Psychosomatic Medicine 20:55-59 (1958)
© 1958 American Psychosomatic Society

Sex Chromatin and Sexual Behavior

A Study of 36 Men with Female Nuclear Pattern and of 194 Homosexuals

¹ Sexological Institute, Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia
² Sexological Institute, Charles University Prague, Czechoslovakia

The authors have submitted a report on the sex life of 36 men with female nuclear pattern. They have distinguished two main upset periods in the somatosexual development. The first period takes place in all probability at the early stage of embryonal development and results in the nuclear pattern of the female type. But the sexual tendencies of these individuals do not seem to be influenced thereby, because they were clearly heterosexual in 32 of the 36 cases under review; the remaining 4 patients were classified as "infantile." During the second upset period, in adolescence, degenerative processes in the testicles often cause a disturbance of the hormonal activity of the Leydig cells. Relatively the lowest sexual activity was in Group I, with less than 1.5 cc. ejaculate, where the production of testicular androgens was on the eunuchoid level (17 cases). On the other hand, in Group 3, with more than 3 cc. ejaculate, i.e., a sufficient testoid supply, sexual activity was usually normal (8 cases). All men with female sex chromatin measurings revealed an obvious hypoplasia of sexual glands; the length of the long axis was about 2 cm.

On the other hand, in the adult group of exclusive or almost exclusive homosexuals, testes of a subnormal size were found only in 9 of the total 194 cases. In 6 of those 9 patients sex chromatin was examined and found to be always masculine. The authors do not exclude the possibility of finding female sex chromatin in homosexual men, but believe that that would be a pure coincidence, and not a causal interrelationship.

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