The Relevance of 'Female Sexual Orientation Groups' to FTM Brain Studies

 



In his research on female nonheterosexuality, Scott Semenyna describes how "Four female sexual orientation groups are parsimonious and theoretically meaningful":
  1. Androphilic (Heterosexual)
  2. Mostly-Androphilic (Mostly-Heterosexual)
  3. Ambiphilic (Bisexual)
  4. Gynephilic (Homosexual/Lesbian)
Kinsey scores are used to sort the groups, where Kinsey=0 corresponds with androphilic, Kinsey=2 corresponds with mostly-androphilic, Kinsey=3,4 corresponds with ambiphilic, and Kinsey=5,6 corresponds with gynephilic. However, here is some variation with how Kinsey=1 is sorted. Sometimes, they are grouped under mostly-androphilic; as shown above, there are other cases where they are split between androphilic and mostly-androphilic. 

Semenyna (2022) emphasizes the importance of sorting subjects correctly into the four groups: "In Italy, both bisexual and lesbian women report having fewer children than heterosexual women, although the larger extended families of lesbian women may offset this direct cost via elevated inclusive fitness (Camperio Ciani et al., 2018). However, the heterosexual group in this study included many mostly androphilic (i.e., Kinsey 1) women, and participants designated as “lesbians” included numerous women who would presently be categorized as “ambiphilic” (i.e., Kinsey 4). Thus, with respect to this Italian sample, there is uncertainty regarding the direct and inclusive fitness of the four sexual orientation categories we presently advocate." 

This is relevant to the field of FTM brain research, which has not consistently found evidence of masculinized brain structures in 'Homosexual FTMs'. Researchers may have repeated the mistake of Camperio Ciani et al. (2018) by categorizing Kinsey=4 as 'Homosexual' instead of 'Bisexual'. Consistent with Semenyna's comments, Manzouri & Savic found some evidence of brain masculinization when 'Homosexual FTMs' were restricted to the Kinsey=5,6 group.

Future research on FTM brains should sort subjects accurately by the four Female Sexual Orientation groups.

Related Blog Posts


References

Semenyna, S. W., Vasey, P. L., & Honey, P. L. (2022). The female sexual orientation spectrum in evolutionary perspective. The Cambridge handbook of evolutionary perspectives on sexual psychology, 3-27.

A. Manzouri, K. Kosidou, I. Savic, Anatomical and Functional Findings in Female-to-Male Transsexuals: Testing a New Hypothesis, Cerebral Cortex, Volume 27, Issue 2, February 2017, Pages 998–1010, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhv278

A Manzouri, I Savic, Possible Neurobiological Underpinnings of Homosexuality and Gender Dysphoria, Cerebral Cortex, Volume 29, Issue 5, May 2019, Pages 2084–2101, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhy090

Camperio Ciani, A., Battaglia, U., Cesare, L., Camperio Ciani, G., & Capiluppi, C. (2018). Possible balancing selection in human female homosexuality. Human Nature, 29(1), 14-32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-017-9309-8

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