MALES’ SEXUAL PREFERENCE: BROTHERS AND SISTERS
Closeness and similarity to siblings.
Special consideration has been given to the extent to which siblings may serve as companions and role models, affecting not only a boy’s core gender identity but also his subsequent relationships with his peers. It is posited, for example, that regardless of the extent to which a boy’s father is a suitable role model, a close relationship with brothers and identification with them (particularly older brothers) would help foster a solid masculine identity and thus, presumably, a heterosexual orientation. Such relationships with brothers have been thought to prepare a boy for positive and meaningful involvements with other boys and to make him ultimately more subject to their influence. It could also be assumed that a boy who is esteemed by his sisters and feels comfortable with them and with girls generally, but at the same time does not identify primarily with them, is more likely to develop a heterosexual orientation than a boy without such experiences.
Sibling sex play
Since the presence of siblings provides a young boy with opportunities for early sexual contacts, one might hypothesize that such contact could affect the direction of his sexual interests. Sex play with sisters, for example, could be expected to provide boys with an early “heterosexual” interest, which later becomes crystallized outside the home, while sex play with brothers might introduce boys to a pattern of “homosexual” interest. In order to explore the role such events might play in predisposing boys toward a particular sexual orientation, we considered respondents’ reports about their childhood sex play both with brothers and with sisters.
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