It has long been known that there is no one type of gay man and that generalizations about their appearance or behavior are hazardous. A newly published “scoping review” (i.e. a search of published scholarship) in the journal Psychology & Sexuality identifies a range of different subcultures that have been the object of scholarly interest. […]
Detransitioners’ Motivations Studied
37 Youtube videos posted by young people who gender-transitioned as teens and then later detransitioned as adults, a study just published in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy has identified five pathways into the transition that they later regretted: (1) about one-third admitted to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or ADHD. For the former, gender […]
Gender Reassignment and Eating Disorders
Previous scholarship has noted an elevated incidence of eating disorders among adolescents who present with gender dysphoria, and has posited that the eating disorders are a response to the patient’s discomfort with their developing body. A study of all 2,080 adolescents seeking gender reassignment in Finland from 1996 to 2019 confirms that eating disorders are […]
The Fruit Machine
Frank Robert Wake was a former professor at Carleton University who was involved in secret Cold War-era research targeting queer people. He was chair of the Psychology Department at the time and was infamously known for his “fruit machine”, a “battery of psychological tests, including techniques to measure a person’s output of sweat and detect […]
Teen Boys and Their AI Girlfriends
Hard Copy has previously reported on the rise of AI “dating” and “relationships”. Researchers and academics are reporting that teen boys are increasingly turning to AI “girlfriends” for companionship. Experts warn that if young people start replacing real relationships with AI interactions, they may end up building fewer real-world connections. These real connections are important […]
Gender Transition and Psychological Health
Gender-affirming care for young people has long been advocated on the basis that it improves their mental health and can be life-saving. A new study from Finland, based on the entire population of young people under the age of 23 who were seen at the country’s two gender identity clinics between 1996 and 2019, calls […]
Incels Target Underage Girls
A study of posts to the online incel forum www.incels.is, newly published in the Journal of Sex Research, suggests a heightened interest of this community in justifying sexual access to pubescent girls as young as 12, corresponding to what psychologists classify as hebephilia. One commonly finds messages like “get her young, before some chad her […]
Where Adolescent Sexting is Healthy and Common
A study following 743 Norwegian teens at ages 14, 16, and 18 documents the frequency and nature of their sexting experiences as they mature. Girls were slightly more likely than boys to send sexts: less than 8.8% by age 14, 34.7% by 16, and 40% by age 18. However, girls were much more likely to […]
Why Do Some Women Like Violent Pornography?
It is surprising, but well established in previous research that women are more likely than men to access pornography that emphasizes themes of dominance, submission, bondage, gangbangs, and even rape scenarios. These themes also pervade many romance novels read by women. A recently published study of 561 German women tested their responses to sexually explicit […]
On Men Who Blame Progress for Their Pain
A recently released Netflix documentary on the “manosphere” is making some big cultural waves. In it, Louis Theroux, a British filmmaker and journalist, interviews prominent young and charismatic male influencers who feel victimized and ostracized in a world that’s been improved by feminism and other pursuits toward sociopolitical justice. According to the BBC, the manosphere […]