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Psychological trauma in childhood is a key factor in homosexuality
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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The European journal Sex Roles published a psychological study, the purpose of which was to understand what factors influence sexual preferences first and foremost. To do this, a group of experts surveyed 1,200 representatives of sexual minorities and several thousand representatives of the heterosexual majority.
The results showed that the majority of lesbians or bisexuals (approximately 3 out of 5) remember instances of abuse or humiliation in childhood from their parents. Interestingly, butch women (masculine lesbians) reported mostly emotional abuse in childhood, while more feminine lesbians - physical abuse.
"Fatal" women (1 in 3) were subjected to forced sex in their youth, in its various manifestations. Short-haired ladies of any orientation in 75% of cases faced, as girls, physical or emotional neglect.
But for men it is exactly the opposite. 4 out of 5 homosexuals and bisexuals reported that in childhood they enjoyed a lot of attention from some parents, in particular, they remember their father's caresses. Two out of five admitted that as boys they were subjected to indirect violence, one out of ten - to direct sexual assault.
On average, among sexual minorities, one can observe a significantly higher number of parents with deviations (i.e. mental, sexual, etc. deviations). Family neglect and psychological trauma in childhood, including sexual ones, are recognized by the authors of the study as a key factor that formed non-traditional sexual preferences in both men and women.
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