Motivated Behavior and Neuromodels of Sexual Orientation

• In Event: Challenging Indelible Categories via Feminist Science Studies

Abstract

The search for neural correlates of sexual orientation has historically been predicated on the assumptions that the categories of sex/gender and sexual orientation/preference are innate and immutable, and that same-sex orientation is caused by the presence in the brain of physical characteristics of the “incorrect” sex. Newer models of motivated behavior offer the possibility of reframing brain sexuality studies, exploring how a state of “orientation” toward a changing goal is responsive to history and environment and is transient in time. I present a critical reading of the design and interpretation of studies of sexual orientation and brain structure/function.

Presenter

• Shelby Dietz, Cornell University