Gepostet am November 9, 2011
Im Volksmund herrscht der Glaube vor, dass ein gewisser Anteil der lesbischen Frauen ein verstärkt männliches Verhalten an den Tag legt. Innerhalb der lesbischen „Community“ pflegt man solche, eher männlich-dominant auftretenden Frauen als „Butch“ zu bezeichnen. Die Frage ist, ob dieses eher dominant-männliche Auftreten mit einem höheren Testosteronniveau korreliert oder nicht.
Dazu zwei ältere Studien:
Pearcey et al.: Testosterone and sex role identification in lesbian couples, in: Physiology Behavior , Volume 60, Issue 3, September 1996, Pages 1033-1035.
Aus dem Abstract :
Within the lesbian community there exists a common perception that lesbians comprise two types, “butch,”having more masculine characteristics, and “femme,” having more feminine characteristics. The present study investigated the question of whether these perceptions are reflected in different levels of the predominantly male hormone testosterone. Salivatory testosterone levels and “butch/femme” ratings were obtained from 28 lesbian couples. Individuals within couples tended to be opposite in “butch/femme” ratings [intraclass r (26) = −0.77, p < 0.001] but similar in testosterone levels [intraclass r (26) = 0.47, p < 0.01]. Also within couples, individuals with higher “butch” ratings had significantly higher testosterone levels, although across all individuals as a whole (ignoring couple pairing) there was no correlation between testosterone and “butch/femme” ratings. The results indicate that testosterone is related to “butch/femme” characteristics, but only when regarded within the couple relationship.
Singh et al.: Lesbian Erotic Role Identification: Behavioral, Morphological, and Hormonal Correlates, in: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , Volume 76, Issue 6, June 1999, Pages 1035-1049.
Aus dem Abstract :
Lesbian scholars hotly debate the validity of “butch” and “femme” erotic roles. Although some dismiss them as social constructs, others maintain they are natural expressions of lesbian sexuality. The authors compared self-described butch and femme lesbians on gender-discriminating behavioral, morphological, and hormonal measures. Butch and femme lesbians did not differ from heterosexual women on sex role personality traits, depressive symptomology, eating disorders, or body dissatisfaction. Butch lesbians, however, recalled more childhood gender-atypical behavior and had higher waist-to-hip ratios, higher saliva testosterone levels, and less desire to give birth. These findings support the validity of butch–femme classification and suggest that butch lesbians are more male-typical compared to femme lesbians. The butch–femme classification may reflect a within-group difference caused by differential exposure to prenatal androgens.
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