The causation of sexual orientation is likely to be complex and influenced by multiple factors. We advocate incorporating a broader cultural view into evolutionary and genetic studies to account for differences in how sexual orientation is experienced, expressed and understood in both humans and nonhuman animals.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the participants of a Royal Society–Theo Murphy scientific meeting on ‘Genetics and evolution of sexual orientation’ (27–28 March 2023) for the lively discussion that initiated this Comment; G. Rieger and P. Vasey for comments on the manuscript; and the Royal Society, the American Institute of Bisexuality and the Evolution Education Trust for funding. For the purpose of open access, the corresponding author has applied a ‘Creative Commons Attribution’ (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising.
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Savolainen, V., Bailey, N.W., Diamond, L. et al. A broader cultural view is necessary to study the evolution of sexual orientation. Nat Ecol Evol 8, 181–183 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02273-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02273-9
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