The next post is going to be part three in this theory and will look at Cass’ stage model of homosexual identity formation. In conclusion I feel like the theory is interesting and applies to some people however it can’t explain everyone. In addition, it doesn’t explain why some people are attracted to multiple genders as you can’t typically have multiple temperaments. This reductionist view doesn’t fit with how the world works as many gay men like male-typical activities and many straight men like female-typical activities and the same applies for women. Also, I feel like labelling activities as male or female can be harmful as it not only forces people to try to fit into these neat predefined gender roles but also ostracizes people who don’t fit into these boxes. However, it is quite reductionist in the way that it says all gay people are the same and all straight people are the same. This theory works quite well with biological theories, such as womb conditions which may lead to the development of an individual’s temperament which Bem believes predisposes sexuality. They then view members of the same sex as exotic and then erotic. Bem believed that people are gay when they have temperaments that predispose them to enjoy sex-atypical activities. As you enter adolescence, you view the sex you didn’t play with as exotic and this leads to attraction. The child then feels different from the peers that they don’t play with and so they spend a decreased amount of time with them. The temperament leads the child to choose activities that are sex-typical or sex-atypical and with this comes peers that are the same-sex or opposite sex. Bem categorised these activities as male typical or female typical. This is quite a short theory so this post is going to be quite short but the next ones a long one.īem believed that when a child is very young, their temperament predisposes them to which activities they will prefer.
This theory suggests that the temperament a child has when they are born leads them to developing their sexual orientation. This will talk about Bem’s developmental theory of sexual orientation.
This post is part two in the Why Am I Gay series.