Male Homosexual Preference: Where, When, Why?

PLOS One • Published In • Pages: 1-15 •
By Barthes, Julien, Crochet, Pierre-Andre , Raymond, Michel

Abstract

Authors investigate the prevalence of male homosexual preference (MHP) cross-culturally. They employ four models to test the link between level of social stratification and the probability of observing male homosexual preference (MHP). Authors believe that this link supports the hypergyny hypothesis, which proposes that increased social stratification allows for some sort of factor that improves functional female fertility, perhaps through marriage to men of higher social classes. This would thereby allow more access to resources and consequently the ability to support a greater number of more reproductively-successful offspring. Authors do not make a causal link, however; rather, social stratification may be associated with a yet-undetermined pleiotropic factor that is somehow positive despite its cost on functional male fertility.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
eHRAF World CulturesResearchers Ownrated male homosexual preference
Ethnographic Atlas (EA)Other Researchers
World Language Tree from Automated Similarity Judgment Program database Other ResearchersVersion 15

Hypotheses (4)

HypothesisSupported
Higher levels of social stratification will increase the probability of observing male homosexual preference in the eHRAF sample even when controlling for linguistic-cultural relationships (i.e. accounting for Galton's problem using linguistic data).Supported
Higher levels of social stratification will increase the probability of observing male homosexual preference in the Ethnographic Atlas database even when controlling for linguistic-cultural relationships (i.e. accounting for Galton's problem using linguistic data).Supported
Higher levels of social stratification will increase the probability of observing male homosexual preference in the Ethnographic Atlas sample even when accounting for geographic-cultural phylogeny (i.e. controlling for Galton's problem using geographic data).Supported
Level of social stratification will be associated with male homosexual preference (MHP) in data from the Ethnographic Atlas even when geographic zone is controlled for.Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: Christina Carolus  erik.ringen