Heterosexuality is a sexual orientation . Heterosexual people are sexually attracted to the opposite gender , and this may involve romantic feelings, or sexual activity. Another less formal word for heterosexual is straight . ^[1]

People who are not heterosexual may be homosexual , bisexual or asexual . Many people in Western society are heteronormative , which means that they believe that heterosexuality is better than other forms of sexuality. This often leads to discrimination . ^[1]

Sexual orientation is thought to be caused by genetics and hormones when a baby is growing in its mother. Hormones play a role in making men and women have differences in a region of the brain called the sexually dimorphic nucleus, which is involved in sexual attraction. Men have larger clusters in the hypothalamus than women, similar to other mammals . ^[1]

In the Catholic Church and many Christian churches as well as in Islam and Judaism , a marriage can only be made in a heterosexual pair - man and woman. Marriage that is done in homosexual pair is often seen as a serious sin by those religions.

Related pages [ change | change source ]

• Heterosociality
• Queer , a catch-all term for non-heterosexual people (used by some)

References [ change | change source ]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Bailey JM, Vasey PL, Diamond LM, Breedlove SM, Vilain E, Epprecht M (September 2016). "Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science" . Psychological Science in the Public Interest . 17 (2): 45?101. doi : 10.1177/1529100616637616 . PMID   27113562 . S2CID   42281410 .

Other websites [ change | change source ]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Heterosexuality

• The Kinsey Institute Archived 2005-11-18 at the Wayback Machine

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