Michael R. Kauth and Seth C. Kalichman

It is difficult to imagine any other culture that has been as consumed by sexuality
as modern Western society during the past century. Rather than a general interest
in sexuality, the West has demonstrated an obsession with homosexuality and
once-taboo practices such as masturbation and oral sex. Despite claims of sci-
entific objectivism, most theories of sexual attraction are stereotypes about
homosexual development cloaked in scientific jargon. Kuhn ( 1970) charged that
scientific theories reflect the socially accepted assumptions of their day and
therefore are bound by their sociological and historical context. When theoretic
anomalies become numerous, a scientific revolution occurs. Current thought
about sexual orientation is on the threshold of such a revolution as it struggles
to incorporate data from DNA studies, family prevalence studies, and cross-
cultural and transhistorical observations. This chapter shifts away from single-
factor theories toward a more comprehensive interactive model of sexual
orientation.

Many ancient writers mused on the nature of attraction to one gender or the
other, or to both, without interference of social stigma or assignment of sexual
identity ( Boswell 1980, 1994). Although sexual orientation is a loaded Western
concept, the term is still a useful one, if we avoid imposing Western thoughts
and meanings associated with our language on non-Western, noncontemporary
cultures.

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