Is Homosexuality a Paraphilia? The Evidence For and Against

Whether homosexuality should be described as one among many paraphilic sexual interests or an altogether different dimension
of sexual interest has long been discussed in terms of its political and social implications. The present article examined
the question instead by comparing the major correlates and other features of homosexuality and of the paraphilias, including
prevalence, sex ratio, onset and course, fraternal birth order, physical height, handedness, IQ and cognitive neuropsychological
profile, and neuroanatomy. Although those literatures remain underdeveloped, the existing findings thus far suggest that homosexuality
has a pattern of correlates largely, but not entirely, distinct from that identified among the paraphilias. At least, if homosexuality
were deemed a paraphilia, it would be relatively unique among them, taxonometrically speaking.