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"Similarly, I have trouble believing the notion that gay boys are not automatically attracted to men; I think it is simply culturally suppressed." Tommy Edmund was writing about all boys and not just about gay boys. Bruce Rind wrote about the sexual attractions of gay boys: “A notable feature of research into the gay male experience has been the documentation of the development of same-sex sexual attractions and desires (e.g., Savin-Williams, 1997, 2006). As discussed previously, these emerge on average at age 10. Importantly, such attractions and desires are frequently directed at significantly older youths or adults, rather than just peers (e.g., McClintock&Herdt, 1996; Savin-Williams, 1997). For example, Trachtenberg (2005) compiled anecdotes of first same-sex attractions in a sample of gay men, who had achieved celebrity status in their profession. From the 20 cases providing enough information, 18 were directed at adult men. Among these 18 cases, in the 15 where their ages could be determined, the mean age of onset of the age-gap attractions was 9.73 years (SD=2.81). In his study of 129 gay and bisexual young men, Savin-Williams (1997) noted how frequently initial attractions were directed at significantly older males rather than peers. Spada (1979) found that 35% of his participants developed homoerotic desires and crushes before age 10, with an additional 41% by age 14. In the 18 illustrative examples he provided, these initial attractions were directed at older youths and men, as opposed to peers, by a margin of 4:1. In Jay and Young’s (1977) 33 illustrative examples, 61% of initial erotic attractions were directed at men or much older youths, while only 27% were directed at peer-aged boys. In The National Lesbian and Gay Survey (1993), 17 (68%) of 25 illustrations of early boyhood crushes and homoerotic desires were directed at men.” (Rind, Bruce (2013): Homosexual Orientation – From Nature, Not Abuse: A Critique of Roberts, Glymour, and Koenen (2013). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 42 (8) 1653-1664.) |