Synonyms
Definition
Same-sex attraction outside of Western Europe and societies principally characterized by its colonial legacies (e.g., North America).
Introduction
Sexual orientation and homosexuality have been most prominently discussed in Western political and cultural spheres since the late nineteenth century. General understanding of same-sex attraction is thus limited by an absence of perspectives from societies with other cultural traditions and origins. For example, Western scholars and laypeople commonly describe same-sex attraction and sexual behavior using terms like “homosexual,” “gay,” “lesbian,” and “bisexual,” these labels and concepts may not even exist among people living in the cultures to which they are applied (e.g., Nanda 2014). This entry reviews how same-sex attraction might manifest in cultures not informed by Western cultural, social, and linguistic traditions.
The Multitude of Same-Sex Attractions
Western conceptions of...
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Tskhay, K.O., Rule, N.O. (2016). Non-Western Homosexuality. 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_3375-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3375-1
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