Further Steps Toward a Truly Integrative Theory of Sexuality
We welcome the paper by van Anders (2015) because it is important to reopen the discussion of the concept of sexual orientation. The aim of the target paper is to present a theory that creates a qualitative conceptual map of phenomenological diversity of presumably all possible combinations of subfactors of partnered sexuality. The main sub factors presented are gender/sex, partner number, and eroticism and nurturance, though the theory is open for new components. As such, the theory reframes sexual orientation as one among many aspects of sexuality. TheSexualConfigurationsTheory (SCT) attempts to integrate the biological and sociocultural aspects influencing one'ssexualconfiguration.Themost important implicationof the theoryistomakethesexualdiversityvisibleforempiricalscience, becauseitcandecreasehomogenizationofpoorlydefinedgroups. Visibility of human sexual diversity is also important for clinical psychology, and for individual self localization in the configuration map. Everyone has a sexual configuration, which assures all people that their sexuality, as queer as it canappear, exists, and can be mapped without prejudice. We think that the target paper is going in the right direction but that it still has a long way to go. An ideal truly integrative theory of sexuality is still needed: a theory that encompasses qualitative/individual aswell as quantitative/population research approaches; that inquires into mechanistic and moral aspects of sexuality; a theory that delves into genes, hormones, and neurocognitivenetworksaswell as identities, social scripts, andpower hierarchies; that semantically integrates nature and nurture; a theory that allows for cross cultural as well as cross species comparisons; and that conceptually separates current factors from developmental factors, from sociohistorical factors, from evolutionary ones, while equally considering them all. We recognize that the target paper is not focused on developing such an integrative theory.But because both socially and biologically oriented researchers study the same topic (sexuality) in thesamespecies (humans) itwouldbeuseful toworkona middle term enabling one to build a conceptual bridge between the fields. Admittedly, we speakmore from the biological side. Thus, we can contribute by stressing communalities, and offering corrections and expansions toward a common goal.
Archives of sexual behavior