Puzzle of Sexual Orientation conference brings world-class researchers to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge

caroline.zentner — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 22:19:13 +0000

While many attitudes about sexual orientation have changed dramatically in recent decades, sex researchers can still face immense backlash about their work.

It’s no wonder then that an invitation-only conference like the Puzzle of Sexual Orientation, recently held at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, drew leading sex researchers from around the world to discuss their work in the company of fellow scientists who are also seeking to build knowledge in the field.

“In the United States and certainly parts of Canada, during parts of the past decade especially, academia has become intellectually intolerant,” says Dr. Michael Bailey, a professor at Northwestern ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Evanston, Illinois who attended the conference. “In certain ways, people have valued so-called social justice and identity politics at the expense of knowledge seeking, particularly about controversial topics and our domain includes some very controversial topics.”

Organized by Dr. Paul Vasey, a professor in ULethbridge’s Department of Neuroscience, and Dr. Kelly Suschinsky (MSc ’07, PhD ’12), program evaluation coordinator at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, the conference drew 37 participants from as far away as South America, Europe, and Australasia.

“It’s the primary conference for researchers studying the biopsychology of sexual orientation broadly construed,” says Vasey. “These are the people who are advancing science in the area; these experts think about sexual orientations being more than just whether you’re attracted to men or women or both.”

Along with drawing world-class researchers, the conference was also a get-together for several ULethbridge alums who studied under Vasey and have gone on to establish their own successful careers.

Suschinsky’s work looks at how people respond to unwanted non-consensual sexual encounters. Some of her earlier work has shown that women can physically respond to fairly aversive stimuli while men don’t have the same response. Her research is geared toward finding out why men and women differ in this regard.

Dr. Francisco Gomez Jimenez (MSc ’17, PhD ’22), now a lecturer at Brunel ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ London, UK, concentrates his research on determining what aspects of same-sex sexuality are cross-culturally universal.

“What are the traits that same-sex attracted individuals, whether males or females, share across the world, which gives us some insight as to what the underlying biological components and etiology might be,” he says.

Dr. Scott Semenyna (MSc ’15, PhD ’20), an assistant professor at Stetson ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Florida, looks at cultures where feminine males and women compete for the same male partner, including the Istmo Zapotec in southern Mexico and the Polynesian island nation of Samoa. Another focus is examining how females with different sexual orientations can be objectively categorized.

During the conference, researchers addressed a wide range of topics. Bailey discussed his work in paraphilias, which are unusual sexual orientations or sexual interests, such as intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, behaviours or individuals.

“This was the best meeting I think I’ve ever attended,” he says. “We had nonstop talks over three days and it was tiring intellectually and I was tweeting the talks. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t have left the room.”

A former student of Bailey’s, Dr. Gerulf Rieger, now at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Essex, Colchester, England, focuses his research on finding an objective measure of female sexual orientation, a task that is much easier with males.

Catherine Salmon, a professor of psychology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Redlands in southern California, studies the differences between male and female reactions to erotica. At the conference, she discussed the factors, including sex differences, that influence people’s perceptions of sexual images.

Dr. Ken Zucker, a professor at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto and editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior, studies gender dysphoria in children and adolescents. His presentation was a meta-analysis of data across studies looking at the sex ratio of adolescents who have gender dysphoria or are identifying as transgender.

“One of the really new developments in the area of gender dysphoria over the past 15 years among adolescents is a marked increase in the number of adolescent girls who are saying that they’re transgender,” Zucker says. “The meta-analysis I conducted shows that this is something that is being observed universally, across North America, Western Europe, Scandinavia, Australia and China.”

Ray Blanchard, who retains the status of professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto, is a devoted attendee of the Puzzles conference. Blanchard studies the fraternal birth order effect, which is the finding that having older brothers increases the odds of homosexuality in later-born males.

The conference was made possible by funding from a SSHRC Connection grant, the American Institute of Bisexuality, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and private donors.

Conference marks U of L as leader in sexuality studies

trevor.kenney — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 16:27:59 +0000

It was billed as one of the highest-profile conferences to ever grace the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, and yet it was intentionally given no profile in advance.

Conference co-organizer Dr. Paul Vasey says what draws researchers to Lethbridge is the U of L’s solid support for sexual orientation research. PHOTO by Mary Kavanagh

The Puzzle of Sexual Orientation conference that ran July 20-23 at the U of L attracted more than 50 of the world’s leading authorities on sexual orientation to campus. Experts from throughout the United States, Canada and even as far off as Europe and Brazil made their way to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, attending on an invite-only basis, to discuss a broad range of topics related to sexual orientation.

“The Puzzle conference is renowned as the venue worldwide at which a group of preeminent sexual orientation researchers convene once every five years to assess the state of our science and talk about the way forward. Not surprisingly, invitations are highly coveted,” says Dr. Paul Vasey (professor & Board of Governor’s Research Chair in Psychology), one of the conference co-organizers.

What draws them here is the U of L’s solid support for sexual orientation research and the groundbreaking work that Vasey and his students have been conducting for the past 15 years.

“Conference attendees were extremely impressed that understanding the genesis of sexual orientation is embedded in the U of L's Strategic Research Plan,” says Vasey. “Many attendees were blown away that the Vice-Provost & Associate VP (Academic), Dr. Lesley Brown, took time out of her busy schedule to open the meeting and declared that "understanding sexual orientation is key to understanding human nature".”

Among those who were favorably impressed was Dr. Michael Bailey from Chicago’s Northwestern ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, a world-renowned researcher who spoke about his work on male bisexuality.

“We have many cities that are much (larger) than Lethbridge but none of them are as high profile as the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge for the studying of sexual orientation,” Bailey told the Lethbridge Herald upon completion of the conference. “It’s really an international treasure.”

The conference did not allow media access prior to or during the event as Vasey wanted to ensure that researchers could openly discuss their findings, some of which might be considered controversial or taboo. Select researchers were made available to media once the event wrapped up and garnered significant interest.

“There is an enormous amount of public debate about the nature of sexual diversity. All too often these discussions occur in an information vacuum that is driven by personal politics and morality, but divorced from any evidence," says Vasey. "The Puzzle of Sexual Orientation conference is a key event at which evidence is brought to the table, which helps inform these public debates.”

One exception to the no media rule was an invitation to Boston Globe writer Neil Swidey who was given exclusive access to the researchers and their presentations throughout the conference. A respected journalist who 10 years ago created one of the most-read Boston Globe stories in its web history (What makes people gay?), Swidey chose the conference as an opportunity to revisit and update his seminal piece. It has just now been released on the Globe website.

“Going forward, I believe that all of the conference attendees will sing the praises of the U of L, thereby contributing to my goal of promoting our ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ as a destination research institution for sexuality studies,” adds Vasey.

The next conference is scheduled to take place at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2020.

UNews - Michael Bailey

Puzzle of Sexual Orientation conference brings world-class researchers to the ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge

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Conference marks U of L as leader in sexuality studies

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Puzzle of Sexual Orientation conference brings world-class researchers to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge