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Femininity and Kin-Directed Altruism in Androphilic Men: A Test of an Evolutionary Developmental Model

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Abstract

Androphilia refers to sexual attraction and arousal toward males whereas gynephilia refers to sexual attraction and arousal toward females. This study tested the adaptive feminine phenotype model of the evolution of male androphilia via kin selection, which posits that the development of an evolved disposition toward elevated kin-directed altruism among androphilic males is contingent on the behavioral expression of femininity. Gynephilic men, androphilic women, and androphilic men (N = 387) completed measures of childhood and adulthood gender expression and concern for kin’s well-being. Adulthood femininity correlated positively with uncle/aunt-like tendencies among androphilic men and women. Although androphilic women reported greater willingness to invest in nieces and nephews than gynephilic and androphilic men, mediation analyses indicated that adult femininity completely mediated these group differences. In addition, changes in the expression of femininity between childhood and adulthood were associated with parallel changes in concern for the well-being of kin among androphilic men. Thus, these findings suggest that femininity is key to the expression of kin-directed altruism among androphilic males and may have been important in the evolution of male androphilia.

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Notes

  1. Translated literally, fa’afafine means “in the manner of a woman.”

  2. Miller (2000) hypothesized that genes underlying male androphilia increase femininity among gynephilic male carriers and that such femininity is perceived by women as attractive because it provides a cue that a man would make a good long-term partner and father to her offspring. As such, Miller’s hypothesis views femininity in gynephilic male carriers of androphilic genes as adaptive and fitness-enhancing while regarding androphilic partner preference and androphilic male femininity as evolutionary by-products of these genes (sensu Buss, Haselton, Shakelford, Bleske, & Wakefield, 1998). Also, it views femininity among androphilic males as being of no reproductive value because it would not enhance reproduction as it does in gynephilic male carriers. In contrast, the adaptive feminine phenotype model proposed here argues that femininity is adaptive and fitness-enhancing among androphilic males because it facilitates the behavioral expression of kin-directed altruism. Importantly, Miller’s hypothesis and the adaptive feminine phenotype model are not mutually exclusive. It is possible that both hypotheses describe processes that account for some portion of the evolutionary maintenance of genes underlying male androphilia.

  3. This step is necessary to obtain coefficients associated with the regression of Female-Typical Behavior scores on group that were used in the calculation of a mediation effect. Two dummy coded predictor variables were used to compare androphilic women to the two groups of men (androphilic women were coded as 0 for both predictor variables).

  4. Given that significant positive correlations between Avuncularity/Materterality and GDS Female-Typical Behavior Scores existed for only androphilic men and women, an interaction term was used for this analysis. Creating the interaction term entailed multiplying the GDS Female-Typical Behavior subscale scores with a dummy coded variable for which androphilic men and women were coded as 1 and gynephilic men were coded as 0.

  5. This analysis controlled for Female-Typical Behavior scores in androphilic men and women, but not gynephilic men, because these scores were correlated with Avuncularity/Materterality scores for the former two groups only.

  6. When comparing gynephilic men and androphilic women for Avuncular/Materteral Tendencies scores while controlling for GDS Female-Typical Behavior scores, the direction of the group difference reversed; however, we caution the reader against interpreting this change in the direction of the effect as an indication that gynephilic men are more willing to invest in nieces and nephews once femininity is taken into account. The reversal in the heterosexual sex difference observed in this analysis is likely a statistical artifact (commonly referred to as a “suppression effect”) that occurred because degree of feminine behavioral expression, compared to sex of heterosexual participant, was substantially more predictive of willingness to invest in nieces and nephews in the regression model (for further discussion of this statistical artifact, see Giles, 1989).

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank three anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. DPV was supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Sexual Medicine Society of North America Postdoctoral Fellowships. LJP was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Undergraduate Research Award, a Master’s scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, and a Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group grant. PLV was funded by the University of Lethbridge, a SSHRC of Canada Insight Grant and an Alberta Innovates Health Solutions Sustainability Fund Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Toronto—Mississauga, Deerfield Hall, 3359 Mississauga Rd., Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada

    Doug P. VanderLaan

  2. Underserved Populations Research Program, Child, Youth and Family Division, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Doug P. VanderLaan

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada

    Lanna J. Petterson & Paul L. Vasey

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  1. Doug P. VanderLaan
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Correspondence to Doug P. VanderLaan.

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VanderLaan, D.P., Petterson, L.J. & Vasey, P.L. Femininity and Kin-Directed Altruism in Androphilic Men: A Test of an Evolutionary Developmental Model. Arch Sex Behav 45, 619–633 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0632-z

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