Biased Use of Cross-Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Male Homosexuality in Human Sexuality Textbooks

Journal of Sex Research,  Nov, 1998  by Bruce Rind

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Interjudge Reliability

Percent agreement was computed for 5 of the codings: typology, description, labeling, appropriateness, and drawing distinctions. Across the 18 textbooks, judges assigned values to 119 examples of specific or related societies. For these examples, mean interjudge percent agreements were 87% or higher for typology, description, and labeling, while interjudge reliability alphas were .95 or higher. Disagreements for these codings were resolved by discussion. For appropriateness, mean interjudge percent agreement was 85%, while interjudge reliability alpha was .97. For this coding, differences were retained: The appropriateness value of an example became the average value of the four codings. Agreement was 100% for drawing distinctions.

RESULTS

Drawing Distinctions

All 18 textbooks drew moral and conceptual distinctions between man-man sex and man-boy sex in our society. The former, labeled homosexuality, was presented as normal and acceptable. The latter, labeled pedophilia, was presented as pathological and harmful and was discussed along with other topics such as rape, incest, and man-girl sex. These pervasive distinctions indicate that using man-boy examples from other times and places to provide perspective on man-man sex in our society constitutes bias.

Typology

Societies were classified according to their predominant type of homosexuality. Table 2 lists the 10 most frequently cited societies or groups of related societies that sanctioned male homosexuality along with their typology. Ancient Greece and Sambia were the most often used, occurring in 94.4% and 66.7% of the textbooks respectively. Nine of these 10 societies are most noted for their sanctioned transgenerational homosexuality, whereas only one is most noted for its transgenderal homosexuality--none is most noted for egalitarian homosexuality between adults. As is shown in the table, transgenerational examples were used almost exclusively in chapters discussing homosexuality or other nonpedophilic topics, despite the fact that the sexual behavior practiced in these societies would be defined as pedophilia if it occurred in our society. Altogether, chapters on homosexuality included 21 separate societies, of which 81% were transgenerational and 19% were transgenderal. Other chapters, such as the introductory chapter, contained 19 separate societies, of which 68% were transgenerational, 16% were transgenderal, and 16% were egalitarian. The egalitarian examples were of the boy-boy type. In one textbook (Carroll & Wolpe, 1996) all 9 societies mentioned in its chapter on pedophilia were transgenerational.

Table 2. Frequency of Use of Cross-Cultural and Historical Examples of Societies with Sanctioned Male Homosexuality in a Sample of 18 Human Sexuality Textbooks

                                   Frequency of Mention By:

                                  Textbook      Chapter-Type(b)

Society                Type(a)    N      %      Homo   Other   Pedo

Ancient Greece           Mb      17     94.4      9      12      1
Sambia                   Mb      12     66.7      9       5      1
Ancient Rome             Mb       8     44.4      4       5      0
Melanesia/New Guinea     Mb       8     44.4      7       1      0
Berdaches                MM       7     38.9      5       2      0
East Bay                 Mb       7     38.9      3       4      0
Siwans                   Mb       7     38.9      5       2      0
High Middle Ages         Mb       5     27.8      4       2      0
Keraki                   Mb       3     16.7      2       1      0
Imperial China           Mb       2     11.1      1       2      1