Evolutionary Developmental Perspectives on Male Androphilia in Humans

Abstract

In recent years, progress has finally been made toward gaining an empirically based understanding of how male androphilia persists over evolutionarily time. Although male androphilia varies dramatically with respect to the manner in which it is publicly expressed, there are multiple lines of developmental and biodemographic evidence indicating that different cultural forms of male androphilia share the same etiological basis. Quantitative research indicates that the transgender form of male androphilia was likely ancestral to the sex-gender congruent form. The most prominent hypothesis that posits a role for the social behavior of male androphiles in the evolutionary maintenance of genes associated with same-sex sexual orientation is the kin selection hypothesis. Research in Samoa has repeatedly furnished support for the kin selection hypothesis where transgender male androphiles known locally as fa'afafine exhibit elevated avuncular tendencies and behavior compared to women and gynephilic men. Research on Samoan fa'afafine has also furnished evidence that their avuncular cognition exhibits hallmarks of adaptive design. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)