Evidence that perinatal ovarian hormones promote women's sexual attraction to men

Ovarian estrogens may influence the development of the human brain and behavior, but there are few opportunities to test this possibility. Isolated GnRH deficiency (IGD) is a rare endocrine disorder that could provide evidence for the role of estrogens in organizing sexually differentiated phenotypes: Unlike typical development, development in individuals with IGD is characterized by low or absent gonadal hormone production after the first trimester of gestation. Because external genitalia develop in the first trimester, external appearance is nevertheless concordant with gonadal sex in people with IGD. We therefore investigated the effects of gonadal hormones on sexual orientation by comparing participants with IGD (n = 97) to controls (n = 1670). Women with IGD reported lower male-attraction compared with typically developing women. In contrast, no consistent sexuality differences between IGD and typically developing men were evident. Ovarian hormones after the first trimester appear to influence female-typical dimensions of sexual orientation.

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Work Title Evidence that perinatal ovarian hormones promote women's sexual attraction to men
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Open Access
Creators
  1. Talia N. Shirazi
  2. Heather Self
  3. Khytam Dawood
  4. Lisa L.M. Welling
  5. Rodrigo Cárdenas
  6. Kevin A. Rosenfield
  7. J. Michael Bailey
  8. Ravikumar Balasubramanian
  9. Angela Delaney
  10. S. Marc Breedlove
  11. David A. Puts
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Psychoneuroendocrinology
Publication Date December 1, 2021
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105431
Deposited November 16, 2021

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Version 1
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  • Created
  • Added Shirazi_et_al_2021_PNE_accepted.pdf
  • Added Creator Talia N. Shirazi
  • Added Creator Heather Self
  • Added Creator Khytam Dawood
  • Added Creator Lisa L.M. Welling
  • Added Creator Rodrigo Cárdenas
  • Added Creator Kevin A. Rosenfield
  • Added Creator J. Michael Bailey
  • Added Creator Ravikumar Balasubramanian
  • Added Creator Angela Delaney
  • Added Creator S. Marc Breedlove
  • Added Creator David A. Puts
  • Published
  • Updated
  • Updated
  • Updated