European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 17, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Study links Sissy boy syndrome and homosexuality by Jane e. Filo by new York times Ost Young boys who persistently act like girls grow up to be homosexuals or bisexuals a 15-year study of Sissy boys has shown. According to the findings neither therapy designed to discourage the extremely feminine behaviour nor Ideal cd Ltd rearing could guarantee that he boys would develop As heterosexuals although parental discouragement of the boys girlish behaviour ended to result in a More heterosexual orientation three fourths of 44 extremely feminine boys followed from Early childhood to adolescence or Young adulthood matured As homosexuals or bisexuals As against Only one bisexual among a comparison group of More typically masculine boys. In my cases parents either overtly or subtly encouraged the feminine behaviour but when parents actively discouraged ii and look other Steps to enhance a male self concept homosexual tendencies of the feminine boys were lessened although not necessarily reversed. Neither did professional counselling divert a tendency toward homosexuality although it resulted in More conventional masculine behaviour and enhanced the boys social and Yacho logical adjustment and Comfort with being male the study was conducted by or. Richard Green a noted sex researcher who is professor of psychiatry at the University of California at los Angeles and director of its program in psychiatry Law and human sexuality. Details of the findings and implications Are described in Green s new Book the Sissy Bey syndrome and the development of homosexuality to be published in february by Yale University press. Although the study examined extreme cases of boyhood effeminacy. Green believes the findings May have relevance o lesser degrees of feminine behaviour in boys. Such boys who May for example be athletically inept or prefer music to care and trucks often have difficulty making friends with other boys and identifying with typically male activities. Or a suggested that to help the boys think of themselves tin male parents might assist them in finding boy friends who Are similarly a aggressive and that the fathers might share in activities the boys enjoy such a going to the zoo or a concert rather than insist on taking the boys to athletic events. Counselling to guide such parents and enhance the child s masculine self image May also to helpful Green said. The study did not examine the development of homosexuality in boys whose childhoods Ere typically masculine. About one third of homosexual men recall such masculine boyhood. Nor does the study suggest that Ali boys with the sit Isy boy syndrome Are destined for homosexuality. Indeed one fourth of the extremely feminine boys followed to maturity developed As heterosexuals. According to Green and other experts familiar with his study the findings indicate thai some children May have an inborn receptivity to environmental factors that encourage a homosexual orientation. Whether such a predisposition is genetic or the result of prenatal factors or both is not known. Recent research in animals suggests that prenatal hormonal influences can interfere with programming the brain of the male fetus and result in the birth of males that act like females. The study supports a recent Kinsey Institute Survey of 1,500 adults that singled out gender non conformity in childhood As the most important predictor of homosexuality or. Alan Bell of Indiana University a director of the Kinsey study said he was pleased and not surprised that the findings of Green s prospective study corresponded with the retrospective Kinsey data. The pendulum is swinging Back to biology Bell remarked apparently there is a very important physiological component that plays a big role in determining one s sexual  As have other recent investigations including the experts familiar with the study say that the findings indicate some children May have an inborn receptivity to environmental factors that encourage a homosexual orientation. Kinsey study the new research challenges Long held psychoanalytic beliefs the dominant Over protecting mothers and ineffectual fathers Are primary causes of a son s homosexuality. Rather the study suggests that some boys Are born with an indifference to rough and Tumble play and other typical boyhood interests and that this indifference alienates and isolates them from their male Peers and often from their fathers As Well. Green believes that Auch boys May grow up starved for male affection which prompts them id seek love from men in adolescence and adulthood. To Bell however a sense of difference and social distance from males during childhood is what leads to the romantic and erotic attraction to other males. Or. Richard Imp a new York psychoanalyst whose practice is largely homosexual men said i would agree with or Green. I too see no support for the notion that binding mothers produce homosexual sons nor do t see any consistent pattern for absent fathers that i Don t also see among heterosexual men in  Isay who is affiliated with Columbia psychoanalytic Institute and new York Cornell medical school suggested that the common depiction among homosexual men of an absent Distant father is in fact a defense against an underlying erotic attachment to their fathers. Green who is now studying the development of Tomboy girls said the Issue for Girts who act like boys is very different. There Are far fewer Sissy boys than Tomboy girls but Many More homosexual and transsexual men than women he said. Asked to comment on Green s findings or. Judd Marmor professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Southern California and the University of California at los Angeles said that they Are another indication there is a biological element involved in the genesis of homosexuality at least for those homosexuals with effeminate  he added some children really feel different from saturday january 17, 1967 earliest childhood they Are born without the aggressive masculinity other boys have. This is not something created by an Ovar protect Tulve Mother or an absent or ineffectual  although the study involved a relatively Small number of boys Marmor who is a past president of the american psychiatric association end an authority on homosexuality called the research most important in what it revealed about the development of sexual orientation. Society tends to treat male homosexuals As if they had a Choice about their sexual orientation when in fact they have no More Choice about How they develop than heterosexuals do he said. An innate Sis siness is not the answer to All homosexuality warmer said but it is a Factor hat plays a role in a substantial number of male  he added that homosexuality could also develop from a seriously distorted family environment but that it is much harder to develop that Way without a biological  boys who participated in Green s study were first examined in Early childhood when their parents became concerned about the boys persistent feminine Behaviours and dislike of activities boys usually like. Many of the boys also repeatedly said they wanted to be girls. At the outset Green thought he was examining the origins of male transsexuals boys who grow up thinking they Are Girts rapped in Maia bodies end who May later seek sax change surgery. However Only one of the feminine boys became a transsexual. In an interview Green pointed out that the boys he studied were notably different from other children. While Many if not most Young children boys As Well As girls occasionally dress up in their mothers clothes put on makeup or jewelry play with dolls or assume the role of the opposite sex in fantasy play the boys in Green s study did so almost exclusively. They spurned typical boy games rough housing and sports and instead would play with Barbie dolls for hours frequently Don female clothing and nearly always assume a female role when playing House. Many followed their mothers around the House mimicking the mothers a till As. The boy and their parents were interviewed every few years and some were seen several times a year in therapeutic counselling aimed at intercepting the boys feminine tendencies and encouraging More gender appropriate activities although Green found no evidence that the parents created feminine boys Many in fact had other sons who were normally masculine certain parental attitudes and actions were correlated with a stronger homosexual orientation. One of the earliest influences was the prenatal desire on the part o either Parent and the father in particular that the child be a girl. After the boy was bom Iha parents often considered their son to be an especially Beautiful infant. Even strangers who admired the baby tended to make comments like what a pretty Little  one of the most important factors related to a More homosexual orientation in adolescence and adulthood was How parents responded to the boys when they dressed up As Gurle and pretended to be Girts. Many of the parents Green said thought it As cute and directly or indirectly encouraged the Cross gender behaviour. For example photographs of lha boys dressed As Girts were found in Many family albums of feminine boys but in none of the albums of the comparison group of masculine boys. The stars and stripes Page 17