Introduction to the Special Section “The Puzzle of Sexual Orientation: What Is It and How Does It Work?”
Paul L. Vasey
0
Martin L. Lalumie`re
0
0
P. L. Vasey (&) M. L. Lalumie`re Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge
, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4,
Canada
-
In 1995, with the financial support of the Eugene Garfield
Foundation, Lee Ellis organized the first International Behavioral
Development Symposium on the Biological Basis of Sexual
Orientation, Gender Identity, and Sex-Typical Behavior in Minot,
North Dakota. Word quickly spread that theMinot Meetingwas
the meeting to attend among sex researchers who conduct studies
informed by biology. So successful was this first meeting that Lee
went on to expand upon and host another one in 2000 and yet
another in 2005. The participants were a whos who of many of the
worlds most innovative and respected sex researchers, as well as
a younger contingent of up-and-comers. Many of the latter are
now established, respected, and innovative sex researchers
themselves. The presentations at these meetings were widely touted for
their excellent content and polished execution. Invitations were
highly coveted. Many participants felt that Minots relative
isolation provided a key ingredient for success. In the absence of any
big-city distractions, participants interacted intensively outside of
the lecture hall, debating and discussing ideas over meals and even
in their pajamas before bedtime in the university dorms that served
as housing.
In 2005, anticipating his retirement, Lee Ellis asked Sergio
Pellis and Paul Vasey from the University of Lethbridge to
consider taking over the running of the meeting. Lethbridgea
small, relatively isolated city on the southern Alberta prairies
seemed like Minots Canadian doppelganger. The location,
coupled with the support for sex research at the University of
Lethbridge, made it the ideal location for subsequent meetings. Lee
confided that Having organized the first three conferences, my
feelings are a little like a parent giving up a child for adoption, but
I know that the Lethbridge meeting is in good hands.And so the
torch was passed to the Lethbians. Early in 2009, Paul Vasey and
Martin Lalumie`re, in consultation with Sergio Pellis, began
outlining their vision for a new generation of Lethbridge meetings.
First and foremost, we decided to keep the meeting small and
concentrated on a particular research topic. Participants would
address this topic from the standpoint of their particular research
program. We thought that by implementing a small workshop
model with roundtable discussions we could maximize the
productive exchange of ideas. We also felt it was very important to
incorporate undergraduate and graduate student participation in
the workshop to nurture the next generation of sex researchers.
In the process of choosing a unifying topic for the workshop, we
came to realize through informal discussions that many of our
colleagues were rethinking what was meant by sexual
orientation and, in doing so, stretching this concept far beyond its
original meaning. Like us, many of our colleagues were
pondering how to characterize the sexual orientation of individuals
whose peak sexual arousal and satisfaction results from unusual
objects, activities, or locations. We believed that this nascent
re-conceptualizing of sexual orientation held great theoretical
promise and the potential to prompt all of us to rethink and
possibly even reconfigure our research programs. In addition, we
thought that this would be a great opportunity to gather together
researchers who study gender preferences as well as those who
study the paraphilias. As such, we settled upon The Puzzle of
Sexual Orientation: What Is It and How Does It Work? as the
theme for our 3-day workshop.
Over the course of the workshop, we aimed to more
accurately identify whatsexual orientationencompasses, so that
we could then characterize the component parts of this
phenomenon in an accurate and authentic fashion. In addition, a
secondary, but ultimately related question that we addressed is
How Does Sexual Orientation Work?As such, we examined
how various proximate factors such as genes, hormones,
neurobiology, learning, socialization, and culture influence sexual
orientation. We also explored whether atypical sexual interests
are disordered, non-pathological, or even adaptive. These
questions were examined in light of various definitions of sexual
orientation.
Reflecting back on the previous conferences, Lee Ellis
recalled When I first organized the International Behavioral
Development Symposium back in 1995, I had no idea it would
continue beyond that date. Back then, I also rather naively
thought that once the best and brightest researchers studying
sexual orientation had gotten together, they would be able to
unravel the main causes of variations in sexual orientation
rather quickly, certainly within my lifetime. As things have
turned out, progress in understanding sexual orientation is
certainly being made, but more slowly than expected.
Fortunately, the Symposium has morp (...truncated)