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Same-Sex Relationships

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Synonyms

Coalition members; Companionships; Fellowships; Friendships; Partnerships; Peer relationships

Definition

Same-sex relationships are intimate affiliations between individuals of the same chromosomal sex and/or gender that typically share homogenous characteristics such as age and social status.

Introduction

The formation of same-sex relationships evolved to provide a context for humans to engage in reciprocal interchanges of resources with and learn sexually specialized behaviors from conspecifics. Same-sex relationships also serve as the ecological context in which intrasexually selected characteristics are expressed and moderate certain social fitness outcomes.

Evolutionary Origins

The social nature of humans consists of sexually specialized cognitive and behavioral adaptations that are developed and expressed in the context of and ultimately function for regulating same-sex relationships. These relationships evolved in humans and other socially dependent animals for...

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References

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Correspondence to Jacob M. Vigil .

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Vigil, J.M. (2016). Same-Sex Relationships. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2400-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2400-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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