Heterosexuality
[7] There is considerably more evidence supporting nonsocial, biological causes of sexual orientation than social ones, especially for males.
[15] The terms were not in current use during the late nineteenth century, but were reintroduced by Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Albert Moll around 1890.
[22] Henry's book concerned conversations with homosexual males and used this term in connection with people who are identified as ex-gays.
[4] According to several major studies, 89% to 98% of people have had only heterosexual contact within their lifetime;[24][25][26][27] but this percentage falls to 79–84% when either or both same-sex attraction and behavior are reported.
[30][31] In the United States, according to a Williams Institute report in April 2011, 96% or approximately 250 million of the adult population are heterosexual.
[3][11][12] Factors related to the development of a heterosexual orientation include genes, prenatal hormones, and brain structure, and their interaction with the environment.
Estradiol and testosterone, which is catalyzed by the enzyme 5α-reductase into dihydrotestosterone, act upon androgen receptors in the brain to masculinize it.
[38] Reproductive sex does not require a heterosexual orientation, since sexual orientation typically refers to a long-term enduring pattern of sexual and emotional attraction leading often to long-term social bonding, while reproduction requires as little as a single act of copulation to fertilize the ovum by sperm.
[46] A 2012 study found that 2% of a sample of 2,560 adult participants reported a change of sexual orientation identity after a 10-year period.
[47] A 2-year study by Lisa M. Diamond on a sample of 80 non-heterosexual female adolescents (age 16–23) reported that half of the participants had changed sexual-minority identities more than once, one third of them during the 2-year follow-up.
[7][10] There are no studies of adequate scientific rigor that conclude that sexual orientation change efforts are effective.
[50] A heterosexual couple, a man and woman in an intimate relationship, form the core of a nuclear family.
[51] Many societies throughout history have insisted that a marriage take place before the couple settle down, but enforcement of this rule or compliance with it has varied considerably.
This was later expressed in the symbolism of fertility rites and polytheistic worship, which often included images of human reproductive organs, such as lingam in Hinduism.
"[52] Katz argues that modern ideas of sexuality and eroticism began to develop in America and Germany in the later 19th century.
The Book of Genesis states that God created women because "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him,",[53] and that "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh"[54] For the most part, religious traditions in the world reserve marriage to heterosexual unions, but there are exceptions including certain Buddhist and Hindu traditions, Unitarian Universalists, Metropolitan Community Church, some Anglican dioceses, and some Quaker, United Church of Canada, and Reform and Conservative Jewish congregations.
[57] Heteronormativity denotes or relates to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation for people to have.
It may include an assumption that everyone is heterosexual and may involve various kinds of discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, asexuals, heteroflexible people, or transgender or non-binary individuals.
Straight pride is a slogan that arose in the late 1980s and early 1990s and has been used primarily by social conservative groups as a political stance and strategy.
