Is Homosexuality more Prevalent in Agropastoral than in Hunting and Gathering Societies? Evidence
from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample
Menelaos Apostolou, 2016
The weak selection pressures hypothesis, argues that same-sex attraction has been the result of weak selection pressures during the period of human evolution. Such pressures were predominantly the consequence of arranged marriage in which individuals, irrespectively of their attractions, are mated to opposite-sex partners. Arranged marriage is more common in societies which base their subsistence on agriculture and animal husbandry than in societies which base their subsistence on hunting and gathering. Accordingly, it is predicted that homosexuality would be more prevalent in the former than in the latter societies. Using anthropological evidence from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, the present study finds support for this hypothesis.
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What Accounts for Cross-Cultural Variation in the Expression of Homosexuality?
Rebecca Kyle, 2009
[H]omosexuality is increasingly likely to be present as population pressure increases... That none of the exclusively hunter-gatherer societies had any significant manifestations of homosexuality is particularly noteworthy, especially considering that over half of high population pressure societies have significant expressions of homosexuality in their culture... The data registers a Spearman Correlation of .276, which is a moderately positive correlation significant at p=.011.
Then it would be extremely interesting to know whether homosexuality increases when former hunter-gatherer societies get integrated into modern society. Do they become as homosexual as the majority population or do they persist in their heterosexuality?
If we knew that, we could get a clue about whether the lack of male homosexuality among foragers is due to genetic factors or just the small scale of foraging societies: If only a few percent of males are hardcore homosexuals, they will have problems finding suitable partners if there are only a few tens of adult males in every group. So it would be interesting to know how men with forager genes react when they are confronted with a much bigger dating market.
I searched for a study about the prevalence of male homosexuality among Australian Aborigines, but didn't find any easily. Such a study wouldn't be perfect either, since self-identified Aborigines have many European genes, but it could still be interesting.
Is Homosexuality more Prevalent in Agropastoral than in Hunting and Gathering Societies? Evidence
from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample
Menelaos Apostolou, 2016
The weak selection pressures hypothesis, argues that same-sex attraction has been the result of weak selection pressures during the period of human evolution. Such pressures were predominantly the consequence of arranged marriage in which individuals, irrespectively of their attractions, are mated to opposite-sex partners. Arranged marriage is more common in societies which base their subsistence on agriculture and animal husbandry than in societies which base their subsistence on hunting and gathering. Accordingly, it is predicted that homosexuality would be more prevalent in the former than in the latter societies. Using anthropological evidence from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, the present study finds support for this hypothesis.
________________
What Accounts for Cross-Cultural Variation in the Expression of Homosexuality?
Rebecca Kyle, 2009
[H]omosexuality is increasingly likely to be present as population pressure increases... That none of the exclusively hunter-gatherer societies had any significant manifestations of homosexuality is particularly noteworthy, especially considering that over half of high population pressure societies have significant expressions of homosexuality in their culture... The data registers a Spearman Correlation of .276, which is a moderately positive correlation significant at p=.011.
Then it would be extremely interesting to know whether homosexuality increases when former hunter-gatherer societies get integrated into modern society. Do they become as homosexual as the majority population or do they persist in their heterosexuality?
If we knew that, we could get a clue about whether the lack of male homosexuality among foragers is due to genetic factors or just the small scale of foraging societies: If only a few percent of males are hardcore homosexuals, they will have problems finding suitable partners if there are only a few tens of adult males in every group. So it would be interesting to know how men with forager genes react when they are confronted with a much bigger dating market.
I searched for a study about the prevalence of male homosexuality among Australian Aborigines, but didn't find any easily. Such a study wouldn't be perfect either, since self-identified Aborigines have many European genes, but it could still be interesting.