desire to mother an infant. One of them
was casual about having the responsibility of a child, and
the interviewer gained the impression that the desire for
a child was more a matter of conforming to a heterosexual
romantic ideal than of wanting a child with all the real
istic requirements of such activity. The other, of the two
desiring a child, was most anxious to accept the responsi
bility of child rearing, while at the same time being
i
j fearful that she might transmit to the infant her own
ihomosexuality. This woman entertained seriously the idea
|of becoming pregnant by a casual acquaintance and then
I
bringing up the child, alone if necessary, but preferably
with a female companion. The opportunity being available,
she was considering marrying a male homosexual and thus
providing the child with a father. This latter course of
action was being delayed because of her doubts as to how
stable such a "straight" marriage relationship might be.
! While these interviews were in progress, the
information gained was compared with the responses obtained
to similar questions from six heterosexual women. These
heterosexual females not only claimed to be such but their
claim was supported by the observations of the researcher.
Rapport was rather quickly established with these hetero
sexuals who in age, educational level and career activity
resembled the Lesbian group. They also ranged in age from
68
nineteen to forty, at least forty as stated. The six all
had at least some college background, three were, or had
been, school teachers, one was a medical secretary, one
secretary to the treasurer of a large corporation, and one
a technical writer. One had been married for some ten
years and then divorced, and another two were, at the time
of interview, happily married as stated. Two of those with
marriage experience had given birth to children and had
spent time raising those children.
All these women had been sexually involved during
their adult experience with more than one male. They all
declared that homosexual involvement did not appeal to them
although, at the same time, four agreed that they did not
find the thought of intimate physical contact with another
woman repulsive, merely neutral or not interesting. One
had experienced a homosexual situation, but had not found
it particularly pleasant or satisfying, and had never
sought to repeat the performance. The other two considered
such contact odd and repulsive.
As with the Lesbians, these heterosexuals were not
interviewed as a group but as individuals or in pairs, and
here again they were not all acquainted with one another.
These individuals expressed the unanimous opinion that
heterosexual activity was pleasurable and very desirable,
even though three of them mentioned that their first
heterosexual experience was not particularly enjoyable.
69
All reported a pleasant, affectionate childhood relation
ship with at least one adult male. In five of the cases
| the most significant adult male was the father. In the
I
! sixth case the leading relationship was with a maternal
j
!uncle, while the father was considered rather secondary.
[
j Four of the heterosexual females expressed criti-
j
cism of their parents, but it did not relate specifically
to early childhood experience but to later interaction,
I particularly that taking place during adolescence and
iconcerned with the individual's autonomy. Loyalty to
parents, as expressed by this group, seemed to relate more
to realistic appraisal of parents as personalities rather
than being expressed out of a sense of guilt, as appeared
to be the case with the homosexuals.
The heterosexuals not only discussed the role
performance of mother-child relationships without awkward
ness but all expressed positive attitudes toward pregnancy,
i
I although one woman wondered what it might do to the female
i
I
figure. Asked about their attitudes toward infants, all
|six responded with declarations of affection and indiea-
|tions of familiarity.
70
The Development of the Questionnaire
As the interviews with the two groups of the pilot
study progressed basic elements of difference between them
appeared to surface, especially in relation to the litera
ture already reviewed in this work, and the opinions here
expressed as derived from that material. It first became
apparent that the socialization experience was indeed of
paramount importance. With time, close observation and
study, certain areas of experience within the overall
socialization process appeared to offer the most probable
sources of establishing difference.
These areas of difference in the socialization
background of the two groups may be described, in order of
perceived importance, as follows: (1) experience with
heterosexual role learning; (2) early attitudes toward
physical sex function; (3) the relationship between mother
and daughter; (4) the mother's role performance; and (5)
i the relationship between father and daughter. Observing
j
these five areas as providing exploratory avenues of
probable high yield, the construction of the questionnaire
was undertaken with the intent of probing related vari
ables .
The questions and format of the questionnaire
having to be acceptable to female homosexuals generally,
the suggestions and advice of the pilot Lesbian group as
regards its construction were adopted wherever possible and
I pertinent. As the deviant group would be more inhibited
about responding to any questionnaire relating to their
! deviation than non-deviants, it was considered that any
question acceptable to homosexuals would be accepted by
i
heterosexuals. This was later perceived to be an accurate
judgment inasmuch as no heterosexual objected to any part
of the developed questionnaire on the basis of social
acceptability, whereas, despite vigorous attempts to
exclude anything objectionable, some homosexuals did so
object.
Before even considering any aspect of question
naire format, the homosexual six indicated that no question
would be approved that dealt with the intimate details of
sexual behavior, unless such was presented in a clinical
setting. This advice was easy to adopt as the areas to be
probed were not directly related to personal sexual
behavior. The group also argued that the questionnaire
I should be relatively brief, easy to answer and completely
I
janonymous.
Accepting the reasonableness of the suggestions,
100 questions were made up. They were all thought to be
pertinent to the areas mentioned, and these questions were
presented at various times, either verbally or on six inch
by four-inch cards, to the advisory group. In some rather
outspoken initial sessions, forty of the questions were
72
discarded as being too vague, too technically worded, too
personal, too inane and too demanding of memory. This
latter rejection argument appeared to be in agreement with
the observation of Goode and Hatt, in that attitudinal
questions show less response errors than objective ques
tions .^ The group also indicated that the response
categories should be limited, for the sake of simplicity,
to four and be couched in common language.
J The sixty questions remaining were all written on
cards and administered to both heterosexual and homosexual
groups. Subsequent study indicated that only twenty-eight
appeared to show distinction between the groups. These
twenty-eight questions were taken back to the Lesbians and
further refined as regards wording. A suitable format for
the questionnaire aimed at creating a favorable response
was also developed.
Having created the format and the question wording,
four questions were added to the twenty-eight. Number
!twenty-nine asked how many of the respondents' intimate
friends had homosexual interests in order to probe the
extent of possible sub-cultural existence and secondary
deviation. Number thirty asked the defining question as to
whether the respondent was Lesbian or homosexual. Thirty-
H/illiam J. Goode and Paul K. Hatt, Methods in
Social Research (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.. 1952).
p— m-167.—
73
one established age in order that rough matching could be
undertaken, and thirty-two related to the respondent's
father's occupation in order to ascertain if the sample was
heavily biased toward a particular social class background.
The questioning instrument was designed for administration
to a sample consisting simply of females contacted in a
social situation who volunteered to respond to a brief,
innocuous questionnaire.
A Discussion of the Questions
The research evidence already presented in this
study points up the importance of the very early years of
a child's social experience. Whether it be a sociologist
like George Herbert Mead or a physiological psychologist
such as John Money, the agreement is that by four years of
age, at the outside, certain thought processes and related
behavior patterns are established to such an extent that
i
' basic change is difficult, if not impossible.
These, then, are the important years, but it is not
possible for a study of this type, dealing as it does with
adults, to ascertain through the use of a questionnaire
precisely what was the childhood experience. Adult memory
of fact and feelings relating back to the years before four
is most unreliable, if only because such memory fades.
Therefore, this research is concerned with memories of past
74
attitudes and experiences that are presumed to be corre-
! lated with the earliest, interactional behavioral
! incidents. Thus, the questions were oriented toward
memories of the young years.
i
j A majority of the questions were related to the
i
| early learning, or lack of it, of adult female heterosexual-
i
imother-role. These verbal probes sought to ascertain the
! validity of the contention that Lesbians were not social-
i ized as children to a heterosexual role performance in a
positive sense.
!
I To conform to the advice of the pilot group as
; regards the nature of the questions and the brevity of the
questionnaire, while at the same time focusing on the areas
where experience differences appeared likely, entailed some
difficulty. However, the advice was not without merit,for
even though subject cooperation was hard to obtain in the
main study and some questions were criticized by few
respondents, usually the questionnaire was well received,
and many comments made during its administration indicated
|that if the pilot group's advice had been ignored,
|
jcooperation would have been much harder to acquire.
The questionnaire as used in the main research
project is included herein as the Appendix.
CHAPTER VII
THE APPROACH TO THE MAIN STUDY
With the questionnaire established, attention was
focused on obtaining respondents. It was already under
stood that the task would not be easy and that suspicion of
the researcher's motives would be difficult to overcome.
The matter of acquiring female homosexual subjects was
approached first, with the anticipation that such would be
the most prolonged operation.
The heterosexual sample was drawn later, and while
no particular problems were expected, the matter of valid
ity of claim to heterosexuality brought the realization
that dependence would have to be placed on the informant's
word. While this was the only realistic approach for this
study, it is a questionable procedure. When Evelyn Hooker
needed a sample of thirty heterosexuals for her research,
she discovered that claiming to be heterosexual, even with
supportive testimonial from associates, does not guarantee
heterosexuality. In the clinical interviews of her thirty
heterosexuals, four turned out to have had extensive
75
76
homosexual experience.^" Thus, it would appear that when
persons define themselves as homosexual, in the face of
i
social disapproval, we can be relatively sure of their
deviation, but when persons claim to be heterosexual, there
still may be grave doubts.
Drawing the Homosexual Sample
To begin, the questionnaire was administered to two
members of the homosexual pilot group and then to several
friends of the researcher, who, being admitted homosexuals,
would cooperate. In these instances, as in many others
later, the respondents filled out the questionnaire in the
presence of the administrator. A difficulty very rapidly
became apparent. Despite the innocuous, anonymous and
brief nature of the instrument, some of the admitted
Lesbians politely, but firmly, refused to cooperate to the
extent of completing the questionnaire.
The homosexuals refusing to cooperate declared that
they could not take any chances with possible social
identification as Lesbians, and that completing a question
naire appeared as a frank, public admission of such
deviation, and such was too stressful to contemplate. This
latter statement appeared the most valid of the two reasons
^"Evelyn Hooker, "The Adjustment of the Male Overt
Homosexual," Journal of Projective Techniques, 21, No. 1
(1957), 20.
77
for failing to cooperate, and the researcher found this
even more apparent as contact was made with a widening
sample of Lesbians. However, it is to be noticed that such
reticence to cooperate was most obvious among professional
women holding positions which might be threatened if their
sexual proclivity was publicized, such as school teachers
and, curiously, secretaries who held positions requiring
interaction with male executive staff.
San Francisco is the location of the Lesbian organ
ization known as the Daughters of Bilitis, Incorporated,
and as one of the stated purposes of that organization is
the encouragement of, and participation in, responsible
research dealing with homosexuality, the group was sent a
letter outlining the major concern of this study and asking
for assistance. The response was not encouraging. Again,
politely but adamantly the writer was informed that the
"girls" were thoroughly tired of questionnaires investigat
ing the causes of homosexuality, and that this particular
l
study left out the emotional aspect and stressed the
sexual, when in fact some Lesbians had never had a homo
sexual experience in the "full" sense, and yet considered
themselves homosexual. Relating to this opinion it is to
be observed that during this research project, more than
100 females who considered themselves at least of homo
sexual preference were spoken to, and not one was without
physical homosexual experience. Other correspondence from
78
the Daughters of Bilitis stressed that behavioral science
| research should concentrate less on the causation of
|homosexuality and more on the current functioning of
2
j homosexuals.
I
! Despite the reluctance to be a part of this study,
the Daughters of Bilitis did provide constructive comments
and information. For example, they provided the names and
locations of homosexual, or homophile as they often prefer
[to be called, organizations here, in the Los Angeles area,
I
that might be prepared to help with the project, and as it
happened such assistance was provided. Unfortunately,
these organizations, Southern California Council on Reli
gion and the Homophile, and One Incorporated, before both
of which this writer spoke on the subject of homosexuality,
were largely composed of males, and only four females were
available as respondents.
The Problem of Obtaining Lesbian Respondents
!
The search for research subjects at this juncture
i
moved out to the bars and social places of Los Angeles
County known to cater to female homosexuals. Only about
ten questionnaires had been adequately completed at the
time, leaving forty or so to be obtained. In one evening
2
Florence Conrad, Research, Daughters of Bilitis,
Inc., personal letters to the writer, 1969.
79
three bars catering to Lesbians were surveyed in consider
ation of tactics. It was understood during the evening
that a lone male with stereotyped masculine appearance only
promoted suspicion and vague hostility, not cooperation.
Therefore, it was decided to allay suspicion and build
confidence by visiting a few bars often, with a Lesbian
companion.
In fact, even after many weeks of attendance,
genuine cooperation was not established. Rapport was
attained with four women who did what they could to
encourage acceptance of the researcher on the part of other
Lesbians, but at no time could it be honestly agreed that
the researcher was accepted for what he actually was.
Directly, and indirectly, he was accused of being many
things, such as a member of a police vice squad or a
sensation-searching newspaper reporter. This was the
prevailing opinion despite documentary evidence of the
authenticity of the research project. While some question
naires were completed on a person-to-person basis, in or
near these bars, the researcher usually handed to the
interested female a stamped, addressed envelope containing
the form, and asked her to complete it at her convenience
and then mail it. The four women, previously mentioned,
agreed to take a number of the questionnaires. By this
means about eighty questionnaires in stamped addressed
envelopes were dispersed. Forty of these were returned as
80
addressed, but thirty of them were not useable for various
reasons. Many questions were not completed in the returns.
Some persons, while agreeing that females were their main
sexual interest, and having had physical sexual experience
with a female, would not define themselves as homosexual or
Lesbian. This latter reluctance to check off either
Lesbian or homosexual or both rendered many forms unaccept
able .
Surveying the confusion in the returns and after
long conversations with cooperating and non-cooperating
Lesbians, it was decided to accept only those question
naires , as representative of female homosexuals, where the
respondents reported that females, not males or both, were
their main sexual interest, where they answered to the
I
effect that their sexual preference was for women, and
where they responded as considering themselves either
Lesbian, or homosexual, or both and nothing else. This,
I of course, clearly defined the range of acceptable
i
|respondents, although it also narrowed the range. In other
words, as this study is of an exploratory nature, care was
taken to accept only the questionnaires of respondents who
defined themselves very clearly as Lesbians. Thus they may
be considered as relating to extreme or "ideal types."
This same restrictive type of definition was also placed on
heterosexuals, as will be noted later.
81
The obtaining of respondents proceeded very slowly
at this stage. After three months of visits to bars and
similar places, only twenty-eight satisfactory question
naires relating to the Lesbian sample were attained, and
no other avenues to Lesbian respondents could be discov
ered. In desperation, this researcher wrote to W. Dorr
Legg, Director of One Institute of Los Angeles, asking for
assistance, and he was good enough to recommend a homophile
organization, the Society of Anubis of Azusa, California.
Arrangements were made to talk to and interview the
female members of the Society of Anubis which is a male and
female group. At the same time, after some diligent
effort, the opportunity was provided for this writer to
talk to, and submit questionnaires to, a small group in
Hollywood who were considering starting a chapter of the
Daughters of Bilitis in that area.
Both events were, from a research point of view,
successful. The visit and talk with the members of the
Society of Anubis was especially rewarding. While the
completed questionnaires had again to be severely culled
to conform to the definitional requirements, the necessary
sample of fifty Lesbian respondents was, after the events,
successfully attained.
j 82
i
I
j Drawing the Heterosexual Sample
i
i
I
Apart from all other biases, inherent in samples
drawn as the samples for this research were drawn, one
which will not be obvious when the questionnaire data are
j analyzed may be considered now. While about ten of the
heterosexual females were taken from outside of an academic
setting, the other forty were selected from a college
campus population. Most of the forty were students but not
|
I all, some being secretaries and the like. Hence the
sample is most certainly biased toward a higher education
level for the heterosexuals than the homosexuals. The
matter of education level was not recorded in the question
naire .
I
I
Another latent bias relates to the researcher's
selection of respondents who were, in his rather experi
enced judgment, heterosexual. This selection from
experience did obtain respondents, none of which admitted
homosexual identity, but did produce at least eight who
jeither declared for unsure as to sexual preference (3), or
responded in the category of both (2), or failed for what
ever reason to complete the last page of the questionnaire
which is concerned with personal sexual orientation (3).
| One respondent, having completed the form, asked
j
the purpose and nature of the research, and on being told
she asked for a private interview with the researcher.
83
During the talk she presented one of the most important
criticisms, of the questionnaire, among the many raised by
interested respondents. This person pointed out that
although as regards the questions she might have the back
ground that would characterize a Lesbian, she definitely
was of no such inclination. As a child her parents had
both been in business and they took little interest in her
or she in them. The respondent mentioned that she never
looked forward to marriage and family, or played house as
I
|a child, or played with dolls, or played at having her own
i
|baby, because in her childhood environment such emphasis,
or encouragement, did not exist. Both of her parents
I
disapproved strongly of sex, and in the respondent's
I considered opinion her mother was actually a Lesbian who
I
ran a women's dress shop and derived her pleasure from
fitting females with undergarments. However, because of
the parents' deep involvement with business, the respondent
j was left to the care of a long series of babysitters and
housekeepers. Further, she was able as a very young child
to associate with the neighborhood children. Being a
rather pretty girl child, the local boys paid much atten-
i
tion to her. At a very early age she was, over the long
term, pleasantly seduced by an older, adult male. This
| relationship continued on a friendly basis for some long
I
!time. It was the respondent's argument that the question
naire did not take into account environmental backgrounds
84
of her type and therefore it was at fault.
Nine of the questionnaires relating to the persons
just previously mentioned, including the woman with the
experience discussed, were excluded from the sample and
nine others taken and substituted. Thus, with the hetero
sexuals as with the homosexuals, care was taken to select
only those respondents conforming to an extreme or "ideal
type" of heterosexual. Heterosexuals, in contrast to
Lesbians, were defined as females who answered to the
effect that their main sexual interest was males only, that
their sexual preference was for men or a man, and that they
did not consider themselves Lesbian, or homosexual, or
both.
With the heterosexuals the questionnaire was admin
istered to small groups and individuals, but always with
the administrator present to clarify any questions.
Because of this immediate availability of the researcher,
the rate of rejects for incomplete, or spoiled, responses
was much lower than for homosexuals.
No respondent was told of the specific nature of
the project before completing the questions, other than
heterosexuals being told that they were considered part of
a "normative" control group sample, and this to allay any
anxiety on their part that they were selected as possible
deviants.
CHAPTER VIII
ANALYSIS OF THE EMPIRICAL DATA
Referring back to earlier discussion, it is to be
recalled that out of a review of the theories of various
authorities and the available research evidence, an opinion
was developed on the matter of the etiology of Lesbianism.
This opinion, which fundamentally related to socialization
experience, was carried into unstructured interviews with
a Lesbian pilot group. The early experience of the
Lesbians was compared with the experience of a pilot group
of heterosexuals in similar unstructured interactions.
Five areas gave evidence of yielding information on the
dissimilarity of the social background of the two groups,
and the questionnaire was built around the areas to facili
tate further exploration. The created questionnaire was
I then administered to volunteer respondents. Restated, the
five areas are as follows:
(1) Experience with heterosexual role learning.
(2) Early attitudes toward physical sex function.
(3) The relationship between mother and daughter.
(4) The mother's role performance.
(5) The relationship between father and daughter.
85
86
In studying the data that follow, it should be kept
in mind that the samples were not random, and there is a
likely bias in the sampling toward lower social class
origins on the part of the Lesbians, because Lesbians of
upper and middle class backgrounds were often reluctant to
be part of the study for fear of identification. The
heterosexual sample, by contrast, was skewed toward better
educational levels as this sample was drawn in part from a
college campus population. It is conceivable, therefore,
i that the differences to be observed in the data analysis
I
I
j actually relate to variation in social class background.
i
jHowever, both the unstructured pilot interviews and the
I
j
observations of the Lesbian scene refute this contention,
for the background of pertinent social experience was
similar among the homosexuals, regardless of social class
or education. The bias came about in large part because
of the reluctance of Lesbians in socially prominent occupa
tions to respond to the questionnaire.
i
Rounding to the nearest year, the mean age of the
j heterosexuals was twenty-eight, with a range of from twenty
to fifty-two. The homosexuals had a mean age of thirty,
with a range of from twenty to forty-four. As regards the
age of recognition of main sexual interest, the Lesbians
lagged slightly behind the heterosexuals who most often
I
t
knew what their desire was by seventeen years of age.
While many homosexuals reported some friends of similar
87
interest, evidence of a sub-cultural phenomenon was not
; indicated.
j When 100 fully completed questionnaires were on
|
hand, from 50 homosexuals and 50 heterosexuals, the process
of analysis was undertaken. The presentation here consists
only of those question responses selected for scrutiny
because they showed some evidence of heuristic possibility.
Chosen in turn from these are those thought to encompass
very significant differences, and such selections are
subjected to analysis using the techniques of phi coeffi
cient, chi square, partialling for variables thought to be
pertinent to the opinions here advanced on the etiology of
I
Lesbianism, plus, in instances, deviant case analysis.
At this juncture it is to be noted that the major
presentation following is in four-fed tables involving one
degree of freedom and that the expected frequency in many
cells is less than ten. Therefore, noting Guilford's
admonition, Yates' correction for continuity is applied
1
|wherever phi coefficient and chi square calculations are
|involved.^
Considering the opinions developed in this study,
as they relate to socialization and eventual adoption of a
sex performance, the most important of the five areas
J. P. Guilford, Fundamental Statistics in
Psychology and Education (3rd ed.; New Vork: McGraw-Hill
Book Co., 1956), p. 234.
88
appears to be the individual's recollection of learning
the adult female heterosexual role. If the development
of adult heterosexual orientation is a matter of early
learning, then it follows that persons of a homosexual
inclination would have relatively little recollection of
positive exposure to heterosexual role learning activity.
Therefore, this examination begins with this area.
Area 1: Experience with Role Learning
The responses of Table 1, relating as they do to
the heterosexual role learning experience during the early
years of the female's development, show dramatic differences
in the backgrounds of heterosexual and homosexual women.
Obviously, this area, as one of the five anticipated as
possibly of high yield, justified the anticipation. The
sample heterosexuals played at being a grown-up lady,
mother with dolls, having a baby, house with children, and
desired marriage and family to a much greater extent than
the homosexuals.
All of these factors relate to the matter of social
learning, and the implication to be drawn from the data is
that these Lesbians, as young persons, were not as immersed
in the learning of the heterosexual role as heterosexuals.
As an interesting digression, it was noted during the
original examination of the returned questionnaires that
i
TABLE 1
EXPERIENCE
i
WITH HETEROSEXUAL ROLE LEARNING*
Experience Heterosexual Homosexual
Never (1) 2% (23) 46%
Played at
being a
Rarely (3) 6% (15) 30%
grown-up lady Sometimes (25) 50% (10) 20%
i
Often (21) 42% (2) 4%
Never (2) 4% (23) 46%
Played mother Rarely (6) 12% (16) 32%
with
dolls Sometimes (13) 26% (7) 14%
Often (29) 58% (4) 8%
Never (2) 4% (33) 66%
Played at Rarely (10) 20% (9) 18%
having a
[baby Sometimes (24) 48% (5) 10%
Often (14) 28% (3) 6%
Not at all (3) 6% (24) 48%
Played the Rarely (11) 22% (15) 30%
game of
house Some (22) 44% (11) 22%
Very much (14) 28% (0) 0%
Never (2) 4% (15) 30%
Marriage desire Rarely (7) 14% (26) 52%
as a young
female Often (29) 58% (7) 14%
Very often (12) 24% (2) 4%
*Factors related to questions 19, 15, 16, 13, 1.
(See Appendix.)
L
90
some Lesbians had found the query on playing mother with
house and family amusing, for they stroked out the word
"mother," wrote in "father," and then encircled the
category, "Very much." Unfortunately, perhaps, due to the
ideal-type requirement, already mentioned, a form so treated
had to be discarded.
Once more considering the opinions that have been
advanced here on the etiology of Lesbianism, the mother's
disapproving attitude on the subject of sex has been pointed
up as an important variable correlated with an aversion,
for the adoption of the heterosexual sex role, in the
female child. Therefore, each variable of Table 1 is now
subjected to the technique of partialling with the intro
duction of the factor of "Mother's attitude on the subject
of sex" which was ascertained by question seventeen of the
questionnaire.
Mother's Opinion of Sex and Experience
of "Grown-up Lady" Game
Table 2 reveals the interaction effect of the
mother's attitude and recollection of playing the role
learning game.
The relationship between recollection of playing
grown-up lady and sexual orientation as an adult in Table 2
is displayed as having a phi coefficient of .67 and a chi
square significant beyond the .001 level. There is, there
fore, a definite intrinsic relationship between the
91
TABLE 2
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY EXPERIENCE PLAYING GROWN-UP LADY,
PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD
THE SUBJECT OF SEX
Hetero,
Homo.
Played grown-up lady
Never or Rarely Sometimes or Often
(4) 8%
(38) 76%
(46) 92%
(12) 24%
Phi coefficient = .67
Chi square = 44.70
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Mother disapproved of sex
Very much or Some
Played grown-up lady
Little or Not at all
Played grown-up lady
Hetero.
Homo.
Never or
Rarely
(2) 4%
(24) 48%
Sometimes
or Often
(12) 24%
(10) 20%
Never or
Rarely
(2) 4%
(14) 28%
Sometimes
or Often
(34) 68%
(2) 4%
Phi coefficient ■ .47
Chi square - 10.50
Significant beyond
the .01 level
Phi coefficient = .77
Chi square * 31.18
Significant beyond
the .001 level
92
expression of adult sexual orientation and early role
learning experience.
A third variable, mother's attitude toward the
subject of sex, is introduced in a simple form of multi-
variant analysis. This variable relates to the opinion on
the etiology of Lesbianism as expressed in this study, and
its introduction elaborates on the relationship between
early experience and adult sexual behavior.
The partialling in Table 2 shows that the effect of
I
ihaving had a mother with a liberal sex attitude and experi-
i
jence of playing grown-up lady, on the development of adult
jsexual performance yields a phi coefficient of .77 and a
chi square significant beyond .001. The predictive value
of the relationship is thus improved. On the other hand,
the relationship between playing grown-up lady and sexual
orientation as an adult diminishes if the mother dis
approves of sex, the phi coefficient being .47 with a chi
square significant beyond the .01 level. This interaction
I
effect indicates that while the mother's attitude on the
(subject of sex is very important in the development of
adult sexual behavior, the role learning activity is the
more predominant factor.
A comprehensive interpretation of Table 2 indicates
that the development of adult heterosexual orientation is
correlated with experience playing the childhood role
learning game of grown-up lady and a liberal attitude
93
toward the subject of sex on the part of the mother. The
relationship is reduced if the mother disapproves of the
subject. It can therefore be conjectured that adult female
homosexuality is related to a lack of early experience with
the grown-up lady game, and to a lesser extent with the
mother's disapproval of sex.
Some support for the above interpretation can be
derived from an examination of the deviant cases. The two
heterosexuals who had sex-disapproving mothers and did not
play the grown-up lady game both reported that their
mothers were happy in their roles as wives and mothers;
thus the daughters had, at least, a heterosexual role
model. The two homosexuals who did play grown-up lady and
who had approving of the sex subject mothers never or
rarely played with dolls and never and rarely played at
having a baby, and so it may be presumed that they were not
extensively exposed to the heterosexual adult role perform
ance. The Lesbian who reported "rarely" as noted also
jreported an unaffectionate, strongly influential father who
very much disapproved of sex.
Mother's Opinion of Sex and Experience
Playing with Dolls
Table 3 presents recollection of playing mother
with dolls and the interaction effect of mother's attitude.
The correlation of playing mother with dolls and
sexual orientation is shown in Table 3, as a phi coefficient
94
TABLE 3
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY EXPERIENCE PLAYING MOTHER WITH DOLLS,
PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD
THE SUBJECT OF SEX
Played mother with dolls
Never or Rarely Sometimes or Often
Hetero. (8) 16% (42) 84%
Homo. (39) 78%
(ID
22%
Phi coefficient * .60
Chi square = 36.13
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Mother disapproved of sex
Very much or Some Little or not at all
Plaved with dolls Plaved with dolls
Never or Sometimes
Rarely or Often
Never or
Rarely
Sometimes
or Often
Hetero. (2) 4% (12) 24% (6) 12% (30) 60%
Homo. (26) 52% (8) 16% (13) 26% (3) 6%
Phi coefficient = .53
Chi square = 13.32
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Phi coefficient = .58
Chi square = 17.24
Significant beyond
the .001 level
! 95
I
of .60 and a chi square significant beyond the .001 level.
|This indicates another definite relationship between sexual
[orientation and early role playing experience.
Partialling for the third variable, mother's atti
tude toward the subject of sex, produces a small reduction
in the correlation. With a mother who disapproves of sex,
the relationship has a phi coefficient of .53 and a chi
square significant beyond the .001 level. A more liberal
mother, on the subject of sex, relates to a correlation
Ibetween sexual orientation and playing mother with dolls of
i
[phi correlation .58 with a chi square significance level
I
I
lalso beyond .001. The interaction effect of the variable
[
jof mother's sex attitude is small.
! While the mother's attitude has to be recognized,
inasmuch as a disproportionate number of homosexuals can be
observed in Table 3, as coming from backgrounds where the
mother disapproved of the subject, the outstanding factor
is again the role learning experience; in this instance
playing mother with dolls.
i
Playing at Having a Baby and
Mother's Attitude on Sex
l
The next table deals with childhood experience in
the role learning situation of playing at having an infant
and the influence of the maternal parent's attitude on sex.
Table 4 shows a phi coefficient of .58 linking
i
sexual orientation to recollections of playing at having a
96
TABLE 4
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY EXPERIENCE PLAYING AT HAVING A BABY,
PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD
THE SUBJECT OF SEX
Hetero
Homo.
Plaved at having a baby
Never or Rarely Sometimes or Often
(12) 24% (38) 76%
(42) 84% (8) 16%
Phi coefficient = .58
Chi square = 33.86
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Mother disapproved sex
Very much or Some
Played at having a baby
Little or Not at all
Plaved at having a baby
Hetero,
Homo.
Never or
Rarely
(2) 4%
(26) 52%
Sometimes
or Often
(12) 24%
(8) 16%
Never or
Rarely
(10) 20%
(16) 32%
Sometimes
or Often
(26) 52%
(0) 0%
Phi coefficient ■ .53
Chi square = 13.32
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Phi coefficient - .62
Chi square * 20.31
Significant beyond
the .001 level
97
baby, with a chi square significant beyond the .001 level.
The correlation between these two variables once more
demonstrates the sharp difference between homosexuals and
heterosexuals as regards early experience with the hetero
sexual role learning games.
Partialling to ascertain the effect of mother's
attitude toward sex, on the relationship of playing at
having a baby to adult sexual orientation, shows that for
those who had a disapproving mother there was a phi coeffi
cient of .53 and a chi square significant beyond the .001
level. For those who had a liberal mother, the phi
coefficient increased to .62 with the chi square also
significant beyond the .001 level.
Thus, Table 4 illustrates that the childhood role-
playing experience of having a baby and adult sexual
performance are distinctly related. However, while the
partialling shows a slightly increased phi correlation for
a liberal mother and a decreased correlation for a dis
approving mother, the interaction effect is not sufficient
to justify attaching major importance to the mother's
attitude as it interrelates with playing at having a baby.
The parents' attitude is not to be ignored, but the
exposure to the role learning is the outstanding variable.
The evidence shown in Table 4 is not surprising
when it is recalled that the unstructured interviews of the
pilot study revealed a decided difference between Lesbians
98
and heterosexuals in the area of infant care. Lesbians
manifested a vague disinterest in the subject while the
heterosexuals responded with declarations of affectionate
familiarity.
Experience Playing House and
Mother's Attitude on Sex
The next table introduces the relationship of sexual
orientation to experience playing the role learning game of
house with the partialling effect of the mother's opinion
of sex.
Table 5 relates sexual orientation to recollections
of playing house with a phi coefficient of .48 and a chi
square significant beyond the .001 level. This analysis
also shows a sharp difference in the socialization experi
ence of heterosexuals and homosexuals as regards the role
learning game.
The partialling for mother's attitude on the
subject of sex yields a phi coefficient reduced to .32, with
a chi square significant beyond the .02 level for the
relationship of experience playing house and adult sexual
orientation, in the cases where the mothers little
disapproved of sex. Those females reporting a mother who
disapproved of sex show a phi coefficient of .43 and a chi
square significant beyond the .01 level for the correlation
of playing house and sexual orientation.
99
TABLE 5
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY EXPERIENCE PLAYING HOUSE,
PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD
THE SUBJECT OF SEX
Hetero,
Homo.
Experience playing house
Not at all or Rarely Some or Very Much
(14) 28% (36) 72%
(39) 78% (11) 22%
Phi coefficient = .48
Chi square = 23.12
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Mother disapproved of sex
Very much or Some
Experience playing house
Little or Not at all
Experience playing house
Hetero.
Homo.
Not at all
or Rarely
(3) 6%
(25) 50%
Some or
Very much
(11) 22%
(9) 18%
Not at all
or Rarely
(11) 22%
(14) 28%
Some or
Very much
(25) 50%
(2) 4%
Phi coefficient * .43
Chi square = 9.04
Significant beyond
the .01 level
Phi coefficient = .32
Chi square - 6.32
Significant beyond
the .02 level
100
With the interaction effect indicating such little
difference between the two partials, the mother's opinion
|on sex appears to carry very little weight in relation to
the definite influence of experience with the role learning
!
game, playing house, on adult sexual performance.
Marriage Anticipation and
Mother's Attitude on Sex
Concluding this analysis of the data relating
■experience with role learning to adult sexual orientation
|
iis Table 6.
j
| The relationship between anticipation of marriage
i
and adult sexual orientation in Table 6 is displayed as
having a phi coefficient of .62 and a chi square signifi
cant beyond the .001 level. There is, therefore, a dramatic
relationship between the two variables.
Partialling for mother's attitude on the subject of
sex shows that, while the interaction effect is not large,
I the mother's attitude has again an influence inasmuch as a
disproportionate number of homosexuals, 54 per cent, never
j
or rarely looked forward to marriage and came from back
grounds where the mother was intolerant of the subject.
I
| However, the interpretation of Table 6 has to be
|tempered with caution because the argument might well be
raised that not looking forward to marriage is to be
expected of a female predisposed toward being Lesbian, and
101
Hetero
Homo.
Hetero
Homo.
TABLE 6
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY MARRIAGE ANTICIPATION,
PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD
THE SUBJECT OF SEX*
Looked forward to marriage
Never or Rarely Often or Very often
(9) 18% (41) 82%
(41) 82% (9) 18%
Phi coefficient * .62
Chi square = 38.44
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Mother disapproved
Very much or Some
Looked forward
to marriage
Never or
Rarely
(2) 4%
(27) 54%
Often or
Very often
(12) 24%
(7) 14%
Phi coefficient = .49
Chi square ■ 13.62
Significant beyond
the .001 level
of sex
Little or Not at all
Looked forward
to marriage
Never or Often or
Rarely Very often
(7) 14%
(14) 28%
(29) 58%
(2) 4%
Phi coefficient = .60
Chi square ■ 18.58
Significant beyond
the .001 level
*Question 17.
L_
102
hence it is in the nature of a defining characteristic of a
female homosexual. Considering this point justifiable, the
analysis of this factor is shown here as a matter of inter
est but is not thought to be of paramount importance to the
area of study.
In summarizing this focus on the area of role learn
ing experience, it can be stated that the observed differ
ences are of such a degree that the opinion relating
homosexuality to socialization role learning experience is
lent credence. The constantly revealed importance of early
role learning in this analysis relates most positively to
the theorizing of Cooley, Mead and Shibutani as previously
2
discussed in this work.
The area considered next most important in the
I
matter of the development of adult sexual orientation
encompasses the individual's early perception of certain
physical sex functions. It is presumed that a female so
conditioned as to feel distate for such physical sex func
tions would more likely gravitate toward homosexuality.
2
See pages 38 to 44 of this study.
103
i
Area 2: Early Attitudes toward Sex Functions !
An examination of Table 7, concerned as it is with I
1
attitudes toward physical sex function, shows a clear
difference between the attitudes of homosexuals and hetero
sexuals in this area of interest.
The factors all relate to the developing sexual
orientation of the maturing female, and it is to be
observed that the homosexuals are much inclined toward the
negative reactions in regard to sexual manifestations that
have implications of heterosexual performance.
This homosexual negative reaction to physical sex
changes drastically with the last factor of Table 7, which
involves reaction to sexual experience with a female. No
Lesbian was without homosexual experience, none found such
experience unpleasant, and 88 per cent reported it as
pleasant. This contradicts earlier mentioned Lesbian
opinion that there are Lesbians without homosexual experi
ence. Noticeable also is that only six heterosexuals
admitted homosexual experience. Possibly such relates to
the power of the taboo which operates even against experi
menting with the deviation.
A comprehensive examination of Table 7 reveals
I
implications of a sequence of logical events. A homosexual
career possibly proceeds in its development from (1) a
bothered or indifferent reaction to menstruation, (2) an
TABLE 7
EARLY ATTITUDES TOWARD PHYSICAL SEX FUNCTION
Factor
Reaction to
menstruation
Understanding
of the
sex act
Thoughts of the
genital area of
the opposite sex
; Reaction to
|sexual experience
with a male
Reaction to
sexual experience
with a female
Hetero. Homo.
Bothered
Indifferent
(2)
(21)
4%
427,
(ID
(30)
227.
607.
Mildly pleased
Very pleased
(11)
(16)
227,
327,
12 7 .
6 7 .
Dirty
Strange
(2)
(20)
47,
407,
(16)
(18)
327.
367.
Interesting
Pleasant
(21)
(7)
427,
147,
(16)
(0)
327.
0 7 .
Repulse you
Not interest you
(2)
(13)
47,
267,
(11)
(19)
227.
387.
Interest you
Stimulate you
(31)
(4)
627,
8 7 ,
(17)
(3)
347.
6 7 .
Unpleasant
A neutral feeling
(2)
(8)
4 7 ,
16 7,
(23)
(10)
467.
207.
Pleasant
No such experience
(37)
(3)
747,
6 7 ,
(5)
(12)
107.
247.
Unpleasant
A neutral feeling
8 )
4 7,
8 7 ,
0 7 .
127.
Pleasant
No such experience
(3)
(41)
67.
827.
887.
0 7 .
*Factors related to questions 20, 21, 22, 23, 25.
(See Appendix.)
105
!
understanding of the sex act as dirty or strange, (3) an
understanding of the genital area of the opposite sex as j
j
not interesting or repulsive, (4) a reaction of neutral or j
unpleasant to heterosexual experience, and the sequence
culminates with an interaction of a sexual nature with
another female experienced as pleasant. The foregoing is
I
conjecture, but its consideration might provide a degree of
insight for any other researcher curious as to the develop
ment of homosexual maturation.
The first four factors of Table 7 show evidence of
relationship with adult sexual performance and allow for
closer analysis, and therefore they are subjected to more
stringent scrutiny. The fifth factor, reaction to sexual
performance with a female, is informative but not further
analyzed because of the large number of heterosexuals who
i
reported never having had such experience.
In the four following tables the partialling is
j
again for mother's attitude on the subject of sex as this
variable is considered most probably related to the behav
ior under consideration. Reaction to menstruation is the
first factor examined.
106
Reaction to Menstruation and I
Mother's Opinion of Sex
In relation to the points of view expressed in
this study, reaction to menstruation is thought to be an
intimate part of the female's orientation to the adult
woman's sexual performance, and Table 8 illustrates the
data for this factor.
The respondents' reactions to menstruation and
mature sexual performance, as shown in Table 8, reveal a
distinct difference between the two groups. The phi
coefficient being .35 with a chi square significant beyond
the .001 level.
The partialling for mother's attitude toward the
subject of sex is most informative. The mothers with the
conservative orientation in regard to sex reveal in the
table a phi coefficient of .24 and a chi square of no
significance. In contrast the approving of sex mothers
yield a phi coefficient of .36 with a chi square signifi
cant beyond the .01 level. The interaction effect as seen
in the difference between the phi coefficients of the two
partials shows that while reaction to menstruation is
important in relation to adult sexual orientation, the
mother's attitude on the subject of sex is a vital compo
nent. Thus, from the table it can be observed that having
a mother who does not disapprove of sex and being pleased
by the onset of menstruation is correlated with the
TABLE 8
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY REACTION TO MENSTRUATION,
PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD
THE SUBJECT OF SEX
Reaction to menstruation
Bothered or Indifferent
Hetero. (23) 46%
Homo. (41) 82%
Mildly pleased or
Very pleased
(27) 54%
(9) 18%
Phi coefficient = .35
Chi square = 12.54
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Mother disapproved of sex
Very much or Some
Reaction to menstruation
Bothered Mildly pleased
or or
Indiffer- Very pleased
ent
Hetero
Homo.
(7) 14% (7) 14%
(27) 54% (7) 14%
Phi coefficient = .24
Chi square - 2.85
Not significant
Little or Not at all
Reaction to menstruation
Bothered Mildly pleased
or or
Indiffer- Very pleased
ent
(16) 32%
(14) 28%
(20) 40%
(2) 4%
Phi coefficient ■ .36
Chi square ■ 6.74
Significant beyond
the .01 level
108
maturation of a heterosexual woman.
Analysis of the two deviant cases, the homosexuals
who reported liberal mothers and positive reactions to
menstruation, is revealing. One case reported that she
rarely played with dolls, or at the game of house, or at
being a feminine grown-up lady, or at having a baby. The
other case never played with dolls, or at having a baby,
and rarely played at being a grown-up lady. Understanding
the foregoing, it could be interpreted that the two
Lesbians who were pleased with the onset of menstruation
and whose mothers were liberal on the subject of sex did
not develop heterosexual orientation because other more
vital role learning experiences were not theirs.
Understanding of the Sex Act
and Mother's Opinion of Sex
The next table, Table 9, analyzes the respondent's
perception of the heterosexual sex act and is partialled
for the mother's attitude toward sex as a variable consid
ered to be logically related.
Table 9, concerned with the individual's under
standing of the sex act and adult sexual orientation, shows
a phi coefficient of .22 with a chi square significant
beyond the .05 level. The relationship, while less than
those considered heretofore, does show a relationship
between the two variables. The interaction effect of
partialling for the mother's attitude on the matter of sex
1091
TABLE 9
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY UNDERSTANDING OF THE SEX ACT,
PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD
THE SUBJECT OF SEX
Understanding of the sex act
Dirty or Strange Interesting or Pleasant
Hetero. (22) 44% (28) 56%
Homo. (34) 68% (16) 32%
Phi coefficient = .22
Chi square = 4.91
Significant beyond
the .05 level
Mother disapproved of sex
Very much or Some
Understanding of
the sex act
Dirty or Interesting
Strange or Pleasant
Hetero,
Homo.
(7) 14%
(21) 42%
(7) 14%
(13) 26%
Phi coefficient = .06
Chi square = .18
Not significant
Little or Not at all
Understanding of
the sex act
Dirty or Interesting
Strange or Pleasant
(15) 30%
(13) 26%
(21) 42%
(3) 6%
Phi coefficient = .32
Chi square =5.48
Significant at the
.02 level
110 :
i
‘is most informative. j
i
With a mother tolerant of the subject of sex, a phi j
coefficient of .32 with a chi square significant at the .02
level is displayed. This shows an increase in correlation
between adult sexual orientation and understanding of the
sex act, but with a disapproving of sex mother the phi
coefficient becomes .06, with the chi square being not
significant. In the light of this it may well be surmised
that the mother's attitude tends to precipitate the
daughter's favorable, or unfavorable, perception of the
i
male-female sexual activity and such leads the daughter to
define the performance as desirable and thus motivate her
toward it, or undesirable and thus motivate her to avoid it.
The interaction effect displayed in Table 9 does indicate
that the mother's opinion on sex plays a major part in the
daughter's perception of the heterosexual sexual perform
ance .
Thoughts of Male Genital Area
and Mother's Sex Attitudes
Table 10 deals with the individual's perception of
the opposite sex genitalia and the interaction effect of
the mother's opinions.
! In Table 10 it is to be observed that the relation
ship between thoughts of the genital area of the opposite
isex and adult sexual orientation is shown as a phi coeffi
cient of .28, with a chi square significant beyond the .01
Ill
TABLE 10
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY THOUGHTS OF THE GENITAL AREA
OF THE OPPOSITE SEX, PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S
ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SUBJECT OF SEX
Thoughts of the genital area of the opposite sex
Repulse or
Not interest you
Hetero. (15) 30%
Homo. (30) 60%
Interest or
Stimulate you
(35) 70%
(20) 40%
Phi coefficient = .28
Chi square = 7.92
Significant beyond
the .01 level
Mother disapproved of sex
Very much or Some
Thoughts of the genital
area of the opposite sex
Repulse or Interest or
or Not Stimulate
interest you you
Hetero.
Homo.
(4) 8%
(21) 42%
(10) 20%
(13) 26%
Little or Not at all
Thoughts of the genital
area of the opposite sex
Repulse or Interest or
or Not Stimulate
interest you you
(12) 24%
(9) 18%
(24) 48%
(7) 14%
Phi coefficient = .25
Chi square = 3.15
Not significant
Phi coefficient ■ .17
Chi square - 1.56
Not significant
level. A difference between the perceptions of the two
groups is apparent.
Partialling for the mother's attitude on the
subject of sex reveals mothers with a liberal attitude
displaying a phi coefficient of .17 with the chi square not
being significant. Mothers with the disapproving attitude
provided a phi coefficient of .25 with a not significant
chi square. The interaction effect provides no definite
indication of the influence of the mother's attitude on the
subject of sex, as regards her daughter's thoughts of the
genital area of the opposite sex and the relation of such
to adult sexual orientation. However, it is to be noted
that a disproportionate number of homosexuals reported
mothers who disapproved of sex, and declared that thoughts
of the genital area of males repulsed or, at least, did not
interest them.
Reaction to Sex with a Male and
Mother's Opinion of Sex
The next table, Table 11, specifically deals with
the female's reaction to sexual experience with a male and
the influence of the mother's opinion.
Table 11 analyzes the reaction to sexual experience
with a male and partials for the mother's attitude toward
the subject of sex. Here, in an attempt to obtain aa
effective a dichotomy as possible, unpleasant, a neutral
feeling and no such experience are placed in one category
113
TABLE 11
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY REACTION TO SEXUAL EXPERIENCE
WITH A MALE, PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S ATTITUDE
TOWARD THE SUBJECT OF SEX
Reaction to sexual experience with a male
Pleasant Unpleasant or a Neutral feeling
or No such experience____
Hetero. (13) 26%
Homo. (45) 90%
Phi coefficient = .63
Chi square = 39.45
Significant beyond
the .001 level
(37) 74%
(5) 10%
Hetero
Homo.
Mother disapproved
Very much or Some
Reaction to sex
with a male
Unpleasant or
a Neutral
feeling or
No such
experience
(3) 6%
(29) 58%
Pleasant
(11) 22%
(5) 10%
Phi coefficient ■ .72
Chi square ■ 25.24
Significant beyond
the .001 level
of sex
Little or Not at all
Reaction to sex
with a male
Unpleasant or
a Neutral
feeling or
No such
experience
(10) 20%
(16) 32%
Pleasant
(26) 52%
(0) 0%
Phi coefficient “ .62
Chi square ■ 20.31
Significant beyond
the .001 level
114
3
and pleasant is placed in the other. This procedure is j
justified on the grounds that the response "no such experi
ence" may well be a matter of deliberate avoidance, and
thus cannot be classed with an experience recorded as
pleasant. The understanding of Table 11 should be tempered
by this questionable dichotomy.
In Table 11 the phi coefficient of .63 with the chi
square significant beyond the .001 level shows a very defi
nite relationship between reaction to sexual experience
with a male and adult sexual orientation. As evidenced in
the partialling, a mother with little or no disapproval of
sex displays a phi coefficient of .62 with a chi square
significant beyond the .001 level, while a mother who
disapproves of sex shows a phi coefficient of .72 and a chi
square significant beyond the .001 level. The interaction
effect being small, it here provides the understanding that
the mother's attitude on sex is of minor importance in
relation to the daughter's reaction to sexual experience
with a male.
It can be supposed from this latter data that very
early socialization experience, in relation to the feminine
heterosexual role plus possibly the learned perception of
adult males, establishes an attitude toward heterosexual
sex behavior regardless of the mother's specific opinion on
^Guilford, o£. cit., pp. 311, 511.
115
the subject of sex. The frame of reference so adopted, in
the perception of sexual involvement with a male, in itself
i
I
may be a powerful factor in defining the actual experience |
of heterosexual sex interaction as being pleasant or not. j
i
In concluding the analysis of this area of the
perception of physical sex function in relation to adult
sexual orientation, it is to be observed that it offers
substantial insight into the phenomenon of homosexuality
and heterosexuality. If it is seen in relation to cogni-
tional function, as mentioned earlier in this work, it takes
on an added importance. A female with negative attitudes
toward the physical aspects, as here analyzed, would have
difficulty creating cognitional rehearsals of a hetero
sexual nature. It appears justifiable to assume that such
childhood, erotic dreams of the future are a necessary part
iof the preparation for effective, adult heterosexual role
j
'performance.
The interaction between mother and daughter, being
an integral part of the behavior already discussed, is the
next area of analysis.
116
i
Area 3: The Relationship between
Mother and Daughter
I
i
At this point it is appropriate to focus attention j
on the basic interaction of mother and daughter. Previ- |
j
ously, the data have established the importance of the role
learning experience in regard to adult sexual orientation,
the difference between heterosexuals and homosexuals in
their perception of physical sex phenomena, and the overall
influence of the mother's attitude on the matter of sex.
All of these factors can be related to the association
between mother and child.
Table 12 directs attention to the area in question,
and examination reveals that heterosexuals and homosexuals
vary in their recollections of the nature of their associa
tion with their mothers. It is observable, for instance,
that 90 per cent of the heterosexuals report their mothers
as being strongly influential, whereas only 50 per cent of
the homosexuals report similarly. Ninety per cent of the
heterosexuals report affectionate and understanding mothers,
while only 50 per cent of the homosexuals so report.
These findings permit the general inference that
many Lesbians, as young persons, were unable to effectively
incorporate the adult female heterosexual role into their
maturing social orientation as the relationship between
themselves and their own mothers was not of a nature that
would foster such heterosexual identification. In this
TABLE 12
THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP*
Factor Heterosexual Homosexual
Mother's
influence
Mother
affectionate
and
understanding
Mother harsh
and
unsympathetic
Association
s with
mother
Attached to
female other
than mother
Very mild (4) 8% (10) 20%
Mild
(1)
2%
(15)
30%
Strong (24) 48% (17)
34%
Very strong (21)
42%
(8) 16%
Not at all (0) 0% (8) 16%
A little (5) 10% (14) 28%
Some (14) 28% (13) 26%
Very much (31) 62%
(15)
30%
Not at all (18) 36% (14) 28%
A little (23) 46%
(17)
34%
Some (7) 14%
(ID
22%
Very much (2) 4% (8)
16%
Not close at all (3) 6% (18) 36%
Close on occasions (7) 14% (13) 26%
Fairly close (21)
42% (6) 12%
Very close (19) 38% (13) 26%
Never (7) 14% (7) 14%
A little (12) 24% (7) 14%
Some (15) 30%
(11)
22%
Very much (16) 32% (25) 50%
*Factors related to questions 2, 6, 14, 8, 3
(See Appendix.)
118 ;
regard the mother's happiness in her role would seem most j
pertinent, and therefore in the tables of this area that j
follow, partialling is undertaken for the variable of j
mother's happiness.
The last item of Table 12 is included in the table
for the insight it conveys, but it is not more stringently
analyzed because the variations in the collapsed cells are
relatively minor. However, it may be noted in passing that
what is indicated is a small tendency for homosexuals, in
their young years, to have been more attached than hetero
sexuals to females other than their mothers.
Mother's Influence and Mother's
Happiness in Her Role
The mother's influence over her developing daughter
iand how it in turn is affected by the mother's happiness in
her role as wife and mother is the focus of Table 13.
i
Table 13 demonstrates a decided relationship
between the mother's influence and adult sexual orienta
tion, with a phi coefficient of .41 and a chi square
significant beyond the .001 level. Therefore, a mother who
exerts strong influence on her daughter tends to be associ-
I
ated with the development of a heterosexual daughter.
The partialling yields a most informative interac-
! tion effect. Happy mothers show a relationship between
I their strong influence and adult sexual orientation of phi
|coefficient .38 and a chi square significant beyond the
TABLE 13
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY MOTHER'S INFLUENCE,
PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S HAPPINESS IN
HER ROLE AS WIFE AND MOTHER
Mother's influence
Very mild or Mild
Hetero. (5) 10%
Homo. (25) 50%
Strong or Very strong
(45) 90%
(25) 50%
Phi coefficient = .41
Chi square * 17.19
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Hetero
Homo.
Mother's happiness in her role
Not at all or A little
Mother's influence
Very mild Strong or
or Mild Very strong
(0) 0%
(10) 20%
(2) 4%
(8) 16%
Phi coefficient = .17
Chi square = .56
Not significant
Moderately or Very much
Mother's influence
Very mild Strong or
or Mild Very strong
(5) 10%
(15) 30%
(43) 86%
(17) 34%
Phi coefficient ■ .38
Chi square - 11.74
Significant beyond
the .001 level
120
I
.001 level. On the other hand, the unhappy mothers displayj
a decreased correlation of phi coefficient .17 and a not |
significant chi square. The interaction effect supports
the opinion that while a mother's strong influence is
important in the development of a heterosexual daughter an
aspect almost as vital is her own happiness. This, of
course, seems reasonable in the light of what has already
been mentioned, for a young female would be more likely to
be exposed to positive heterosexual role learning if her
mother were happy and influential.
Affectionate and Understanding
Mother and Mother's Happiness
Table 14 illustrates the relation between mother's
affection and understanding and the degree of satisfaction
she feels in her role as wife and mother.
Table 14 displays a phi coefficient of .36 and a
chi square significant beyond .001. Therefore, there is
justification for the assumption that affectionate, under
standing mothers foster the eventual manifestation, by
their children, of an adult heterosexual orientation.
The partialling is also informative, for while the
correlation between adult sexual orientation and having an
affectionate understanding mother decreases to a phi
coefficient of .26 and a chi square significant at the .02
level, with a mother happy in her role, the correlation
diminishes to a phi coefficient of .07 and an insignificant
121 i
I
TABLE 14
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY AFFECTIONATE AND UNDERSTANDING
MOTHER, PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S HAPPINESS
IN HER ROLE AS WIFE AND MOTHER*
Mother affectionate and understanding
Not at all or A little Some or Very much
Hetero. (5) 10% (45) 90%
Homo. (22) 44% (28) 56%
Phi coefficient = .36
Chi square = 12.99
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Mother's happiness
Not at all or A little
Mother affectionate
and understanding
Hetero,
Homo.
Not at all
or
A little
(1) 2%
(12) 24%
Some or
Very much
(1) 2%
(6) 12%
Phi coefficient * .07
Chi square * .10
Not significant
in her role
Moderately or Very much
Mother affectionate
and understanding
Not at all
or
A little
(4) 8%
(10) 20%
Some or
Very much
(44) 88%
(22) 44%
Phi coefficient ■ .26
Chi square = * 5 .49
Significant at
the .02 level
*Question 11.
122 j
I
chi square if the mother is not happy. |
Having an affectionate, understanding mother is j
therefore associated with adult heterosexuality, but the \
interaction effect shows that definite consideration has to
be given to the degree of happiness of that affectionate
understanding mother.
Harsh and Unsympathetic Mother
and Mother's Happiness
Table 15 analyzes the relation between mother's
inclination to be harsh and unsympathetic to her daughter
and the girl's adult sexual orientation. The partialling
is for the pertinent variable of mother's happiness in her
role.
i
In Table 15 the relation between sexual orientation
:as an adult and mother being harsh and unsympathetic is
iseen as having a phi coefficient of .20 and a chi square
significant at the .05 level. This minor correlation
indicates that daughters of harsh and unsympathetic mothers
are disproportionately prone to mature as Lesbians.
In the partialling a happy mother shows a phi
coefficient of .17 with an insignificant chi square, and an
unhappy mother shows a phi coefficient of .13 with an
i
insignificant chi square. The interaction effect, in this
i
instance, is of such a slight nature as to indicate that
l
ithe mother's happiness in her role as wife and mother is
[not an important factor as it relates to the harsh and
TABLE 15
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY MOTHER BEING HARSH AND UNSYMPATHETIC,
PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S HAPPINESS IN HER ROLE
Mother harsh and unsympathetic
Not at all or A little
Hetero. (41) 82%
Homo. (31) 62%
Some or Very much
(9) 18%
(19) 38%
Phi coefficient = .20
Chi square = 4.02
Significant at
the .05 level
Hetero,
Homo.
Mother's happiness in her role
Not at all or A little
Mother harsh and
unsvmpathet ic
Not at all Very much
or or
A little Some
(1) 2%
( 10) 20%
(1) 2%
(8) 16%
Moderately or Very much
Mother harsh and
unsvmpathet ic
Not at all Very much
or or
A little Some
(40) 80%
(21) 42%
(8) 16%
(11) 22%
Phi coefficient = .13
Chi square * .36
Not significant
Phi coefficient ■ .17
Chi square * 2.42
Not significant
124 j
unsympathetic behavior of the mother being correlated with I
I
adult sexual performance.
I
i
I
Association with Mother
and Mother's Happiness
The degree of personal association between mother
and daughter is next examined. The partialling is for
mother's happiness as it appears that a happy mother having
a close personal association with her daughter would
promote the daughter's adult heterosexual orientation.
In Table 16 is to be observed a phi coefficient of
.41 with a chi square significant beyond the .001 level.
Therefore, a daughter's association with her mother can be
most decidedly associated with the development of her adult
sexual orientation.
The partialling for mother's happiness in her role
as wife and mother is most informative. Mothers reported
as being happy present a phi coefficient of .33 with a chi
square significant beyond the .01 level as regards the
correlation between association with mother and adult
sexual orientation. As opposed to this, mothers reported
as not at all, or only a little, happy in their roles
present a lack of correlation between association with
mother and adult sexual orientation. It may be concluded
from this that association with mother is a major factor
in the development of adult sexual orientation, and that
very important to adult heterosexual maturation is close
125
TABLE 16
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY ASSOCIATION WITH MOTHER,
PARTIALLED FOR MOTHER'S HAPPINESS IN HER ROLE
Association with mother
Not close at all or
Close on occasions
Hetero. (10) 20%
Homo. (31) 62%
Fairly close or
Very close
(40) 80%
(19) 38%
Phi coefficient = .41
Chi square ■ 16.54
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Mother's happiness in her role
Not at all or A little
As soc iation with mother
Hetero.
Homo.
Not close
at all or
Close on
occasions
(1) 2%
(14) 28%
Fairly close
or
Very close
(1) 2%
(4) 8%
Phi coefficient ■ 0
Chi square = 0
Not significant
Moderately or Very much
Association with mother
Not close
at all or Fairly close
Close on or
occasions Very close
(9) 18%
(17) 34%
(39) 78%
(15) 30%
Phi coefficient - .33
Chi square “ 8.83
Significant beyond
the .01 level
association with a mother who is happy in her role as wife
and mother. The interaction effect thus supports a logical
assumption.
This area, the relationship between mother and
daughter as displayed in these previous tables, points up
the vital nature of such interaction in the establishment
of adult sexual orientation. The data reveal that influen
tial mothers who are happy in their role, affectionate and
understanding with their daughters, foster the maturing of
heterosexual daughters.
Conversely, it can be opinioned that homosexuals
i
are much more inclined to be without positive experiences
and therefore cannot easily identify with the conventional
role, and thus be motivated toward attaining such a career
|for themselves. The next area of consideration, which can
be related to the foregoing opinion, is that of the nature
of the mother's role performance.
i
Area 4: The Mother's Role Performance
Table 17 deals with the mother's happiness in her
i
role as a wife and mother and her attitude toward the
jsubject of sex, as these relate to her daughter's adult
i
jsexual behavior. These variables involve an essential
jaspect of the child's early learning experience as it bears
I on the assumptions, opinions and data analysis already
TABLE 17
MOTHER'S ROLE PERFORMANCE*
Factor Heterosexual Homosexual
Mother
happy as
wife and
mother
Mother
disapproved
I of the
subject of sex
Not at all
A little
(1) 27,
(1) 27,
(8)
(10)
16 7,
207,
Moderately
Very much
(15) 307,
(33) 667,
(19)
(13)
387,
267,
Not at all
A little
(19) 38 7,
(17) 347,
167,
1 67 ,
Some
Very much
(8) 1 6 7,
(6) 127,
(7)
(27)
147,
547,
*Factors related to questions 11, 17. (See Appendix.)
128 ;
i
i
presented in this work. The two factors of Table 17, as !
they relate to adult sexual orientation, have earlier been j
considered in other tables, but in this section they are j
analyzed in themselves and then partialled for a variable j
thought to be most germane, and that is the mother's j
influence.
Mother's Happiness in Her
Role and Her Influence
It is reasonable to assume that a mother who is
happy in her role as wife and mother would influence the
manifestation of adult sexual orientation in her daughter,
and that this would be decidedly the case when the mother
strongly influenced the daughter. Table 18 displays the
data.
In the relationship of mother's happiness in her
role and the adult sexual orientation of her daughter,
Table 18 shows a phi coefficient of .37 and a chi square
significant beyond the .001 level. The mother's happiness
is therefore quite important in the development of the
daughter's mature sexual behavior.
The partialling is somewhat informative in that a
strongly influential mother shows a phi coefficient of .33
!
|and a chi square significant beyond the .01 level for the
|two variables in question. On the other side for the same
|
itwo variables, a mildly influential mother displays a phi
TABLE 18
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY MOTHER1S HAPPINESS AS A WIFE
AND MOTHER, PARTIALLED FOR HER INFLUENCE*
Mother's happiness as a wife and mother
Not at all or A little Moderately or Very much
Hetero. (2) 4% (48) 96%
Homo. (18) 36% (32) 64%
Phi coefficient = .37
Chi square = 14.06
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Mother1s influence
Hetero
Homo.
Very mild or Mild
Mother's happiness
Not at all Moderately
or or
A little Very much
(0) 0%
(10) 20%
(5) 10%
(15) 30%
Phi coefficient ■ .22
Chi square = 1.47
Not significant
Strong or Very strong
Mother's happiness
Not at all Moderately
or or
A little Very much
(2) 4%
(8) 16%
(43) 86%
(17) 34%
Phi coefficient = .33
Chi square ■ 7.84
Significant beyond
the .01 level
*Question 14.
I
L.
130
coefficient of .22 with a nonsignificant chi square.
Considering the interaction effect as indicated by
the difference in the two phi coefficients, it can be seen
that while the mother's influence is of some small conse
quence, her happiness is the most relevant in the develop
ment of the daughter's adult sexual performance.
Mother's Attitude toward
Sex and Her Influence
The next table of this analysis is concerned with a
salient variable in this appraisal of factors affecting the
formation of adult sexual performance. The mother's
attitude toward the subject of sex, partialled for her
influence, is displayed in Table 19.
In Table 19, a relationship between adult sexual
behavior and the mother's attitude in regard to the subject
of sex emerges as a phi coefficient of .37 with a chi
square significant beyond the .001 level. This focusses on
a rather dramatic difference between the socialization
experience of heterosexuals and homosexuals.
The partialling for mother's influence produces an
I interaction effect that decidedly elucidates the relation
ship between the mother's attitude on the subject of sex
land her daughter's subsequent adult sexual behavior.
A strongly influential mother shows a correlation between
l
the two variables considered as a phi coefficient of .37
|with a chi square significant beyond the .01 level, while a
131
TABLE 19
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY MOTHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE
SUBJECT OF SEX, PARTIALLED FOR HER INFLUENCE
Mother disapproved of the subject of sex
Not at all or A little Some or Very much
Hetero. (36) 72% (14) 28%
Homo. (16) 32%
Phi coefficient = .37
Chi square = 13.43
Significant beyond
the .001 level
(34) 68%
Mother's influence
Very mild or Mild
Mother disapproved
of sex_____
Hetero,
Homo.
Not at all
or
A little
(3) 6%
(8) 16%
Some or
Very much
(2) 4%
(17)34%
Phi coefficient = .12
Chi square = .46
Not significant
Strong or Very strong
Mother disapproved
of sex
Not at all
or
A little
(33) 66%
(8) 16%
Some or
Very much
(12) 24%
(17) 34%
Phi coefficient ■ .37
Chi square "9.68
Significant beyond
the .01 level
L_
132
mildly influential mother displays a phi coefficient of
only .12 with a nonsignificant chi square. Consequently,
j
a mother's attitude on the subject of sex has much bearing '
!
on her daughter's eventual adult sexual orientation,
particularly if she is for her child strongly influential* j
It may be surmised from these data that a mother |
who very much disapproves of the subject of sex, and who
I
has strong influence over her daughter, is inclined to i
i
foster in her child the development of adult homosexual !
orientation. The conjecture appears reasonable considering
that a daughter socialized by a very influential mother to
the disapproval of heterosexual activity is liable to face
difficulty adjusting to a heterosexual relationship where
such activity, under certain social conditions, is defined
as acceptable or even desirable. Conversely, it can be
understood that a strongly influential mother who does not
disapprove of the subject of sex is much inclined to
nurture daughters of heterosexual persuasion.
Having observed in the last two areas considered
that the daughter's relationship with her mother, and the
mother's role performance, are related to adult sexual |
orientation, it follows that the father's parental behavior
! also has an influence. It is logical to assume that a
1
father can contribute to his child's homosexual development
j if he does not provide for her a positive interaction
! experience with an adult male, and thus foster the girl's
133 I
motivation towards interaction with similar males in her
own adulthood. The next, and last, area of analysis is j
concentrated on the influence of the father.
Area 5; The Relationship between
Father and Daughter
The interaction between father and daughter as
depicted in Table 20 illustrates a difference in the
socialization experience of heterosexuals and homosexuals.
The lead item of the table exemplifies this point when it
is to be observed that 70 per cent of the heterosexuals
report an affectionate and understanding father, whereas
only 38 per cent of the Lesbians report in a similar vein.
Standing alone, as it does in the table, the factor
of father's influence does not show a strong difference
between the recollections of homosexuals and heterosexuals,
but it appears logical that related to other factors in the
area, the variable of father's influence may provide
relationship clarification, and therefore all four of the
factors to be analyzed in relation to adult sexual orienta
tion are partialled for this variable. The factor, associ
ation with father, is included with Table 20 for its
interest value, but it is not more stringently analyzed
because the collapsed categories show little relationship
between it and adult sexual performance.
134
TABLE 20
THE FATHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP*
Factor Heterosexual Homosexual
Father
affectionate
and
understanding
Father
disapproved
of the sub
ject of sex
Father harsh
and
unsympathetic
Attached to
male other
than father
Association
with
father
Father1s
influence
Not at all (3) 67, (13) 267,
A little (9) 1 8 7, (18) 367,
Some (16) 327, (9) 1 87 ,
Very much (22) 447, (10) 207,
Not at all (21) 427, (12) 247,
A little (13) 267, (8) 16 7,
Some (11) 227, (4) 8 7 ,
Very much (5) 10 7, (26) 527,
Not at all (25) 507, (12) 247,
A little (14) 287, (18) 367,
Some (8) 16 7. (8) 1 67 ,
Very much (3) 67, (12) 247,
Never (9) 18 7, (21) 427,
A little (8) 1 6 7, (15) 307,
Some (15) 307o (11) 227,
Very much (18) 367, (3) 6 7 ,
Not close at all (5) 107, (12) 247,
Close on occasions (16) 327, (18) 367,
Fairly close (13) 267, (9) 18 7,
Very close (16) 327, (11) 227,
Mild (9) 18 7, (13) 267,
Very mild (12) 247, (9) 187,
Strong (23 ) 467, (13) 267,
Very strong (6) 12 7, (15) 307,
*Factors related to questions 9, 18, 4, 12, 5, 7
| (See Appendix.)
135
I
Affectionate, Understanding Father j
and Father's Influence |
Table 21 relates the extent of the father's affec- j
tion and understanding for the daughter with her adult i
sexual orientation, and this in turn is partialled for his j
influence. I
In Table 21 the relationship of a father's affec
tion and understanding with the adult sexual behavior of
his daughter is depicted as a phi coefficient of .36 with a
chi square significant beyond the .001 level. The nature
of the father's association with his daughter as regards
affection and understanding is consequently an important
aspect in relation to the girl's mature sexual inclina
tions .
Partialling for father's influence provides a most
|interesting interaction effect. Where the father's influ-
I
ience is strong, the relationship between his affection and
i
understanding and the daughter's adult sexual performance
is indicated by the phi coefficient of .50 with a chi
square significant beyond the .001 level. However, with
jthe father's influence being mild, the relationship between
the two variables decreases to a phi coefficient of .16
jwith a nonsignificant chi square. Therefore, it can be
i
I
(understood that while a father's affection and understand-
i f
ing are important in his daughter s social development,
this type of interaction is particularly effective when the
TABLE 21
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY FATHER'S AFFECTION AND UNDERSTANDING,
PARTIALLED FOR FATHER'S INFLUENCE
Father affectionate and understanding
Not at all or A little Some or Very much
Hetero. (12) 24% (38) 76%
Homo. (31) 62% (19) 38%
Phi coefficient * .36
Chi square = 13.22
Significant beyond
the .001 level
Father's influence
Hetero,
Homo.
Very mild or Mild
Father affectionate
and understanding
Not at all
or Some or
A little Very much
(10) 20%
(15) 30%
( 11) 22%
(7) 14%
Phi coefficient * .16
Chi square * 1.12
Not significant
Strong or Very strong
Father affectionate
and understanding
Not at all
or Some or
A little Very much
(2) 4%
(16) 32%
(27) 54%
(12) 24%
Phi coefficient ■ .50
Chi square - 14.40
Significant beyond
the .001 level
i_
137
father is also strongly influential.
Father's Attitude on the Subject
of Sex and His Influence
Table 22 considers the father's attitudes toward
the subject of sex, his influence, and his daughter's
subsequent adult sexual orientation.
This table discloses a phi coefficient of .26 and a
chi square significant beyond the .01 level for the rela
tionship of father's attitude toward the subject of sex and
the daughter's mature sexual orientation.
The partialling points up the relationship of the
father's attitude as regards sex and the daughter's adult
sexual performance under the effect of father's influence.
With a strongly influential father the phi coefficient for
the two variables is .51 with a chi square significant
beyond the .001 level, which is a considerable increase
over the unpartialled correlation. A mildly influential
father manifests a phi coefficient of .02 and an insignifi
cant chi square. Hence the interaction effect as shown by
the difference in the phi coefficients of the two partials
demonstrates the powerful impact a strongly influential
father's attitudes on the subject of sex have on the
i
jdevelopment of his daughter's adult sexual orientation.
i
A strongly influential father who very much disapproves of
[sex can therefore be related to the development of adult
I
homosexual orientation on the part of his daughter.
138
TABLE 22
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY FATHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE
SUBJECT OF SEX, PARTIALLED FOR FATHER'S INFLUENCE
Father disapproved of sex
Little or Not at all Very much or Some
Hetero. (34) 68% (16) 32%
Homo. (20) 40% (30) 60%
Phi coefficient = .26
Chi square = 6.80
Significant at
the .01 level
Hetero,
Homo.
Father's influence
Very mild or Mild
Father disapproved
_____ of sex_____
A little or Very much
Not at all or Some
(11) 22%
(13) 26%
( 10) 20%
(9) 18%
Phi coefficient = .02
Chi square = .02
Not significant
Strong or Very strong
Father disapproved
of sex_____
A little or Very much
Not at all or Some
(23) 46%
(7) 14%
( 6) 12%
(21) 42%
Phi coefficient = .51
Chi square = 14.75
Significant beyond
the .001 level
139
I Harsh. Unsympathetic Father
l and Father's Influence
Exploring further the interaction between father
and daughter, the next table examines the relationship of a
harsh, unsympathetic father and his child's adult sex role.
The partialling is again for father's influence.
I
j Table 23 exhibits a phi coefficient of .17 and an
i
insignificant chi square for the correlation of harsh,
i
(Unsympathetic father and adult sex role. Thus, a relation
ship between harsh, unsympathetic father and mature sexual
I orientation is not apparent. However, the partialling
provides an interesting interaction effect. A strongly
influential father shows a relationship between the two
major variables of phi coefficient of .26 and a chi square
1 significant at the .05 level as opposed to a mildly influ-
i
jential father showing a relationship between his being
|harsh and unsympathetic and adult sexual orientation on the
part of his daughter of phi coefficient .03 and an insig
nificant chi square. The interaction process here
indicates that the effect of a harsh, unsympathetic father
|on his daughter's adult sexual performance is of some
consequence if his influence over the daughter is strong.
[it can be surmised that such a father is inclined to
I
jpromote his daughter's eventual adult sexual orientation
as a homosexual.
TABLE 23
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY FATHER BEING HARSH AND UNSYMPATHETIC,
PARTIALLED FOR FATHER'S INFLUENCE
Father harsh and unsympathetic
Not at all or A little Some or Very much
Hetero. (39) 78% (11) 22%
Homo. (30) 60% (20) 40%
Phi coefficient = .17
Chi square = 2.99
Not significant
Father's influence
Very mild or Mild
Father harsh and
unsympathetic
Not at all
or
A little
Hetero. (13) 26%
Homo. (12) 24%
Some or
Very much
(8) 16%
( 10) 20%
Phi coefficient = .03
Chi square * .03
Not significant
Strong or Very strong
Father harsh and
unsympathetic
Not at all
or
A little
(26) 52%
(18) 36%
Some or
Very much
(3) 6%
(10) 20%
Phi coefficient ■ .26
Chi square - 3.87
Significant at
the .05 level
141
Attachment to a Male Other Than
Father and Father*s Influence
Relating to previous discussion, it can be conjec
tured that the more exposure a female child has to positive
emotional experience with a male, the more inclined she
will be to relate to an adult heterosexual performance.
Table 24 explores this consideration.
Table 24 provides a phi coefficient of .36 and a
chi square significant beyond the .001 level. This illus
trates an important relationship between adult sexual
orientation and being attached as a child to a male other
than the father. Heterosexuals are shown most signifi
cantly as having had attachments to males other than their
fathers, while the reverse is true of homosexuals. Opinion
derived from this points to a childhood lack of positive
association with adult males on the part of many Lesbians.
The partialling shows that with a strongly influen
tial father, the phi coefficient is .30 with a chi square
significant beyond the .05 level. A mildly influential
father, on the other hand, displays a phi coefficient of
.41 with a chi square significant beyond the .01 level.
The interaction effect is so slight that it does not allow
for extensive elaboration. However, a possible interpreta-
!
tion of the small increase in the phi coefficient to .41 in
the case of the mildly influential father might be the
notion that when a father is only mildly influential, it
TABLE 24
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY BEING ATTACHED TO A MALE OTHER
THAN FATHER, PARTIALLED FOR FATHER'S INFLUENCE
Attached to male other than father
Never or A little Some or Very much
Hetero. (17) 34% (33) 66%
Homo. (36) 72% (14) 28%
Phi coefficient = .36
Chi square = 13.00
Significant beyond
the .001 level
F ather1s influenc e
Very mild or Mild
Attached to male
other than father
Hetero.
Homo.
Never or
A little
(9) 18%
(19) 38%
Some or
Very much
(12) 24%
(3) 6%
Phi coefficient = .41
Chi square =7.14
Significant beyond
the .01 level
Strong or Very strong
Attached to male
other than father
Never or Some or
A little Very much
(8) 16%
(17) 34%
(21) 42%
(11) 22%
Phi coefficient = .30
Chi square =5.08
Significant beyond
the .05 level
143
fosters the daughter's development as a heterosexual adult
if she has attachments to other males.
j
In closing this analysis of the area of the j
relationship between father and daughter, it is to be noted
that the interaction between the male parent and the female
i
child is of major importance in the formation of the j
j
daughter's subsequent adult sexual orientation. Presumably
the father plays a large part in formulating the daughter's
conception of males. An influential father who provides
his daughter with a positive emotional experience in rela
tionship to himself engenders in his daughter the desire to
recapitulate, in part at least, that earlier experience,
and thus as she matures she is motivated to associate with
males and attain from them a similar positive emotional
response. Such motivation, coupled with other related
learning experiences, leads her into heterosexual perform
ance .
Conversely, it may be conjectured that a young
daughter who does not experience a positive emotional
experience of some duration with her father, or other adult
male, but instead is exposed to a very influential, harsh,
unsympathetic, sex disapproving father, that such a girl is
j
prone to develop a negative attitude toward adult males.
It is most unlikely that she will be motivated to recapitu
late her young experience with her male parent. It seems
[logical that with such experience she will tend to be
144
I
alienated from personal contact with males. However, such
a female still desires association with other human beings
because of her infant need satisfaction. Motivated to
j
acquire response from others and yet alienated from males, :
she turns to females and finds them in the form of women |
whose adult sexual orientation is similar to her own. The |
I
anomaly here of the female homosexual who plays the defi- j
i
nite "masculine role" is resolved somewhat if it is real
ized that very few of the Lesbian population play such a j
j
role, and even when they do they still disapprove of j
heterosexual, masculine males, and further such "dykes" are
much disapproved of by many homosexual females.
As a last comment in this section, it is to be
7 i
j
understood that theories which relate Lesbianism to identi
fication with father are not supported by the data here
presented; rather, perhaps, the reverse.
A Summary of the Empirical Findings
The data analysis shows that the five areas of
approach on which attention has been focussed amply justi
fied the assumption of their heuristic possibility.
The first area, dealing with role learning, yielded
:
the most significant intrinsic relationships between the
role learning variables and adult sexual orientation.
I
Heterosexual respondents were notably experienced with the
! 145 i
I I
~role learning games, while the homosexuals were lacking in
such background. The partialling for the mother's attitude j
: j
toward sex indicated that while her attitude was of some j
importance in relation to some factors, it was not in j
!
others. i
The second area, being concerned with the respond-
I
ent's reaction to physical sex functions, displays a
decided difference in the reactions of homosexuals and
heterosexuals. As was anticipated, the homosexuals pre
sented much more negative attitudes on the matter of
physical sex function, as it relates to the female hetero
sexual role, than heterosexuals did. In this area the
interaction effect of the partialling illustrates that the
mother's attitude on the subject of sex was important, and
this was especially true for the variable dealing with the
daughter's understanding of the sex act.
Area three concerned the relationship between
mother and daughter as it influenced the girl's adult
sexual behavior. The data indicate that for the maturing
of an adult heterosexual daughter, an affectionate, under
standing, happy in her role mother with a strong influence
over her child is a definite asset.
i
1 The fourth area, dealing with the mother's role
I
performance, also illustrates a distinct difference in the
i
jsocialization experience of heterosexual and homosexual
respondents. Influential mothers who were happy in their
-- - - - -...1.46
role and who were reported as having liberal attitudes on
the subject of sex display an association with the maturingj
of an adult heterosexual daughter. !
Father and daughter interaction was analyzed in
area five, and the data demonstrate that the father has a j
i
powerful influence in the development of his daughter's
adult sexual performance. An influential father, with
little affection or understanding for his daughter, who
disapproved strongly of sex shows an association with the
maturing of a homosexual daughter, whereas an influential,
affectionate, understanding father with a liberal attitude
on the subject of sex is associated with the development of
an adult heterosexual daughter.
A concluding, comprehensive review of the analysis
indicates that the areas scrutinized are definitely related
to the ultimate gender role an adult female plays. How
ever, the data suggest more the sequential development of
adult heterosexuality than homosexuality; that is, the
analysis shows definite evidence in regard to how a matur
ing female fails to become a heterosexual but not why she
becomes a homosexual. Consideration will be given to this
matter later in the closing section of this study. The
|next chapter presents the subjective observations, of the
Lesbian scene.
CHAPTER IX j
i
A NONPARTICIPATING OBSERVER'S OBSERVATIONS i
I
ON THE LESBIAN SCENE
Developing the research approach of this study,
formulating the questionnaire and seeking respondents took
several years and exposed the researcher to devious places
and various deviants. Investigation of the subject, while
it took place largely among female homosexuals, was not
limited to them. Male homosexuals, male and female hetero
sexuals of various sexual orientations, plus some few
persons defining themselves as bisexuals were also ques
tioned. In this process no notes were taken at the time
and no device was used to record comnents, other than the
administration of the questionnaire in appropriate situa
tions. This investigator learned early that except for a
few boastful males such recording techniques inhibited the
action. The technique actually used was that of memorizing
I
the salient information at the time of interview and talk
ing this into a tape recorder, in private, as soon as
|possible after the contact. These recordings were at a
convenient time written up in note form for later reference.
j
I 147
148
It is to be noted how the observations following include
some that provide definite support for the conclusions that
are drawn from the questionnaire data analysis.
i
l
A Problem in the Concept of Sexual Deviation
Over the period of time that this writer has been j
I
interested in the sociological aspects of sexual behavior, j
a wide variety of sexual activists, involved in a wide
variety of sexual-social performances, have been observed
and talked with. The term deviant has been used in this
work but often with reluctance, for while this concept has
merit for a classificatory scheme, it relates, obviously,
to the normative behavior pattern from which a deviant
I
deviates. Today, in the larger community of the Los
Angeles general area, to establish a normative type of
sexual behavior adhered to by a majority of the population
in backstage fact, not as a matter of public pronouncement
or semi-public confession, would be a difficult task. Even
if such a normative, majority performance could be ascer
tained, it would have to be revised most surely within four
years, at the present rate of change, as more young people
pass through puberty and arrive on the sexual scene.
The form of sexual morality espoused publicly by
I
I some older and prominent community members, which may have
prevailed during what has been termed the "Victorian era,"
149
i
is, on the contemporary young urban scene, deviation |
itself. I
!
The sexual behavior of today's young urban sophis- j
ticates cannot be described accurately as manifesting a |
I
simple continuum extending between homosexuality and
heterosexuality.
The continuum concept as used by Kinsey et al. had
value as a research tool, but a realistic appraisal of the
behavior reveals far more variety of performance preference
than that indicated by such a continuum. Because our
society does tend to socialize for a rather inhibited
heterosexual performance with homosexuality as the possible,
though unanticipated, consequence of too much inhibition,
there is the development of a form of continuum but with
cluster patterns of multidimensional form at the homosexual,
jheterosexual extremes.
Lesbians in their social-sexual behavior are a
dimension of the continuum that has diversity in itself.
The major defining characteristic of Lesbians, as estab
lished not only for this study but also from extended
jconversations with female homosexuals, is that of having a |
definite preference for physical and emotional interaction
Iwith women rather than men. Beyond such limitation the
diversity begins.
150
The Matter of Respondent Resistance
In the early beginnings of this study an earnest j
attempt was made to investigate Lesbian behavior among
individuals with a different ethnic background to that
generally prevailing in the Los Angeles area. Mexican-
Americans were selected as being a good example of a
different ethnic background who might show a different
socialization pattern, and thus produce more, or less,
homosexuality or a different form of it.
Despite the number of Mexican-Americans resident
in the greater Los Angeles area, during the entire study
only two individuals were interviewed who could be consid
ered of definite Mexican ethnic background and both of
them, as adults, were far removed from their social
origination. Both were inclined toward "butch" orientation
and one of them very much so. Both came from rigid father-
dominated families where physical sex had unpleasant taboo
connotations laced with force. Both assured the interviewer
that Lesbianism did, indeed, exist among Mexican women here
in Los Angeles, but that it was of so secret a nature that
no man would be able to investigate it. The Mexican
Lesbian, they declared, makes contact through associating
with other women in the community and then, perceiving
i
encouragement, carries on social visits during the day
while most of the adult males are away at work.
151
Secrecy was necessary, stated the informants,
because a Mexican man would be prone to treat cruelly any
I
woman of his menage discovered in such a relationship.
A woman of such sexual orientation could not flaunt her !
Lesbianism in her own ethnic community without precipitat-
!
ing the most powerful sanctions. Under the circumstances,
informants from the general community being difficult j
enough to acquire, the search for Lesbians of Mexican j
ethnic background was dropped. j
As has been mentioned before, the interviewer
encountered much opposition. It varied from outright
refusal to cooperate in any manner or means, to mild suspi
cion that could be overcome. Usually, the cooperation was
most conspicuous by its absence, so that it was feared the j
project could never be completed as it was originally
intended, but then developments took a sharp, positive turn
and the research was accomplished.
A large component of the difficulty lay with the
problem Lesbians have in establishing a trusting relation
ship with a man. As few can recall a prolonged, pleasant,
childhood experience with an affectionate, adult male,
there is an alienation from the male that is difficult to
cope with. This being the case the heterosexual male who
wishes to interact with Lesbians successfully had best
adopt a neuter sex role. Lesbians can accept a man in the
|role of physician, college professor, sociologist or
152
psychologist, but a man as a heterosexual, physical male
has, for them, a distasteful quality. ‘
However, an equally large problem was presented
when the respondents realized that this investigator was
i
looking for the causes of female homosexuality. The idea
that causes for behavior can be established appears to
bother many people, for it has connotations of lack of
"free will" and possible manipulation of their behavior,
but homosexuals are more disturbed by research directed
toward the causes of their behavior than other groups.
This is particularly true among Lesbians of higher levels
of education who seem to positively loathe the whole idea
of their behavior being "caused."
One such person who could not be used as a part of
the Lesbian sample because she defined herself as a
practicing Lesbian but not a homosexual wrote in certain
comments. In some of the comment she defined herself as
I
"ambisexual or bisexual potential," this even though she
had lived in a Lesbian "marriage" relationship for some
years. Commenting on the term Lesbian she wrote, "Homo
sexuals are men; Lesbians are women!" Her notes, though
caustic, were also informative, and she sums up the point
made previously, about loathing cause studies, in the
following quotation. It is to be noted that the following
was written without the respondent really knowing what the
"theory" was:
153 i
!
"I hate to think of your drawing 'scientific' j
conclusions--or any conclusions from this question
naire especially to buttress your preconceived
theory or beliefs. Your theory fits me; it does
not fit many I know; the questions--lousy!"
Curiously, apart from the mentioned responses that,
unfortunately, disqualified the use of her questionnaire in
the sample, as a "practicing Lesbian" her answers to the
questions correlate almost perfectly with the ideas
expressed in this study regarding the etiology of female
homosexuality.
The reluctance of homosexuals to partake in studies
involving cause may well relate to their experience and
familiarity with the usual outcome of such works. So many
of the publicized causation studies elaborate on a precon
ceived theme that homosexuals are "sick" or in some way
"abnormal" in a distasteful manner. It appears that these
approaches have been enmeshed in the "evil causes evil"
fallacy related by Cohen in his criticism of the multiple
factor approach to the cause of crime.^ Sophisticated
Lesbians are very familiar with the causation opinions that
find "evil" antecedents precipitate the "evil" of homosexu
ality, and therefore they are understandably biased and
suspicious of any study that purports to deal with the
jcause of their behavior.
^"Donald R. Cressey, "Crime," in Contemporary Social
Problems. ed. Robert K. Merton and Robert A. Nisbet
(New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1961), p. 56.
154
One woman, with a graduate degree from a major
university and a professional position, was extremely
critical of the various psychological and psychiatric
theories of the etiology of Lesbianism. The Freudian
explanation of fixation at a particular level and the
notion of arrested psycho-sexual development, in her opin
ion, implied that all children go through a homosexual
phase but some never pass beyond that level. This, she
disagreed with on two counts. First, it is dubious that
all children pass through a homosexual phase, unless the
term homosexual is so widely defined that it becomes
meaningless. Second, she argued that anybody familiar with
homosexual physical sexual activity in its various forms
must surely realize that only wild imagination could equate
it with the child form of homosexuality.
Personality Facets of the Lesbian
The personality aspects of the female homosexual
are most varied, ranging from older, man-detesting, male
imitating in dress and mannerisms, alcoholic prone, "diesel
dykes" to young, beautiful, sensually dressed "femmes" who
enjoy the admiration of men but not their physical atten-
I
I
tion. These are, however, the extremes who can best be
observed in the few bars that cater to Lesbians. Apart
from these are the majority of Lesbians who are difficult
155
, I
to detect, socially or psychologically. i
Despite the foregoing, there are certain facets of I
the Lesbian personality that appear to set them apart, !
aside from their preference for the company of other j
females. They are inclined to be rather conservative in
their social orientation. Lesbians are disposed to
moralize about the rest of society, especially in regard
to heterosexual, sexual behavior.
A classic example of this orientation occurred in
a male homosexual bar-club which provided entertainment in
the form of female impersonators. The entertainers were
lavishly made up as women and entertained, for the larger
part, in coordination with a running dialogue of obscene
content. This bar-club counted among its members a small
group of Lesbians who were interviewed at length. During
i
the discussion these women expressed extreme disapproval of
heterosexual, immoral sexual behavior, such as pornography,
promiscuity, adultery and men who consorted with prosti
tutes. This homosexual expression of distaste for
heterosexual immorality seems to encompass the elements of
Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance. Homosexuals
find their sexual interest in conflict with the norms of
the greater society and a tension created by guilt results.
2
Theodore M. Newcomb, Ralph H. Turner, and Philip
E. Converse, Social Psychology (New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston, Inc., 1965), p. 105.
156 '
!
This tension provides motivation to reduce the cognitive j
dissonance by deploring the activity of heterosexuals and
thus establishing consonance, or psychic equilibrium, with
the thought that they, the homosexuals, are really very
moralistic.
On the specific matter of prostitutes, who cater to
the immoral heterosexual men, the Lesbian group were much
more tolerant and they put forward the view that many
successful prostitutes were Lesbians. Asked to explain
this seeming contradiction, they pointed out that to be
heterosexual was an occupational hazard for a prostitute.
The heterosexual would have more emotional empathy with men,
and thus be more inclined to trust them, whether client or
pimp, in a relationship in which trust was an act but not a
fact. Furthermore, heterosexuals were constantly leaving
the occupation in order to marry, or in order to foster a
stable relationship with a man. Only a Lesbian, in their
opinion, could over the long term successfully cope with
the prostitution career requirements.
These same persons thought of wife swapping as
unethical, immorality that was fostered by aggressive
husbands and tolerated by disillusioned wives. While there
may well be a point here, the personality facet that
becomes again apparent is that generally Lesbians do not
trust, or feel any emotional attachment for, masculine
males.
157 '
This alienation does not apply to the same extent
to the homosexual male. Of him the Lesbian is vaguely
tolerant, presumably perceiving him as a fellow sufferer.
Thus, the Lesbians in this homosexual bar did not find the
environment disturbed their moralistic frame of reference.
Asked why they frequented such a bar, they reported that
the Lesbian bars were quite "loose" inasmuch as cruising,
or a search for partners, took place, and this they did not
approve of as they had their own established partners. In
the bar of interview they were not bothered by the stares
of conventional people or the "hassle" of cruising and,
hence, they looked upon it as a pleasant social club.
Another generalization that can be made about
Lesbians is that they tend to accept, without realizing it,
the negative definitions of themselves established by the
conventional or "straight" world. This is not so unusual
when it is realized that most Lesbians come from families
with rather rigid conventional attitudes toward sex and
thus toward sex deviants. Lesbians, in fits of despondency
sometimes precipitated by alcohol, will on occasion
denounce themselves as "queer" or "sick." Many of them
will reject others who manifest behavior that displays
iLesbianism.
They are hurt deeply by the discrimination they
suffer at the hands of society at large, and there is among
ithem a deep sense of isolation and consequent frustration.
; 158 I
i
; i
A sizeable minority have at some time in their career i
; j
confided their sexual inclination to straight friends, j
j
associates, or counsellors, only to suffer intense !
psychological stress when such persons either condemned
such activity or cut off the association.
Lesbians are, at this time, committed nonconformists
longing, for the most part, to be accepted as conformists.
An impossible social situation exists for them, and thus
their psychological equilibrium is under a disproportionate
amount of threat. It seems probable that with the further
emancipation of women they may be able to accept their
deviation without ego threat, and through organized effort
educate the public, and themselves, to a greater degree of
understanding and tolerance.
The foregoing comments on the unique aspects of the
I
|Lesbian personality seem appropriate despite slight differ-
iences in orientation due to education, social background or
l
j
present social status.
159
The Social Background of the
Female Homosexual
The in-depth discussions with Lesbians conducted
during this study provided constant support for the opin
ions on the homosexual socialization experience expressed
in this work and for the conclusions drawn from the ques
tionnaire data analysis. As an example, not one of the
many Lesbians interviewed could say with sincerity that her
early childhood involved a happy, physically affectionate,
unified family with a liberal attitude toward physical
heterosexual sex, an understanding, kind masculine father,
and a feminine, understanding, devoted mother. This in
itself could place in jeopardy a young female's enthusias
tic adoption of the adult, normative heterosexual role as
it involved establishing a typical family of procreation.
Before any subjective opinions are drawn in relation to
this observation, it must be noted that many heterosexuals
could not respond positively to the same questions.
However, as has been mentioned, the data analysis does show
a very definite difference between homosexual and hetero
sexual females as regards the background in question.
It is not to be inferred from this that Lesbians
are in any manner or means lacking in those qualities
considered to make up a stable, capable, effective person-
i
ality but, rather, that because of their early social
|experience, they have a different orientation to physical,
160
sexual involvement with males from that of heterosexual
females.
It also seems apparent that more Lesbians come from
broken homes than heterosexuals, and that the broken homes
are somewhat different in nature from the usual hetero
sexual individual's broken home. Fathers were lost at
earlier age either by death or desertion, and if a step
father, or other men, replaced the original, then the
association was often unhappy. There were some few reports
of forceful rape by these father substitutes and incidents
of exposure of the male genitalia to the young female under
the most unpleasant, crude circumstances. One Lesbian
reported a father who, when sober, was relatively pleasant,
but when drunk he would violently force the resisting
mother into sexual performance in view of his young
daughter.
Some of the women realized their homosexual orien
tation at a very early age. One individual told of being,
at the age of eleven, physically, sexually involved with
another little girl and the association continued for a
long time. At the age of thirteen, she was reading a
magazine which mentioned girls who loved girls as being
homosexuals. She took the article to a much older sister
and asked for an explanation of homosexuals. The sister
told her what dirty, horrors of people, such "queers" were.
;The respondent kept her silence, but from that time on she
161 j
knew what she was and she continued the homosexual j
I
activity.
Another Lesbian told this interviewer that as early
as she could remember she always dreamed of a rose covered
cottage with her having a pretty wife in it. A great deal
of laughter accompanied this confession but the informant
swore to its truth. In relation to this type of attitude
several questionnaires had to be discarded because the
respondents crossed out certain items and substituted
others indicating their ambition to be a husband and
father. These persons tended to be of definite "butch"
orientation and older than most of the sample. They were,
incidentally, among the most cooperative and pleasant
individuals that this researcher associated with. They
enjoyed the company of a man as long as the interaction
involved outgoing masculine role activity with no
connotation of sexual interest.
Many of the women had been sexually involved at one
time or another with a man or men, sometimes in marriage,
sometimes as an act of convenience, and sometimes in an
attempt to attain heterosexual orientation, but few
reported such relationships as pleasant. They considered
homosexual relationships as much more beautiful and
satisfying. Heterosexual sex they were inclined to think
of as messy, somehow unclean, and always with the danger
of pregnancy. So much for a common opinion among many men
162
, t
that all a Lesbian needs to straighten her out is sexual
|intercourse with a powerful man.
The Lesbian's Sexual Behavior
I
There is diversity in the Lesbian sexual perform
ance, but hardly to the extent conjured up in the writings
of various imaginative individuals motivated, presumably,
by commercial gain. These writings are to be found in a
wide variety of paperback books of no literary merit and in
a few volumes of some literary merit. They are inclined
to depict Lesbians as being involved in a wild variety of
sexual activities and occasional orgies, which reach their
izenith with the frenzied use of various types of Jildoes,
or artificial penises, "both of the single ended variety,
which is attached to a belt or girdle, and the double ended
|version which two Lesbians insert simultaneously in their
n4
[vaginas. This type of diversity is a myth.
Among all of the Lesbians who talked of their
intimate sexual behavior, only one had been involved in a
situation where such an artificial object was used and
3
[ Ruth Allison, Lesbianism. Its Secrets and
i Practices (Los Angeles: Medco Books, 1967), pp. 17-32; and
Walter Braun, Lesbian Love Old and New (London: Luxor
Press, 1966), pp. 68-69.
^R. Leighton Hasselrodt, Twilight Women Around the
World (London: Tower Publications, Inc., 1963), p. 59.
163
even then it was only on an experimental basis. Many
Lesbians had heard of the objects or read of the objects,
and many believed that they did exist but never had seen or
experienced them. On the matter of the sexual orgy type of
behavior, Lesbians are quite conservative in their involve
ment and so the probability is that "orgies" are far more
frequent among heterosexuals than among female homosexuals.
Considering myths, attention can also be paid to
the opinion that Lesbianism is the result of childhood
seduction. No Lesbian ever agreed throughout this study
that she became such through the process of seduction. If
a form of seduction took place, it took place with the
willing, perhaps coy, cooperation of an individual already
well predisposed toward such behavior. An individual who
might be thoroughly confused about her inability to cope
with the heterosexual world and tormented by loneliness,
for whom the seduction would represent a pleasant realiza
tion that she was not alone and that her emotional need to
relate to another person could be realized. Realization of
one's deviant status or "coming out" for a Lesbian is most
often the culmination of a vague, desperate search for
understanding and compatibility. This search often
involves repeated failure to find emotional or physical
satisfaction with a male and strong rebuffs from hetero
sexual females.
164
The actual sexual performance of the female homo- |
I
sexual depends on the degree of inhibition and personal i
!
aesthetics of the individual. It involves intimate physical!
interaction between two people who find each other's
morphology attractive. The major mode of sexual perform
ance is oral and manual stimulation.
The emotional involvement necessary for a satisfac
tory relationship is deeper than that which generally
exists for males, either heterosexual or homosexual. Female
homosexual partners are attracted more to personality
compatibility than to physical appearance. One may observe
homosexual pairs most attached to one another where one,
from the male heterosexual view, will be most attractive
while the other not attractive at all, regardless of the
role performance of butch or femme, if such is present.
Another popular misconception relates to the Lesbian
role performance which tends to characterize all of them as
either butch or fenme. The "butch" plays the masculine
role in the relationship being more aggressive in sexual
performance and, perhaps, dressing with a masculine flair,
while the "fenme" plays the passive role and dresses usually
with feminine sensuality. In fact, only about one individ
ual in four declared that they adhered to these roles enough
to support their being definitely placed in either category.
The large majority cannot be characterized as either,
simply because they do not play these roles consistently,
165
or their sexual-social behavior does not conform to the
necessary defining characteristics.
Those Lesbians who do play a publicly obvious male
role, the extremes of which are referred to as diesel dykes
or bull dykes, are very few indeed in relation to the
larger Lesbian population.
Lesbians as a Deviant Subculture
While it is to be agreed that most major urban
communities, of the western world at least, have what has
been described as a homosexual subculture, that subculture
is for males, and as yet females have not developed such
communities of common interest to anywhere near the same
extent. Secondary deviation, where the primary deviation
takes a secondary position to a role developed out of
societal reaction to the deviant performance, is much in
evidence among male homosexuals but very little in evidence
among female homosexuals.
It is therefore this observer's contention that, as
only a small percentage of Lesbians are presently involved
in secondary deviation, or an established Lesbian role,
the assumption of Lesbianism as having subcultural exist
ence is not justified at this time. Not that such
secondary deviation is not in the offing for female
homosexuals. As a matter of fact, it appears that this
16 ( : ■
, !
will be the manifestation of the future as women emancipate j
! i
themselves further from their traditional, subservient,
conformist role and react against the restrictive norms.
There are very few "one night stands" for Lesbians
such as characterize the male homosexual subculture, and
very little in the nature of "cruising" or related promis-
icuity. No evidence could be found, during this study, of
the counterpart of the young male prostitute who caters to
male homosexuals. There are to be observed a few, young,
attractive girls who, being, it seems, unsure of their
personal sexual orientation, do take advantage of their
attractiveness to obtain, from Lesbians, admiration, enter
tainment, and sometimes shelter, but prostitution in the
sense of indiscriminate, homosexual activity for money
remuneration does not appear to exist.
Lesbians have so little of a specialized vocabulary
I
;that it cannot be considered an argot. There are a few
particular words used, most of which have already been
mentioned in this work, but even many of these have been
borrowed from the male homosexual world; as examples, "gay"
to designate a homosexual person or place; "coming out" to
indicate one's first recognition of oneself as a homosexual.
Persons of lower class background seem more prone to use
even the few specialized terms there are than upper class
or professional women.
167
Most Lesbians are secret deviants hardly daring to
accept their deviation for what it is, homosexuality.
A number of women, for instance, who admitted extensive
homosexual activity to this researcher, which they had
positively enjoyed and who vehemently declared that hetero
sexual experience was not for them, would not classify
themselves as Lesbian, or homosexual, or both. In personal
conversation they would admit to Lesbian orientation but
not declare it on a printed form. The printed form
appeared to carry a symbolic connotation of acceptance of
their deviation, and such could not be considered.
A proportion of the persons who accepted the self defini
tion of Lesbian would not accept that of homosexual, and a
smaller proportion still would accept homosexual but did
not care for Lesbian. However, generally, the most accept
able term is Lesbian.
As has been brought out here, these women are not
only isolated in their deviation from conforming society
but also from each other as regards group association.
This situation is changing; bars and club-bars catering to
Lesbians are becoming more frequent and more obvious,
although still counting among their clientele a tiny
minority of the female homosexual population. A majority
of Lesbians, and particularly those with professional
positions, are reluctant to enter such places, and they
often downgrade the individuals who do.
168 |
Inside the bars, the evening begins on a very low
key basis with few customers in quiet evidence, but as the
evening progresses a convivial social atmosphere develops I
that is only slowed temporarily by the entrance of curious
!
or unknowing "straights." What little exists of the
Lesbian "gay" subculture, this is the major part of it.
If the straight visitor can overcome the first
shock of seeing two women dance with each other who are
obviously mutually attracted, or of observing these
"girls," as they refer to themselves, gazing into one
another's eyes and singing the memorized, romantic lyrics
being pumped out by an extremely loud juke box, then a
feeling of sympathetic understanding develops. Here are
no lustful Amazons reveling in vice and human degradation;
no innocents are being seduced from the path of righteous
ness to become worse than "fallen" women. These are human
beings, more courageous, or with less to lose, than most of
their kind who find in the bar a social group in which they
can be, as they say, "themselves." Here they may laugh
together, play pool, play romantic, maybe dance, flirt,
pass the time of day, partake in small gossip, and even, in
some instances, organize athletic teams for basketball,
baseball and bowling.
Because the outlets for this type of expression are
so few, the clientele develop a loyalty to the places, and
the managements, that is only sometimes found in family
169
relationships. The customers appear to forget the fact
that the management's major motive is profit, and that the
profits from these enterprises can be substantial.
Lesbians who find their scene in these bars will drive
considerable distances to attend regularly.
Observing the reality of the Lesbian world, it is
difficult to comprehend the mentality of the conventional
world that is so condemning of this deviation. Both
heterosexual females and males have expressed in the inter
views of this study not only their repugnance at the
thought of homosexuality but also their fear. It is per
haps understandable that a young female nourished on a
social myth might express fright that a Lesbian might
"attack" her, but there is no justification for certain
adult males to manifest similar fears. These males see,
ior hear of, some "bull dykes" pathetically mimicking the
lower class, aggressive, masculine role, and come then to
the conclusion that Lesbians generally are ready to flay
away at them with razor edged belt buckle, switch blade
knife and jack boots. The absurdity of such misunderstand
ing is beyond question.
On the male homosexual scene, successful organiza
tions have been developed by and for homosexuals, where the
need for social interaction and public enlightenment, as
they see it, is fostered in a cooperative effort. This
Itype of successful development has been slow in coming for
170
Lesbians, but at this time it does have a distinct
possibility. The most effective organization for women in
the Los Angeles area, with great potential, is the Society
of Anubis, which has a membership of male and female homo
sexuals but is not dominated by either. Association of the
two groups somehow makes for a relaxed atmosphere where
they good-naturedly goad one another into cooperative
action. The combination seems to foster better understand
ing of themselves, greater unity of effort on their own
behalf, and the more effective rationalization of societies
sanctions.
Thus, the few bars and the numerically small organ
izations appear to be the extent of a definite Lesbian
subculture. Female homosexuals generally, and those with
professional occupations in particular, depend largely on
chance occurrence and rare house parties to produce friends
i
|and associates of similar sexual orientation. Most often
lonely, isolated and plagued by guilt, the Lesbian exist
ence shows up as yet another aspect of "man's inhumanity to
man." In sympathetic consideration for the subjects of
this study, let the last word of the previous sentence be
amended to woman.
CHAPTER X
CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
The empirical analysis provided substantial insight
into the etiology of female homosexual adult orientation.
In addition, the information derived from the pilot group
interviews with the six Lesbians and the six heterosexuals,
and the unstructured interviews conducted during the
observations of the Lesbian scene, substantiated the
empirical findings. Thus, since the research was organized
as a "strategy of discovery," it would seem that the
endeavor was generally successful.
Reiteration and Summary
Early in this work the available literature and
research findings relating to gender role development were
surveyed, and a theoretical frame of reference was devel
oped. This theoretical approach precipitated the opinion
that the neonate has the physiological potential of pan
sexuality as it moves into the most critical learning phase
of its life. The conditioning events taking place during
this phase leave an indelible imprint on its personality
171
172
|
development, particularly in the line of erotic orienta- j
tion, because of the powerful tension reduction factors j
i
involved. The attitudes developed during this critical j
period establish salient aspects of the adult gender role
performance.
The findings of this study provide a degree of
confirmation for the foregoing inasmuch as they show the
etiology of female homosexuality to be related to a
socialization experience that lacked a meaningful exposure
to the adult heterosexual role learning games, or to
significant others who manifested positive attitudes toward
male-female interaction, especially of an affectionate,
physical nature. It can be conjectured that under such
circumstances a child does not acquire a positive emotional
attitude toward the significant symbols that relate to
heterosexual erotic interaction. Because her cognitive
processes are channelled by early experience, her erotic
cognitive rehearsals exclude the male as a participant, and
she matures to adopt an erotic role performance that
excludes heterosexual sex as a pleasurable activity.
However, as her early need satisfactions took place in
social interaction, she is motivated to continue the human
association and derive from it emotional satisfaction.
This motivation, coupled with her mature physiological need
for erotic tension reduction, moves her desire for intimate
association with other human beings, but not men for her
173
socialization experience alienated her from them and their j
masculine sexuality.
Similarly, it may be speculated that as a result of j
such a process of socialization, she eventually gravitates
toward women as her only acceptable source of psycho-social
tension reduction. If, from this interaction, she derives
the desired emotional or physical satisfaction, she is
motivated to continue the association. Continuation of the
satisfying experience, and acceptance of the reality of her
actions, leads her to perceive her behavior in the perspec
tive of the norms and definitions established by her own
society. Her perception being thus directed, her self-
image becomes that of "Lesbian."
Beginning with the pilot interviews with the homo
sexual six further points can be made to support the fore
going contention: All six expressed varying degrees of
revulsion at the prospect of sexual contact with males,
although the youngest, who engaged in prostitution, could
perform heterosexual acts, but only as a physical exercise
devoid of emotional involvement or pleasurable experience
on her part. Not one of them had experienced a close
affectionate relationship with a father, or father surro
gate, and they had little serious interest in the basic
essentials of baby care and rearing. All of this was in
distinct contrast to the views expressed by the pilot study
i
|heterosexual group. This lends credence to the notion that
174
ithe homosexual women did not experience socialization back
grounds that fostered their heterosexual involvement but j
rather what they did experience precipitates, for them, a !
i
distaste or disinterest for much of the role performance i
I
I
that characterizes an adult heterosexual feminine woman. j
The unstructured interviews and the observations of
the Lesbian scene, acquired while obtaining respondents,
provided further corroboration for this assumption. Moving
into the Lesbian scene of bars and sundry social places,
this masculine researcher was confronted with vague hostil
ity and lack of cooperation. This, incidentally, was in
dramatic contrast to the cooperation offered by the male
homosexuals who were occasionally present. This lack of
Lesbian cooperation was largely overcome when the researcher
adopted, as much as possible, a completely neuter role as a
i
sexless sociologist. This fact pointedly indicates that
the phenomenon of distrust of males is of learned origin.
As role performances are learned, it logically follows that
varying attitudes toward different roles are also learned.
An intuitive point here is appropriate. Consider
ing that Lesbians apparently do not learn critical aspects
of the adult heterosexual performance, and that often their
childhood relationships with their fathers were unpleasant,
then it follows that many of them would have difficulty
performing the normative female role while interacting with
heterosexual adult males, and the men, in turn, would
175
experience discomfort because of the disruption of their ;
normative expectations.
During the unstructured interviews and discussions, I
it became obvious that a significant percentage of the !
i
female homosexuals came from authoritarian backgrounds that j
I
held disapproving attitudes toward heterosexual sex activ- !
ity or related to it in derogatory terms and crude manner.
Generally, their family backgrounds could not be considered
happy, harmonious, tolerant of sex behavior, or character
ized by manifestations of physical affection. Many of the
Lesbians had very negative attitudes in relation to their
father, or father surrogates, and often such distaste was
also expressed toward the mother.
The analysis of the questionnaire data provided a
probable sequence of events in the development of an adult
heterosexual female but what it displayed for homosexuals
was not a sequence of events leading to that self defini
tion but rather a lack of socialization experience in those
behaviors that would foster the development of an adult
heterosexual role.
The problem raised by this appraisal of the data
analysis stimulates the question of why a female becomes
specifically Lesbian, and what is the sequence of events
leading to the adoption of that role rather than why she
does not become heterosexual. The answer to this question
has already been indicated, but here it is presented more
176 ;
comprehensively. !
The data analysis, both objective and subjective,
indicates that Lesbians, as maturing females, are basically
socialized to a value orientation, or set of attitudes,
that disposes them not to desire, and in some instances to
loathe, vital aspects of the adult female heterosexual role
performance. However, having such negative attitudes they
cannot then learn, or adopt, a homosexual role because not
only are learning agencies not available for such a role,
but there is no such thing as a definite, clearly defined
female homosexual role performance in this society. It is
for this reason, as has been pointed out before, that homo
sexuals generally have no personality or performance
characteristic in common other than a preference for
emotional and erotic interaction with other women rather
than men. This is not to declare that there is no sequence
of events leading to the adoption of Lesbian identity, but
rather that such sequence is extremely minor, even if
traumatic, in relationship to the sequence of events lead
ing to the adoption of heterosexual identity.
The interaction performance of adult heterosexual
females and males as they display their sex-role playing
capability is the product of a learning process that began
in their infancy and continues into adulthood. Such acting
performance is an extremely complex, dynamic expression of
a role established through long tradition. In comparison,
the maturing female with an aversion for heterosexual
interaction who turns to homosexuality has little of a role
to adopt. The Lesbian social erotic performance, what
little there is of it, consists of a conglomeration of
fragments culled from the roles of heterosexual females
and males with occasional unique individual combination
creations. The conjecture is thus that some females turn
to homosexual interaction because in the light of their
socialization experience, it is the only source of
emotional, erotic satisfaction palatable to them. In the
same manner, many females turn to heterosexual interaction
rather than other forms of erotic behavior, because in the
light of their social experience it is the only source of
emotional, sexual satisfaction acceptable to them.
Here a digression of interest is the observation
that probably, in the recent history of western society, a
woman who was alienated from heterosexual interaction by
the processes mentioned became "celibate" or a "maiden
aunt" or a woman defined by her husband as frigid.
Nowadays, with the greater degree of female autonomy avail
able, it has become possible for a woman with an aversion
for sexual or emotional contact with men to associate with
like-minded women, and hence Lesbians become more numerous
and observable.
In summary, these findings suggest that the develop
ment of adult Lesbian sexual identity is highly correlated
178
with a socialization experience in which the parents, or
parent surrogates, do not encourage the child's positive
participation in role learning games that have connotations j
|
of adult female heterosexual role performance, such as
playing grown-up feminine lady, having a baby of their own,
mother with dolls or house with husband and children. The 1
mother is unhappy in her role as wife and mother, and both
of the parents, while being influential with their daughter, 1
I
are not affectionate and understanding in their interaction
with her, and they both strongly disapprove of the subject
of sex.
Suggestions for Future Research
This research provides definite evidence on the
matter of why some females do not become heterosexuals.
Therefore the first suggestion is that future sociological
|research should explore in depth the process by which such
females do, or perhaps do not, actually adopt the adult
homosexual role. In other words, the whole socialization
process should be systematically considered.
There is the possibility that a predisposed woman
might merely drift into homosexual involvement, but
considering the social hazards and the secret nature of the
deviation, this seems unlikely. Logically, it appears
valid to assume that in the beginning of Lesbian contact
there must be a great deal of testing, or sounding out, of
179
I
the permissible degree of interaction. Knowledge of how,
and under what definitions of the situation, these contacts
take place would much enhance understanding of the phenome
non. Another important question concerns whether the
homosexual group fosters the perception of homosexual
erotic activity as pleasurable, and how much of a part this
plays in promoting the actual physical contact.
Because of the backstage nature of much Lesbian
activity, the information will not be easy to obtain, but a
beginning could be made by a skillful interviewer estab
lishing rapport and conducting open-ended, free-wheeling
discussions of the topics of interest. The material
obtained from respondents during sessions of this type
could provide a base for eventual creation of an objective
questionnaire specifically designed to research this area.
The experience gained from this study indicates
that future studies of homosexuals are best undertaken by
members of the same sex as the subjects. Understandably, a
same sex researcher gains more cooperation from homosexuals.
This raises problems, of course, for if a woman announces
that she is intent on studying female homosexuality, the
reaction of the ostensibly conforming public and some of
her associates will be to label her as deviant and subject
her to the subtle, and not so subtle, forms of social
pressure that such deviation evokes. To use a very subjec
tive term, courage will be required to put this suggestion
180 ,
into effect, but the cooperation so gained will justify the |
abuse, if any. Naturally, the researcher will require all
the necessary sociological background, plus objectivity,
plus understanding, plus patience.
|
As to the approach to be taken, the obvious proposal
is that the theoretical assumptions here expressed be
utilized as a base for developing hypotheses, and that these
hypotheses be channelled along the analyzed areas, possibly
in a form of replication. Attention should be focused on
the early exposure to sex-linked, role playing experience
and the attitudes of parents, or parent surrogates, toward
physical sex behavior, and related feelings such as their
attitudes toward each other and between themselves and the
child. The individual's early perception of themselves
could also be considered as to whether they were judged
"pretty" or "unattractive" and this be related to Cooley's
"looking glass self" concept and subsequent frame of self
reference. A girl defining herself as attractive might be
less susceptible to parental attitudes and more influenced
by her peer group.
A question ought to be asked about seduction causing
homosexuality, if only to explode that dangerous myth with
some objective data. An interesting aspect very much worth
exploring concerns the actual role performance of the
Lesbian's mother. If she did not expose her daughter to
heterosexual role learning, what did she expose her to?
181 i
Likewise the father, and the question of what was the
i
nature of his role performance. Many Lesbians in casual
discussion mentioned broken homes and unpleasant father
surrogates. Unfortunately, the research questionnaire did
not explore this factor, but future study might be well
advised to. This area could be approached as an inquiry
into the nature of the performances that the daughter did
learn.
In the creation of any future questionnaire, it is
advisable to incorporate the suggestions made by the pilot
group of this study which were incorporated into the
instrument used by this research. Thus the questions
should not be too numerous, not too personal, clear and
couched in common language.
The language format of the questions is most impor
tant as, apart from all other cotnnunication difficulties,
j
; homosexuals and heterosexuals appear to attach slightly
different definitions to the same words. For example,
presumably because of a difference in background, a mother
; approving of the subject of sex means to many heterosexuals
that the mother not only freely discusses the subject but
encourages her daughter to dress in feminine "sexy" clothes,
encourages her interaction with boys, and condones intimate
contact like kissing. On the other hand, many Lesbians
define a mother who approves of sex as one who does not
overtly downgrade the behavior, even though she discourages
182
her daughter from dressing "sexy" and condemns the girl's j
interaction with boys. j
I
Another example of this semantic problem involved j
the questionnaire item that asked if the respondent's
mother was affectionate and understanding. Several homo
sexuals, in the company of others who agreed, declared
emphatically that their mothers might be described as
affectionate, but they were certainly not understanding.
The consensus was that the mothers lacked understanding
from the young daughter's point of view, and that somehow
mother and daughter could never communicate. Thus, this
question was really a poor item. Future research inter
ested in such factors should separate items such as
"affection" and "understanding." To cope with such
semantic confusion it is most helpful to test questions on
pilot groups and get their reactions before incorporating
them into the questionnaire.
In order to strengthen the validity of the statis
tical analysis, clear and distinct dichotomies should be
provided in the answering categories. Such a provision,
even if difficult to attain with the use of common language,
also makes it easier for respondents to answer. In the
process of having respondents complete the form, it is
advisable, if possible, for the administrator to be
present. Being present, the administrator is able to answer
jqueries on the spot and collect the forms immediately after
183 ;
completion. This action very much reduces the rate of j
spoiled and non-returned questionnaires. !
If any future study is conducted in the Los Angeles
area, the assistance of W. Dorr Legg of One, Incorporated,
is most valuable if male homosexuals are the subjects. If
Lesbians are the subjects, the Society of Anubis, Incor
porated, of Azusa can be most cooperative. The Society of
Anubis is a homophile organization with male and female
membership.
As a closing item it is to be mentioned that serious
effort has been made throughout this work to respect
promises and preserve anonymity. No names other than those
of organizations or leaders of organizations have been
mentioned. Place locations have been omitted, and in some
instances case histories have been altered to frustrate
recognition.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I
I
184
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APPENDIX
I
i
! 191
QUESTIONNAIRE
This research involves a study of the childhood
experience of individuals and how such effects their
subsequent sexual attitudes. The approach is an objective
attempt to understand certain patterns of behavior and thus
promote social well-being generally. Your honest and
sincere response is essential to the success of the
project.
Please respond to this questionnaire by encircling
the answer that comes closest to being correct from your
personal point of view. The questionnaire is designed to
be completely anonymous and no identification of yourself
is necessary whatsoever. The questions do not deal with
intimate details of personal behavior, and therefore it is
requested that you answer all of them. However, if you
find an item offensive, then by all means omit that ques
tion.
1. As a young girl did you look forward to marrying and
having a husband and family?
a. Never b. Rarely c. Often d. Very often
2. When you were a child to what extent was your mother
affectionate and understanding toward you?
a. Very much b. Some c. A little d. Not at all
3. As a child were you ever affectionately attached to a
female other than your mother?
a. Never b. A little c. Some d. Very much
4. When you were a child to what extent was your father
harsh and unsympathetic towards you?
a. Very much b. Some b. A little d. Not at all
5. As a child was your association with your father
a. Very close f. Fairly close
c. Close on occasions d. Not close at all
6. When you were a child to what extent was your mother
harsh and unsympathetic towards you?
a. Very much b. Some c. A little d. Not at all
192
193
7. Was your father's influence in your young life
a. Very strong b. Strong c. Mild d. Very mild
8. As a child was your association with your mother
a. Very close b. Fairly close
c. Close on occasions d. Not close at all
9. When you were a child to what extent was your father
affectionate and understanding toward you?
a. Very much b. Some c. A little d. Not at all
10. From your childhood experience could you say that your
mother liked masculine men?
a. Not at all b. Very little c. Moderately
d. Very much
11. As a child did it seem to you that your mother was
happy in her role as wife and mother?
a. Not at all b. A little c. Moderately
d. Very much
12. As a child were you ever affectionately attached to a
male other than your father?
a. Never b. A little c. Some d. Very much
13. As a child did you play "house" with yourself as
"mother," and there being a "father and children"?
a. Not at all b. Rarely c. Some d. Very much
14. Was your mother's influence in your young life
a. Very strong b. Strong c. Mild d. Very mild
15. As a child did you play "mother" with dolls?
a. Often b. Sometimes c. Rarely d. Never
16. As a child did you play at having a baby of your own?
a. Never b. Rarely c. Sometimes d. Often
17. Would you say that your mother disapproved of the
subject of sex?
a. Very much b. Some c. A little d. Not at all
18. Would you say that your father disapproved of the
subject of sex?
a. Very much b. Some c. A little d. Not at all
19. As a child did you play at being a feminine "grown-up
lady"?
a. Never b. Rarely c. Sometimes d. Often
20.
21.
22 .
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
194 !
With the realization that you were menstruating and
could therefore have a child, did you feel
a. Very pleased b. Mildly pleased c. Indifferent
d. Bothered
When you first understood what the sex act between a
male and a female involved, did it seem
a. Dirty b. Strange c. Interesting d. Pleasant
As a young person did the thought of the genital area
of the opposite sex
a. Repulse you b. Not interest you
c. Interest you d. Stimulate you
Your reaction to your first physical sexual experi
ence with a male:
a. Unpleasant b. A neutral feeling c. Pleasant
d. No such experience
At what age did you realize that your main sexual
interest was in males?
a. 0-12 years b. 13-17 years c. 18-on
d. Males are not your main sexual interest
Your reaction to your first physical sexual experi
ence with a female was:
a. Unpleasant b. A neutral feeling c. Pleasant
d. No such experience
At what age did you realize that your main sexual
interest was in females?
a. 0-12 years b. 13-17 years c. 18-on
d. Females are not your main sexual interest
Is your sexual preference for
a. Women or a woman b. Men or a man c. Both
d. Unsure
As you recall was your father masculine?
a. Not at all b. Moderately c. Very much
c. Do not know
How many of your intimate friends are women with
homosexual interests?
a. All of them b. Most of them c. Some of them
d. None of them
30. Do you consider yourself
a. Lesbian b. Homosexual c. Both of the previous
two d. Neither of the first two
195
31. Your date of birth____________________
32. Your father's occupation______________
Thank you for your cooperation.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Poole, Kenneth Alfred (author)

Core Title A Sociological Approach To The Etiology Of Female Homosexuality And The Lesbian Social Scene

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Sociology

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,sociology, individual and family studies

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Empey, Lamar T. (committee chair), Harvey, Herman M. (committee member), Labovitz, Sanford I. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-429548

Unique identifier UC11361226

Identifier 7025057.pdf (filename),usctheses-c18-429548 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 7025057.pdf

Dmrecord 429548

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Poole, Kenneth Alfred

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA