Abstract
Developmental processes of “puberty” and their cultural contexts in understanding the emergence of sexual subjectivity, especially sexual attraction, prior to gonadarche are critically examined. In particular, we consider the hypothesis that “sexual attraction” follows the onset of adrenal puberty, termed adrenarche, precipitating the development of stable and memorable attraction toward others approximately by the age of 10. In a prior study, the authors suggested that adrenarche is a significant source of this developmental change in sexuality (McClintock, M., and Herdt, G., 1996). The inferential evidence from New Guinea is compared with recent studies from the United States, including clinical findings on “precocious puberty.” We conclude with the question of whether the age of 10 is a human universal in the development of attraction and sexuality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Bailey, J. M., and Oberschneider, M. (1997). Sexual orientation and professional dance. Arch.Sex.Behav.26:433–444.
Bailey, J. M., and Zucker, K. J. (1995). Childhood sex-typed behavior and sexual orientation: A conceptual analysis and quantitative review.Dev.Psychal 31:43–55.
Baldwin, J. D., and Baldwin, J. I. (1997). Gender differences in sexual interest.Arch.Sex.Behav.26:179–210.
Bell, A. P.,Weinberg, M. S., and Hammersmith, S. (1981). Sexual Preference, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
Bem, D. (1996). Exotic becomes erotic: A developmental theory of sexual orientation.Psychol.Rev. 103: 320–335.
Benedict, R. (1938). Continuities and discontinuities in cultural conditioning. Psychiatry1: 161–167.
Blumenthal, J., Giedd, J. N., Jeffries, N. O., Castellanos, F. X., Liu, H., Tijdenbos, A., Paris, T., Evans, A. C., and Rapaport, J. L. (1999). Brain development during childhood and adolescence: A longitudinal MRI study. Natl.Neurol.2(10): 861–863.
Byne, W., and Parsons, B. (1993). Human sexual orientation: The biological theories reappraised. Arch.Gen.Psychiat. 50: 228–239.
Carrier, J. (1980). Homosexuality in cross-cultural perspective. In Marmor, J. (Ed.), Homosexual Behavior: A Modern Reappraisal, Basic Books, New York, pp. 100–122.
Danker-Hopfe, H. (1986). Menarchal ages in Europe. Yearbook Phys.Anthropol. 29: 81–112.
Deacon, A. B. (1934). Malekula: A Vanishing People in the New Hebrides, George Routledge, London.
Diaz, R. M. (1998). Latino Gay Men and HIV, Routledge, New York.
D'Augelli, A. (1991). Gay men in college: Identity processes and adaptations. J.Col.Stud.Dev. 32: 140–146.
Ehrhardt, A. A. (1996). Our viewof adolescent sexuality: Risk behavior without developmental context. Am.J.Pub.Health86(11): 1523–1525.
Ehrhardt, A., and Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F. L. (1981). Effects of prenatal sex hormones on gender-related behavior. Science 211: 1312–1318.
Elder, G. (1975). Adolescence in the Life Cycle: Psychological Change and Social Context, Halsted Press, New York.
Fine, M. (1988). The Missing Discourse of Desire, Harvard Ed. Rev. Vol. 2, pp. 29–53.
Ford, C. S., and Beach, F. A. (1951). Patterns of Sexual Behavior, Harper and Brothers, New York.
Freud, S. (1905/1953). Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality.Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol 8, Hogarth, London.
Gagnon, J. (1971). The creation of the sexual in adolescence. In Kagan, J., and Coles, R. (Eds.), Twelve to Sixteen: Early Adolescence, W. W. Norton, New York, pp. 231–257.
Gagnon, J. (1990). The explicit and implicit use of the scripting perspective in sex research. Annu.Rev.Sex Res.l: 1–44.
Gelman, S., Collman, P., and Maccoby, E. E. (1986). Inferring properties from categories versus inferring categories from properties: The case of gender. Ch.Dev.57.
Gorman, M. R. (1994). Male homosexual desire: Neurological investigations and scientific bias. Perspect.Biol.Med. 38: 61–81.
Green, R. (1987). The 'sissy Boy Syndrome'; and the Development of Homosexuality, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Hamer, D. H., Hu, S., Magnuson, V. L., Hu, N., and Pattutucci, A. M. L. (1993). Linkage between and markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science 261: 321–327.
Herdt, G. (1981). Guardians of the Flutes, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Herdt, G. (1984). Ritualized homosexual behavior in the male cults of Melanesia, 1862–1983: An introduction. In Herdt, G. (Ed.), Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia, University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. 1–81.
Herdt, G. (1987). The Sambia: Ritual and Gender in New Guinea, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York.
Herdt, G. (1990). Developmental continuity as a dimension of sexual orientation across cultures. In McWhirter, D., Reinisch, J., and Sanders, S. (Eds.), Homosexuality and Heterosexuality:The Kinsey Scale and Current Research, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 208–238.
Herdt, G. (1991). Representations of homosexuality in traditional societies: An essay on cultural ontology and historical comparison, Part I. J.Hist.Sex. 1: 481–504.
Herdt, G. (1997). Same Sex, Different Cultures: Perspectives on Gay and Lesbian Lives, Westview Press, New York.
Herdt, G. (1999). Sambia Sexual Culture: Essays from the Field, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Herdt, G. (2000). Why the Sambia initiate boys before age 10. In Bancroft, J. (Ed.), Sexual Theory, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
Herdt, G., and Boxer, A. (1993). Children of Horizons, Beacon Press, Boston.
Herdt, G., and Koff, B. (2000). Something to Tell You: The Road Families Travel When a Child is Gay, Columbia University Press, New York.
Herdt, G., and Leavitt, S. C. (1998). Adolescence in Pacific Island Societies, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.
Herdt, G., and Stoller, R. J. (1990). Intimate Communications: Erotics and the Study of Culture, Columbia University Press, New York.
Herman-Giddens, M. E., Slora, E. J., Wasserman, R. C., Bourdony, C. J., Bhapkar, M. R., Koch, G. G., and Hasemeier, C. M. (1997). Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls seen in office practice: A study from the pediatric research in office settings network. Pediatrics99: 505–512.
Hopper, B. R., and Yen, S. S. (1975). Circulating concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate during puberty. J.Clin.Endocrinol.Met.40 (3): 458–461.
Khan, A. D. (1996). Early childhood determinants of age at Menarche in rural Guatemala. Am.J.Human.Biol. 8: 717–723.
Kimmel, M. S. (2000). The Gendered Society, Oxford University Press, New York.
Kinsey, A. C., Pomeroy, W. B., and Martin, C. E. (1948). Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, W. Saunders, Philadelphia.
Knauft, B. (1993). South Coast New Guinea Cultures, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Knoth, R., Boyd, K., and Singer, B. (1988). Empirical tests of sexual selection theory: Predictions of sex difference in onset, intensity, and time course of sexual arousal. J.Sex Res.24: 73–89.
Korth-Schutz, S. (1989). Precocious adrenarche. In F. M. G. (Ed.), Pediatric Adolescent Endocrinology, Karger, New York, pp. 226–235.
Langfeldt, T. (1981). Childhood masturbation: Individual and social organization. In Constantine, L. L., and Martinson, F. M. (Eds.), Children and Sex, Little, Brown and Co., Boston, pp. 63–74.
Langfeldt, T. (1990). Early childhood and juvenile sexuality, development and problems. Handbook of Sexology, Vol. 7, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, pp. 179–200.
Langness, L. L. (1967). Sexual antagonism in the New Guinea Highlands: A Bena Bena example.Oceania, 37(3): 161–177.
Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J. H., Michael, R. T., and Michaels, S. (1994). The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Malinowski, B. (1929). The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia, Harcourt, Brace and World, New York.
McClintock, M., and Herdt, G. (1996). Rethinking puberty: The development of sexual attraction. Curr.Direc.Psychol.Sci. 5: 178–183.
McClintock, M., Herdt, G., and Rosenfield, R. (1998). Preadolescent determinants of sexuality. Pediat.Update19 (9), 1–10.
Maccoby, E. E. (1988). Gender as a social category. Dev.Psychol. 24: 755–765.
Maccoby, E. E., and Jacklin, C. (1974). The Psychology of Sex Differences, Stanford University Press, Stanford.
Malcolm, L. A. (1968). Determination of the growth curve of the Kukukuku people of New Guinea from dental eruption in children and adult height. Archaeol.Phys.Anthropol.Oceania 4: 72–78.
Mead, M. (1927). Coming of Age in Samoa, Norton, New York.
Mead, M. (1935). Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies, Dutton, New York.
Mead, M. (1956). New Lives for Old.Cultural Transformation: Manus 1928–1953, William Morrow, New York.
Mead, M. (1961). Cultural determinants of sexual behavior. In Young, W. C. (Ed.), Sex and Internal Secretions, Williams & Williams, Baltimore, MD, pp. 1433–1479.
Meyer-Bahlburg, H. (1984). Psychoendocrine research on sexual orientation. Current status and future options. Prog.Brain Res. 61: 375–398.
Meyer-Bahlburg, H. (1997). The role of prenatal estrogens in sexual orientation. In Ellis, L., and Ebertz, L. (Eds.), Sexual Orientation: Toward Biological Understanding, Ct. Praeger, Westport,pp. 41–51.
Michaels, S. (1996). The prevalence of homosexuality in the United States. In Cabaj, R. P., and Stein, T. S. (Eds.), Textbook of Homosexuality and Mental Health, pp. 43–65.
Moller, L. C., Hymel, S., and Rubin, K. H. (1992). Sex typing in play and popularity in middle childhood. Sex Roles26: 331–353.
Money, J. (1987). Sin, sickness, or society? Am.Psychol.42: 384–399.
Money, J. (1997). Principles of Developmental Sexology, Continuum, New York.
Money, J., and Ehrhardt, A. (1972). Man and Woman, Boy and Girl, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
Money, J., and Lewis, V. G. (1990). Puberty: Precocious, delayed and incongruous. In Perry, M. E. (Ed.), Handbook of Sexology, 7: Childhood and Adolescence, pp. 236–262.
Musaph, H. (1990). First sexual intercourse. In Perry, M. E. (Ed.), Childhood and Adolescent Sexology, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 287–296.
Pattatuci, A., and Hamer, D. (1995). Developmental and familiarity of sexual orientation in females.Behav.Genet. 25: 407–420.
Piaget, J. (1971). Structuralism(Trans. C. Maschler), Harper Torchbooks, New York.
Plummer, K. (1995). Telling Sexual Stories, Routledge, New York.
Read, K. E. (1954). Cultures of the central highlands, New Guinea. Southwestern J.Anthropol. 10:1–43.
Remafedi, G., Farrow, J. A., and Deisher, R. W. (1991). Risk factors for attempted suicide in gay and bisexual youth. Pediatrics 87: 869–875.
Remafedi, G., Resnick, M., Blum, R., and Harris, L. (1992). Demography of sexual orientation in adolescents. Pediatrics 89: 714–721.
Saghir, and Robins. (1973). Male and Female Homosexuality, William's and Wilkins, Baltimore.
Schieffelin, E. L. (1976). The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers, St. Martin's, New York.
Simon, W., and Gagnon, J. H. (1973). Psychosexual development. In Gagnon, J. H., and Simon, W.(Eds.), The Sexual Scene, Transaction Books, New Brunswick, NJ, pp. 29–47.
Stoller, R. J. (1968). Sex and Gender, Science House, New York.
Stoller, R. J., and Herdt, G. (1982). The development of masculinity: A cross-cultural contribution. J.Am.Psychoanal.Assoc. 30: 29–59.
Stoller, R. J., and Herdt, G. (1985). Theories of origins of male homosexuality: A cross-cultural look. Arch.Gen.Psychiat. 42: 399–404.
Storms, M. (1981). A theory of erotic orientation development. Psychol.Rev. 88: 340–353.
Tanner, J. M. (1973). Trend toward earlier menarche in London, Oslo, Copenhagen, The Netherlands and Hungary. Nature 243: 95–96.
Townsend, J. M., and Wasserman, T. (1997). The perception of sexual attractiveness: Sex differences in variability. Arch.Sex.Behav.26.
Van Baal, J. (1966). Dema, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague.
Van Baal, J. (1984). The dialectics of sex in Marind-anim Culture. In Herdt, G. (Ed.), Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia, University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. 128–166.
Van Gennep, A. (1960). The Rites of Passage, In Vizedom, M. K., and Caffee, G. L.(Eds.), University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Vance, C. S. (1991). Anthropology rediscovers sexuality: A theoretical comment. Soc.Sci.Med. 33:875–884.
Worthman, C. (1999). Faster, farther, and higher: Biology and the discourses on human sexuality. In Suggs, D. N., and Miracle, A. (Eds.), Culture, Biology and Sexuality, University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA, pp. 64–75.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Herdt, G., McClintock, M. The Magical Age of 10. Arch Sex Behav 29, 587–606 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1002006521067
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1002006521067