The Sexual Brain
 | |
| Author | Simon LeVay |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Biology |
| Published | 1993 (MIT Press) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 168 |
| ISBN | 0-262-12178-6 |
The Sexual Brain is a 1993 book by Simon LeVay, about brain mechanisms involved in sexual behavior and feelings.[1]
Summary
LeVay discusses scientific research on sexual orientation.[2] He describes the functions of the hypothalamus, which plays a key role in, "sex, diet, cardiovascular performance, control of body temperature, stress, emotional response" and growth.[3] He claims, on the basis of post-mortem studies of gay men who died of AIDS, to have located a region of the brain that differs in gay and straight men.[4] LeVay notes that his INAH 3 study was his only publication on sex to that date, and that most of his previous research had been on the visual areas of the cerebral cortex.[5] LeVay compares homosexuality to the disease sickle cell anemia.[6]
Discussing sexual intercourse, LeVay describes the reflexes that constitute the act of coitus in humans, and notes that orgasm triggers the massive release of an opiate-like hormone, oxytocin, from the pituitary gland.[7]
Reception
Biologist Steven Rose criticized the publicity surrounding The Sexual Brain, arguing that LeVay over-stated the importance of his findings.[4] Vernon Rosario criticized LeVay's conclusions as showing, "biological-determinist as well as reductionist inclinations".[8]
Philosopher Edward Stein, writing in his The Mismeasure of Desire (1999), criticized LeVay for his failure to discuss social constructionism, even though it was relevant to the subject of his book.[2] Louis A. Berman writes that LeVay erroneously minimizes the role of experience in becoming an effective male partner in heterosexual intercourse.[9]
References
Bibliography
- Books
- Berman, Louis A. (2003). The Puzzle: Exploring the Evolutionary Puzzle of Male Homosexuality. Wilmette, Illinois: Godot Press. ISBN 0-9723013-1-3.
- LeVay, Simon (1993). The Sexual Brain. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-12178-6.
- Rosario, Vernon A. (1997). Rosario, Vernon A., ed. Science and Homosexualities. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-91502-3.
- Rose, Steven (1997). Lifelines: Biology, Freedom, Determinism. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-713-99157-7.
- Stein, Edward (1999). The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514244-6.