Genetic sexual attraction

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Genetic sexual attraction is a theory that attraction may be a product of genetic similarities.[1]: 200  There is "little scientific evidence" for the position,[1]: 200  and at least some commentators regard the hypothesis as pseudoscience.[2] The term is also used for a supposed phenomenon in which biologically related persons separated at a young age develop intense feelings—including sexual attraction—upon the restoration of contact.[3][4][5][6]

Background

The term was popularized in the United States in the late 1980s by Barbara Gonyo, the founder of Truth Seekers in Adoption, a Chicago-based support group for adoptees and their new-found relatives.[6] Gonyo first heard the term used during an American Adoption Congress conference in the early 1980s.[7] She developed sexual feelings for her son when she met him after he was adopted away, but he did not want to be part of any such contact.[8]

Some psychologists theorize that the supposed phenomenon of attraction to biological relatives separated at a young age occurs because the separation forecloses the Westermarck effect,[9] which normally desensitizes biologically related persons to later sexual attraction.[9][10][11] Another suggested explanation for the phenomenon is possible narcissistic feelings.[12][13]

Although reported frequently as anecdote in the field of psychology,[14][15][16] there are no studies showing that people are sexually attracted to those genetically similar to them. Studies of MHC genes show that unrelated people are less attracted to those genetically similar to them.[17][18] However, in mice, this lack of attraction can be reversed by adoption.[19]

Catherine MacAskill, an adoption and child sexual abuse expert, has suggested that "genetic sexual attraction" cases seem to be associated with sudden unplanned meetings which lack the proper safeguards of a thoroughly prepared reunion.[20]

Criticism

Critics of the hypothesis have called it

Salon piece, Amanda Marcotte called the concept "half-baked pseudoscientific nonsense that people dreamed up to justify continuing unhealthy, abusive relationships".[8] The use of "GSA" as an initialism has also been criticized, since it gives the notion that the phenomenon is an actual diagnosable "condition".[21]

Many have noted the lack of research on the subject. While acknowledging the "phenomenon of genetic sexual attraction",

psycho-babble".[22]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^
    ISBN 9781440844904
    .
  2. ISBN 9781137548474
    .
  3. ^ Harvey-Jenner, Catriona (13 June 2016). "A woman suffering from Genetic Sexual Attraction explains how it feels to fall in love with your dad". Cosmopolitan.
  4. ^ Lewis, Rick (1 July 2022). "When blood relatives hook up: Is 'Genetic Sexual Attraction' really a thing?". Genetic Literacy Project.
  5. ^ "Genetic sexual attraction" (PDF). Cumbria County Counsel.
  6. ^ a b Kirsta, Alix (16 May 2023). "Genetic sexual attraction". The Guardian. You're 40, happily married - and then you meet your long-lost brother and fall passionately in love. ... Alix Kirsta talks to those who have suffered the torment of 'genetic sexual attraction'
  7. ^ Tsoulis-Reay, Alexa (29 January 2022). "Her Dad Convinced Her It Was OK to Date Him". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  8. ^ a b c "Debunking genetic sexual attraction: Incest by any other name is still incest". Salon. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  9. ^ a b James, Susan Donaldson (17 May 2012). "Adoptees Who Reunite With Lost Parent Risk Genetic Sexual Attraction". ABC News.
  10. PMID 17301784
    .
  11. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.05.004
    .
  12. ISBN 9781451602487
    .
  13. ISBN 9780882820521
    .
  14. S2CID 207608127
    .
  15. OCLC 124077946.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  16. PMID 7779767
    .
  17. ^ Sample, Ian (24 May 2009). "Gene research finds opposites do attract". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  18. PMID 15653193
    .
  19. PMID 9718737
    .
  20. ISBN 978-1-903855-09-6
    .
  21. JSTOR 3803853
    .
  22. ISBN 978-0-19-977792-1
    .

Sources

Further reading
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