Chapter 26A

1

Chapter 26A
Sexuality1
Example
Behavioral Clinical Psychology
I’M A WOMAN TRAPPED IN A MAN’S BODY—PART I2

“I want sex-change surgery. I want a woman’s body. I’m a woman trapped in a man’s
body. I want the right body. I want a woman’s body,” the young man continued in a high-pitched,
almost falsetto voice.
“Is that possible?” Sidney Fields asked, looking at this strange young man who was five six
and weighed less than 100 pounds.
“Yes, if you’ve got the money, and if you can find a surgeon who will do it, and if you’re 21.
But I don’t have the $70,000 or whatever it is. I don’t know the right doctor. I’m only 18. I’ve got 3
more years of hell to live through. And even then, I won’t have the money.”
“Why is it hell?”
“You can’t understand. No one can. Mr. Fields, suppose you woke one morning and
discovered your body had changed into a woman’s body.”
Sidney Fields flinched.
“You’d give anything to have your man’s body back. Well, that’s the way it is with me. Oh,
I know; it sounds like a dirty joke. But it isn’t a joke. It depresses me so. That’s why I came to
you, Mr. Fields. I’m in your intro psych class, and I thought maybe you could help me. No one
else can.”
Sid put his left elbow on the arm of his desk chair, closed his eyes, and then rubbed his left
eye with his index finger. He couldn’t come to grips with the reality of this extremely effeminate
young man and his plight. He wasn’t like a woman; he was more like a caricature of a woman.
“Mr. Fields, you’ve got to help me. If you don’t help me, I’m afraid I’ll commit suicide. I tried
suicide once. I overdosed on antihistamines, but it didn’t work.”
The young man went on to explain that when he first started high school he ran away from
home and tried to commit suicide. Everyone had made fun of him in high school, and it was just
too aversive; so he dropped out. When he returned to high school, he had fainting spells. A
psychiatrist had seen him. His parents put him in a hospital. The psychiatrists gave him
antidepressants and phenothiazines for 9 months. Nothing helped.
Sid was not a clinical psychologist; he was a psychology teacher; so he felt awkward in this
role into which the young man had cast him. “I’m afraid I haven’t learned all my students’ names
after just one class, so . . .”
“Sorry, Mr. Fields, Bobbie—Bobbie with an ie, not a y. That was my mother’s idea. She
wanted a girl. Bobbie Brown is my name.”
“Tell me more about yourself, Bobbie. When did you discover you were gay?”

1
Special thanks to Master’s student Stephanie Bates for helping to revise this chapter (Fall 2007).
2
Like all cases in POB book, Bobbie’s is based on actual research. In this instance, David Barlow
and his colleagues at the medical school of the University of Mississippi did this research. The
work of these behavior analysts with a transgender client represents one of the most dramatic
cases of behavior behavior/values/personality change in the history of psychology. We will follow
the progress of this case (and others introduced in this chapter) throughout the rest of the book.
See: Barlow, D. H., Hayes, S. C., Nelson, R. O., Steele, D. L., Meeler, M. E., & Mills, J. R. (1979).
Sex role motor behavior: A behavioral check list. Behavioral Assessment, 1, 119–138; and
Barlow, D. H., Reynolds, E. H., & Agras, W. S. (1973). Gender identity change in transsexuals.
Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 569–579.

2

“I’m not gay; Mr. Fields; I’m not attracted to gay men, not at all. I’m a transgender person;
I’m only attracted to straight heterosexual guys; I’m a woman in a man’s body.”
“Thanks for the clarification, Bobbie. So when did you discover you were a woman and not a
man?”
“Mr. Fields, suppose I asked you, ‘When did you discover you were a man and not a
woman?’ Oh, I don’t mean to be sarcastic. It’s just that no one understands. I was born a female.
I started out as a little girl in a little boy’s body. As long as I can remember, I always preferred
girls’ clothes. But they wouldn’t let me wear my girls’ clothes in school. I more or less stopped
wearing them, even at home, when I was about 13. People were giving me too much grief. When
I was in grade school, I read the encyclopedia so I could learn how to cook and knit and crochet
and embroider. I made the prettiest things. I’ve always hated the things my brother enjoys, like
basketball and hunting.”
Bobbie also said he had started having sexual fantasies when he was 12. He always
imagined himself as a female having intercourse with a male. He masturbated to these fantasies
but had never had an orgasm or ejaculated.
“Bobbie, I can see you’re hurting, but I’m not sure what you want me to do. I’m not a
surgeon,” Sid said, as he tried to find his way back to his more comfortable role as the college
teacher.
“I know, Mr. Fields; please don’t joke with me. You are a psychologist, and I sure need your
help.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to stop hurting. I want to feel good about myself. My dad hates me. My brother
teases me and makes fun of me because I’m majoring in secretarial sciences. People beat me
up. No one likes me but my mother. I don’t fit in anywhere. I’m always on the outside looking in.
There’s no place in this world for a woman in a man’s body.”
The more Bobbie talked, the more Sid sympathized with him and the more Bobbie’s plight
moved Sid. Though Bobbie was different from Sid, in fact different from anyone Sid had ever
known, Sid also could see that Bobbie had the same feelings, fears, and concerns as everyone
else.
“Do you want to be a man in a man’s body?”
“No! I’m not a man. I’m a woman. Besides, my psychiatrist said they’ve never ever been
able to take a transgender person like me and change her into a man. That’s what I am, you
know—a transgender person. He says the treatment of choice is sex-reassignment surgery. But
even if I had the money, I’m not 21; and even if I were 21, I have no idea where I could get the
money. I don’t know what to do.”
“What are your options?”
“I saw a movie about one transgender person who became a prostitute. Oh, gross! I don’t
want to do that. And I don’t want to be a female impersonator on the stage. I am not an
impersonator; I am a female. I just want to marry a nice man and have children and lead a normal
life, just like any other woman.”
“What are your odds?”
“Terrible. That’s why I’m so upset.”
“If you were a woman in a woman’s body, there’d be a place for you and you’d be OK.”
“Of course!”
“If you were a man in a man’s body, there’d be a place for you and you’d be OK.”
“It wouldn’t be OK!”
“Maybe not. But, like I said, I’m not a surgeon; I can’t give you a woman’s body. Also, I don’t
think I can help you become happy as a woman in a man’s body, at least not in our society; and
I’m afraid we aren’t going to change society fast enough to be of much comfort to you. But I do
have some ideas about how we might help you become a man in a man’s body. Also, I have
some ideas about how we might help you like it that way. Dr. David Barlow and his colleagues
dealt with a problem like yours when he was at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.”
“My psychiatrist said no one has ever done it.”
“No one had done it before Dave Barlow. And I don’t think anyone has done much since
then. It’s hard, stressful work, and the outcome is not certain.”

3

“I’m used to hard work, and I’m used to stress. But I don’t want to be a man any more than
you want to be a woman.”
“I know, Bobbie. I feel bad that I can’t solve your problem any other way. I can’t change your
body. I can’t change society, at least not fast enough. I’m afraid I can’t do more. If it doesn’t work
out, you could still pursue the sex-reassignment surgery later.”
“I’m not sure, Mr. Fields; I’m going to have to think about that.”

Intervention
A MAN’S MOVES
Bobbie did think about it. He thought about it for the next week. He had to make a big
decision. We often don’t make big decisions unless our life is so aversive we can’t bear it.
Bobbie’s life was so aversive that he decided to escape from that aversiveness with the help of
Sid Fields. He didn’t want to solve his problem this way, but he had no better way; it beat suicide,
and he appreciated that.
Bobbie and Sid started on a program that would consume much of their lives for the
remainder of Bobbie’s freshman year at Big State University. But they didn’t start this program
alone. Dawn, Sid’s wife, was a licensed psychologist, and she also worked on this project with
them.3 It was an experimental program that might never help or that might make Bobbie’s life
even worse—desperation’s solution. Sid hoped only that he could repeat the heroic work that
Barlow and his colleagues had done.
Sid didn’t want this job. He didn’t have the time. And he was happiest teaching his courses
and reading journal articles about how others solved psychological problems; he’d rather read
about Barlow’s work than actually do it. But Bobbie’s suffering had moved Sid so much that he
had promised to help. It was too late to back out now. Nothing to do but go for it—go for it with
more intensity than is the custom in clinical psychology—go for it 30 minutes a day, 5 days a
week.
They started with the problem that caused Bobbie the most misery—the scorn and ridicule
from his peers for his effeminate behavior. To change from a woman to a man, Bobbie would
have to act like a man. He would have to sit like a man, walk like a man, and stand like a man.
“I don’t want to be John Wayne,” Bobbie said.
“I agree. I don’t either,” Sid said, “but there is a middle ground, the behavior style of the
typical male. It’s no better nor worse than your style, but using the typical male style will greatly
reduce the amount of hassles you have.”
“Am I really that different?”
“I’ve noticed in class and I’ve noticed in our meetings that almost 100% of the time you
handle your body more like a typical woman than a typical man.”
“What do you mean?”
“For instance, the way you’re sitting. You’ve crossed your legs with one knee on top of the
other, like a woman.”
“Isn’t that the way everyone sits?”
“I’m not.” Sid was sitting with his legs crossed, but the ankle of his left leg was on top of the
knee of his right leg. “This is a more masculine way of sitting. Try it.”
Bobbie slowly moved the calf of his left leg to the knee of his right leg, glanced at Sid, and
then kept moving until his left ankle almost touched his right knee.
“That looks great, at least if you want a more traditional masculine image,” Sid said.
“Perhaps, but it feels terrible,” Bobbie replied.
3
We point out at this point that a fictional, licensed PhD psychologist (Dawn) was involved in this
fictional project because a few readers of earlier editions of this book were concerned about the
ethical and legal implications of having an unlicensed fictional psychologist (Sid) take on such a
serious problem. Unfortunately, the training that normally leads to becoming a licensed
psychologist (e.g., a traditional clinical psychologist) in no way prepares the psychologist to help
Bobbie solve his problems. We should also mention that to reduce any problems of conflict of
interest between Sid’s role as Bobbie’s teacher and his and Dawn’s role as Bobbie’s behavior
analysts, they did not charge him for their help.

4

“We’ll keep working on it until you naturally sit in the traditional masculine way and feel
comfortable doing so. I’ll show you how to sit. Then you try it, and I’ll tell you how you’re doing.
We’ll use what we call a reinforcement procedure.”
“I’m willing to keep trying, but I’m sure I’ve seen many guys sitting with their legs crossed
the way I had them before, with one knee above the other,” Bobbie said.
“Yeah,” Sid said, “you’re right, but at this point you need all the masculinity you can get, so
go with this slightly exaggerated style awhile.”
Sid started with a task analysis. He started with the seemingly simple and natural act of
sitting. He divided sitting into four components, including leg crossing. Each day he and Bobbie
went through a series of practice trials, component by component. Sid modeled a component of
masculine sitting, and Bobbie tried to imitate him. Sid then gave Bobbie feedback and praised his
successes. At the beginning of each day’s session they also reviewed a videotape of Bobbie’s
performance from the end of the day before.
After five sessions, Bobbie comfortably, naturally, and reliably sat in the John Wayne way.
Then they worked on walking and finally on standing, succeeding with each class of responses.
Walking and standing also took five sessions each. It was slow, hard work for Bobbie. He often
said he wanted to quit. Sid often thought he too wanted to quit. Instead they plotted Bobbie’s
progress on a chart at the end of each session. These signs of progress, small though they were,
encouraged the behavior analyst and the client to hang in.
After several weeks, Sid said, “Bobbie, you’ve done it. You’ve now got the moves of a man.
Congratulations!”
“Thanks for the compliment, Mr. Fields. And thanks for your help. It feels good. People are
treating me better now, not like some sideshow freak. You know, I feel like I’m an actor and
you’re my director, like you’re teaching me to play a role—the role of a normal, red-blooded, all-
American male. Yet I also feel like we’re tricking them, because that’s not the real me there on
that stage.”
“Did you ever hear of method acting?” Sid asked. Not waiting for Bobbie to reply, he went
on. “That’s a technique people like Marlon Brando have used. Sometimes the actors almost
become the characters they’re playing.”
“You think I’ll become your all-American male? You think I’ll stop feeling like a woman in a
man’s body?”
“I know, Bobbie. It’s hard. We’re not there yet. But we’re getting there. Tomorrow we’ll start
on the next stage of your journey.”
Will Sid repeat Barlow’s success? Will he succeed in changing a personality more
completely than almost anyone in the history of psychology? Will Bobbie become a man? And if
he does, will he be happy? Dear readers, only future chapters will tell.

Analysis
The major key to the success Sid and Bobbie had on the first leg of their journey was
probably Sid’s use of praise as a reinforcer. He praised Bobbie, each time Bobbie made the right
moves. That praise probably reinforced those moves, making the male moves occur more and
more frequently until they occurred as often as with any other male.
Another key to their success was the detailed task analysis Sid borrowed from Barlow and
the University of Mississippi crew. The task analysis allows for an interesting approach to life.
Behavior analysts look at life as a set of tasks. They ask: “Are you having trouble with life? What
part of your life?” Then they say, “Well, that part of life is just a task—just a job to be done. Yet
the task may be too large and too complex to cope with. So let’s break it down into its
components. And let’s make sure you can do each component. Then you’ll be able to do the big
task, and you will have solved your problem!” For instance, if you’re having trouble acting like a
man instead of a woman, let’s break down the task into its components and go from there. Let’s
break acting like a man into such small components as sitting, standing, and walking. Then let’s
break those components into even smaller components, like putting your ankle on your knee
when you’re sitting. That’s a revolutionary way of looking at life. And it seems to work!
In doing a task analysis, you must be concrete. That brings us to a fundamental general
rule.

5

Definition: General Rule
Be concrete
o Always pinpoint specific behaviors
o when you deal with a behavioral (psychological) problem.

Specify exactly what behavior you want to change. Sid couldn’t just say Bobbie was too
effeminate. He couldn’t just say Bobbie acts too much like a woman. He had to specify exactly
what behavior he would and wouldn’t reinforce. He would reinforce Bobbie’s crossing his legs
with the ankle of one leg resting on the knee of the other. He wouldn’t reinforce the knee of one
leg resting above the knee of the other. You’ve got to play it that way, even if it seems too pickey.
If you don’t, you won’t reinforce any one behavior with enough consistency to increase its
frequency. It’s even more crucial to pinpoint the specific behavior if you want someone else to do
some of the reinforcing. What that person thinks is effeminate may not be what you think is
effeminate.
Here’s another thing Sid did: When he started the reinforcement program, he also gave
Bobbie specific feedback. After each of Bobbie’s responses, Sid told him what he had done right
and what he had done wrong. For sure, he was concrete. He got so concrete he’d say, “Put your
ankle closer to your knee.” He didn’t just say, “Be more masculine and less effeminate.” That
would help about as much as giving the feedback in Greek. He also showed Bobbie the
videotapes of his responses.
As we will see, to change behavior, you must analyze tasks, specify concrete behavior,
reinforce, and give feedback.
Well, you’ve met Sid at the university. Now let’s follow him home.

Controversy
TRANSSEXUALITY
We received a few questions and expressions of concern about our treatment of
transsexuality in the second edition of this book. So we decided to eliminate it from the third
edition. But almost all my students thought it was too important to eliminate, as did most of the
faculty I checked with. So then I asked an old friend of mine I’ve known since I was 3 years old.
He is homosexual. I asked him what I should do. He described the isolation, agony, and suicidal
tendencies of gay men he had known and who had sought counseling from him—problems
resulting from society’s oppressiveness. Then he said these issues of sexuality are too important
to ignore. He advised me to keep Bobbie’s case but to discuss its implications more fully and to
face the issues directly. In subsequent editions, I’ve followed his advice.
Regardless of your sexual orientation and your sophistication in these matters, you may find
some parts of this particular behavioral interpretation challenging to your current views and
perhaps upsetting. My advice is to stay loose; don’t get too defensive of your current, long-held,
cherished views or your recently acquired views. On the other hand, don’t jump on this particular
behavioral bandwagon without considerable thought (not all behaviorists would agree with all of
our analysis). Keep thinking about it and see what you conclude by the end of the book.
Furthermore, sexual orientation is an important issue in its own right; and it’s also important
because it’s sort of a model issue, just as our analysis of sexual orientation is sort of a model
analysis that you might apply to many other issues, such as the nature of sex roles more
generally, “intelligence,” “personality,” “mental illness,” crime, poverty, and society. In other
words, an analysis of sexual orientation also gives us a chance to explore what we might
consider a behavioral world view, though no doubt, not the only behavioral world view. So we will
discuss the implications of behavior analysis for sexual orientation at the end of Chapter 26, after
we’ve studied the various relevant concepts in this book.

6

I’M A WOMAN TRAPPED IN A MAN’S BODY—PART II4

Bobbie Brown asked Sid for help. Though Bobbie was born a biological man, his behavioral
history had caused him to act and feel like a woman. Sid thought Bobbie’s safest bet would be to
learn to act like a typical man, think like a typical man, and value what a typical man values. That
way, Bobbie would stop being an object of scorn and ridicule. He would stop being excluded.
Sid had started with modeling, feedback, and differential reinforcement to help Bobbie
acquire classes of responses most people would label as masculine. They worked with three
masculine response classes: sitting, walking, and standing. Sid had defined each response class
according to its topography—movement in space—and he used differential reinforcement,
praising instances of the masculine response classes and withholding praise for instances of
feminine response classes. So Bobbie acquired the male topography—the male moves, of sitting,
walking, and standing.
Not enough. Bobbie still acted like a woman in other ways.

Sid: Bobbie’s getting the right moves, at least in the Psych Department. But everywhere else he’s
having as much trouble as before. Any ideas?
Dawn: Well, you’ve begun with the general basics, like sitting and standing. Now, maybe you
need to get more specific.
Sid: Like what?
Dawn: Like talking to a woman. I met him at your office last week, and I couldn’t ignore his
awkwardness around me. He never looked me in the eye. He answered my questions only
with a short “yes” or a curt “no.” He never said anything unless I said something first. Except
once: He asked me about my nails and my haircut!
Sid: You’ve listed the next target behaviors. But I need a woman for the training. Could you
help?
Again, Sid defined the appropriate response classes, the ones he would differentially
reinforce; and Sid and Dawn modeled typical conversations, demonstrating the appropriate
response classes—eye contact, extended answers, initiation of conversation, and typical
masculine content (most men would not ask women about the brand of nail polish they preferred).
He asked Bobbie to try these appropriate response classes while talking to Dawn. They
videotaped Bobbie, gave him feedback, and differentially reinforced with praise each correct
instance of a response from a masculine response class. Bobbie’s frequency of acting in
masculine ways increased for each response class.
But Bobbie was still in trouble. He talked like a woman, or like a caricature of a woman, in a
clipped, precise way, with a high pitch and feminine inflections. The masculine response class
included a more relaxed way of speech, even some slurring. It was time for more modeling,
feedback, and differential reinforcement: Sid read sentences and asked Bobbie to repeat them.
He differentially reinforced with praise instances of the masculine response class. He also taped
each session and played the tape back, to give Bobbie precise feedback—and it worked. After
three weeks of daily training, Bobbie said even family and friends didn’t recognize his voice over
the phone.
Sid and Dawn had differentially reinforced masculine behavior across different response
classes: sitting, standing, walking, conversing, and voice control. They succeeded; Bobbie was
acting like a man. But Bobbie still fantasized about having a woman’s body, and he still played
the role of the woman in his sexual fantasies.
Keep in mind that it was at Bobbie’s request that Sid and Dawn were helping him change to
a masculine style. Only with Bobbie’s informed consent is such an intervention ethical.

4
Based on Barlow, D. H., Reynolds, E. J., Agras, W. S., & Miss, J. (1973). Gender identity change
in a transsexual. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 569–576.

7

QUESTION

1. Using the concepts of differential reinforcement, response class, and topography, describe
an intervention to help a male transsexual acquire masculine behavior. Specify:
a. the response classes.
b. the reinforcement contingencies.
c. the presumed reinforcers.
d. the results.
e. other features of the intervention, such as modeling and feedback.

Example
Behavioral Clinical Psychology
I’M A WOMAN TRAPPED IN A MAN’S
BODY—PART III
Even though Bobbie behaved like a typical man, he thought like a woman. He fantasized
having a female body and having sex with males. But the goal Bobbie had selected was to
become completely like a typical male in all ways. So Sid helped Bobbie change his fantasies;
their goal was for Bobbie to fantasize himself as a man having sex with a woman.
Bobbie chose four pictures of Playboy models that were least aversive to him. Then Sid
asked Bobbie to fantasize sexual acts with the female in the picture. Often, Sid gave him ideas of
acts that could enrich his fantasies. When his image was clear, Bobbie raised his index finger. If
Bobbie kept the fantasy for 10 seconds, Sid showed him another photo that Bobbie had chosen
before as a potential reinforcer (for instance, pictures of food and animals). When Bobbie had no
trouble holding the image for 10 seconds, Sid raised the criterion by 5 seconds. He was able to
raise the criterion about once a day. Then Sid asked Bobbie to fantasize having sex with any
woman he saw daily. Sid praised increased length of appropriate fantasies, until Bobbie could
maintain the fantasy for 3 minutes. After 34 sessions, Bobbie not only behaved like a typical man
but also fantasized like one, at least most of the time.

Initial:
10-sec. image After:
Intermediate:
60-sec. image Bobbie receives
Terminal: praise
Before: 180-sec. image

Bobbie receives
no praise
Initial:
1-sec. image After:
Intermediate:
10-sec. image Bobbie receives
Terminal: no praise
60-sec. image

Extinction

Then, using an automatic measuring device, Sid measured the circumference of Bobbie’s
penis during these sessions. The results showed that pictures of males still turned Bobbie on; and
pictures of females still didn’t, even though he could tolerate extended fantacies about sexual
relations with them.

Shaping
Reinforcement

8

In addition, Bobbie was still reporting that about five times a day he found himself sexually
attracted to a male. Sid asked Bobbie if he wanted to leave it at that, or if he really wanted to be
turned on by women. Bobbie said, “Yes, if I’m going to go for it, I’m going to go all the way.”
“Well, you have come a long way.”
“Yes, but I have a long way to go, if I’m going to achieve my goal of becoming completely
like a typical male,” Bobbie replied. “I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with same-sex
fantasies. And I’m not saying every man has to be turned on to women. But I’m so sick and tired
of being on the outside that I want to go all the way.”

QUESTION

1. Describe a procedure to increase male fantasies. Include:
a. the target behavior
b. the response dimensions
c. the successive approximations
d. reinforcer contingency
e. the results.

Example
I’M A WOMAN TRAPPED IN A MAN’S BODY—PART IV
Remember Bobbie Brown, the young transgender man who hated his male body? Bobbie
had thought surgery was the only solution to his unhappiness. Working with Sid and Dawn,
Bobbie was becoming much happier with being a man. By learning to act like a typical man, he
had escaped from one part of the torment he suffered. Bobbie had learned to sit, walk, and talk
like a typical man; he had even learned to think like a typical man.
But Bobbie still wasn’t a typical man. Even though he could maintain extended sexual
fantasies about women, they didn’t elicit any sexual response. In addition, he felt sexually
attracted to other men; for instance, he had erections at the sight of men about five times a day.
Sid asked Bobbie, “Now, are you sure you want to keep working toward becoming a typical
male? It might be easier to ask Dawn to help you accept the way you are.”
“No, Mr. Fields. Like I said, I didn’t come this far not to go the whole way.”
Sid and Dawn needed to use respondent conditioning to help Bobbie achieve sexual
arousal to heterosexual stimuli. They used a mechanical strain gauge to measure changes in
Bobbie’s penile circumference when he looked at slides of nude females. The results? Sexual
arousal was nonexistent. Pictures of nude females acted as neutral stimuli for Bobbie. Pictures of
nude males, however, caused Bobbie to have approximately 40% of a full erection.
Then Sid and Dawn showed a nude female slide right before each nude male slide. And
Bobbie started having sexual arousal with the female pictures.
Now, when Sid and Dawn tested Bobbie’s sexual arousal with new nude female pictures, he
found that Bobbie averaged 40% of a full erection. But when they stopped pairing male and
female pictures, this heterosexual arousal decreased. So he used the pairing procedure again,
and again heterosexual arousal increased. Bobbie began to find women sexually attractive, and
he began to have sexual fantasies about women 5 to 15 times a day.
But Bobbie continued experiencing strong transgender arousal. He averaged over 40% of a
full erection when he saw nude male pictures, and he reported approximately 8 instances of
sexual attraction to males and male fantasies a day.
“Bobbie, you now have two sources of sexual arousal, men and women. You sure you don’t
want to quit while you’re ahead of the troops?”
“I told you I want to become a typical man, for better or worse,” Bobbie laughed, but with a
slight lump in his throat.
So Sid and Dawn were not off the hook yet; they had to help Bobbie get rid of his sexual
arousal to male visual stimuli. He asked Bobbie to imagine a transgender fantasy. Then, when
Bobbie reported a clear image, he got an electric shock in his forearm until he signaled that the
fantasy had ceased.

9

Sid and Dawn paired sexual fantasies of nude males (established conditioned eliciting
stimulus) with electric shock (unconditioned respondent eliciting stimulus). They were using a
respondent conditioning procedure to establish sexual male fantasies as a conditioned eliciting
stimulus that elicited responses that would inhibit sexual arousal.
This intervention went on for about 20 sessions over a period of 2 months. Bobbie’s
transgender arousal gradually decreased. Sexual arousal to males averaged between 0 and 5%
and reported fantasies dropped to approximately 3 per day. Female arousal continued to rise and
finally reached a level of 60%.
Bobbie’s parents were happy. They said he behaved like a man at home and no longer
showed isolate or depressive behaviors. He began full-time high school classes for the fall term
and felt comfortable and relaxed in most social settings. For the first time in his life, he wanted to
date and have sexual relations with females. And he also looked more masculine; he had gained
over 15 pounds and had grown 11⁄2 inches during the 8 months of Sid and Dawn’s intervention.
In follow-ups, they no longer continued formal treatment, but they saw Bobbie about once a
week for a month, then once a month for 5 months. These sessions were mainly supportive. Sid
advised Bobbie on how to behave in various social situations. After those months of follow-ups,
Bobbie’s heterosexual arousal averaged 65% of a full erection and transgender arousal averaged
15%. Bobbie told Sid and Dawn that, for the first time he had had an orgasm and ejaculation as a
result of masturbating while imagining sexual intercourse with a woman.
Sid and Dawn continued seeing Bobbie every 3 months. And after 1 year, Bobbie had
acquired a steady girlfriend with whom he engaged in light petting. He continued to become more
confident and talkative. He also changed his name from Bobbie to Bob.

QUESTIONS

1. Describe a procedure to increase heterosexual arousal to female pictures.
2. Describe a procedure to decrease transgender arousal to male pictures.

Concept
HIGHER-ORDER RESPONDENT CONDITIONING
Bobbie’s intervention is one of the most impressive examples of applied behavior analysis in
our field. It involved changing what most people call “personality.” For us, personality means the
consistent way we behave or respond in a wide variety of settings. Sid and Dawn were able to
help Bobbie change his way of talking, moving, thinking, and feeling. But all this wouldn’t have
been possible without a lot of effort from the whole team, especially Bobbie. Bobbie’s intervention
was intensive; it took 8 months of daily intervention and more than a year of follow-up.
So far, we have seen examples of respondent conditioning where the conditioned stimulus
resulted from pairing an unconditioned stimulus (e.g., food or an aversive noise) with a neutral
stimulus (e.g., a specific person or a rat). In Bobbie’s case, however, we saw how a conditioned
stimulus could result from pairing an effective conditioned stimulus (not an unconditoned
stimulus) with a neutral stimulus. Nude pictures of males had acquired conditioned eliciting
properties for Bobbie (we say the male pictures were conditioned stimuli because we think they
probably didn’t elicit an arousal response from Bobbie until he had had some experience with
such images).
They paired nude female pictures (neutral stimuli) with the nude male pictures (conditioned
stimuli). This pairing of a neutral stimulus with a conditioned stimulus is called higher-order
conditioning.

QUESTION

1. Higher-order conditioning—define it and give an example.

10

Compare and Contrast
RESPONDENT EXTINCTION AND OPERANT EXTINCTION
Remember what happened the first time Sid stopped pairing the female pictures with the
male pictures?
The female pictures stopped eliciting sexual arousal.
When the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the stimulus that gave the
conditioned stimulus it’s eliciting function, the conditioned stimulus will lose that eliciting function.
This is respondent extinction.
In respondent extinction, we present the conditioned stimulus without pairing it with the
unconditioned stimulus. Or, in the case of higher-order conditioning, we no longer pair the new
conditioned stimulus with the already established CS.
As a result of respondent extinction the CS stops eliciting the conditioned response.
(Remember the conditioned response is usually more or less the same as the unconditioned
response, except that it was elicited by the conditioned stimulus.).
In Chapter 6, we learned about operant extinction. Be careful not to confuse respondent
extinction with operant extinction. In respondent extinction, we no longer pair the conditioned
stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus. No response is necessary for this procedure to have an
extinguishing effect.
Remember, in operant extinction, we no longer give the contingent behavioral outcome. In
operant extinction, we no longer follow the response with a contingent reinforcer or with the
contingent termination of an aversive stimulus. The previously reinforced response must occur for
the absence of the contingent reinforcer to have an extinguishing effect.

Controversy
TRANSGENDERISM : A CASE STUDY OF MORAL AND LEGAL CONTROL5
A few people were concerned about our treatment of transgenderism (previously called
transexuality) in the second edition of this book. So, we decided to eliminate it from subsequent
editions. But almost all of my students thought it was too important to eliminate, as did most of the
faculty I checked with. So then I asked an old friend of mine I’ve know since I was three years old.
He is gay. I asked him what I should do. He described the isolation, agony, and suicide
tendencies of homosexual and gay men he had known and who had sought counseling from him
- problems resulting from society’s oppressiveness. Then he said these issues of sexuality are
too important to ignore. He advised me to keep Bobbie’s case in but to discuss its implications
more fully and to face the issues directly. We’re following his advice; this section consists of the
fuller discussion of the issues and implications.
Regardless of your sexual orientation and your sophistication in these matters, you may find
some parts of this particular behavioral interpretation challenging to your current views and
perhaps upsetting. Our advise is to stay loose; don’t get too defensive of your current, long-held,
long-cherished views, or your recently acquired views. On the other hand, don’t jump on this
particular behavioral bandwagon, without considerable thought (not all behaviorists agree with all
of our analysis). Keep thinking about it, and see what you conclude by the end of the book.

5
Thanks to Kent Johnson for his careful critique of our treatment of these issues in EPB 4.0. He
helped make this overall analysis much clearer and hopefully less offensive, even though I argue
against prenatal influence on the value of sources of sexual reinforcers and he argues for
prenatal influence. Incidentally, Kent is founder and director of Morningside Academy, in Seattle,
WA, and cofounder of HeadSprout. Morningside Academy is one of the world’s best, if not the
best K through 8 school based on behavior analysis (www.morningsideacademy.org); and
HeadSprout is one of behavior analysis’ most innovative new endeavors--web-based, behavior-
analytic instruction to teach reading to preschoolers (www.headsprout.com).

11

Although sexual orientation is an important issue in its own right, it is only one of many
important issues, though among the most controversial we have considered. But sexual
orientation is also important because it’s sort of a model issue, and our analysis of sexual
orientation is sort of a model analysis, one we might apply to many other complex issues, such as
the nature of sex roles more generally, “intelligence,” “personality,” “mental illness,” “autism,”
“criminality,” poverty and society. In other words, an analysis of sexual orientation also gives us a
chance to illustrate a behavioral word view, though not the only behavioral world view.
THE QUESTION
What’s the basis of our sexual orientation? Is it learned or is it biologically determined? By
biologically determined, I mean unlearned, innate, inherited, genetic, or prenatal. (I will often use
innate in a general, colloquial sense to mean biologically, prenatally determined, without
necessarily suggesting a genetic, inherited basis.)
So the question is, is our sexual orientation learned or innate? Is our sexual orientation a
result of our behavioral history and the current behavioral contingencies, or is it biologically
determined? To be more precise, are the differences between people’s sexual orientation
biologically determined or learned? It’s important to be clear that we’re talking about the
differences in the sexual orientation between different people, not our sexuality, itself; because, of
course, biology underlies every breath we take, ever lever we press. But whether one person
presses the left lever and another presses the right lever may be exclusively a result of the
differences in their past contingencies of reinforcement and reflect no differences in their
underlying biology. Similarly, it is meaningful to ask whether the differences between your gender
behavior and mine are learned or innate (biologically determined), even though biology underlies
all of our behaviors. So the common reply that it is both learned and innate may just be an
intellectual cop out that fails to distinguish between the question of whether there’s a biological
basis of all our behavior and whether there’s a biological basis for individual differences of some
sorts of behaviors, such as gender behavior.
Incidentally, when we suggest our sexual orientation may be learned, we don’t mean to
imply that someone intentionally taught it to us. Bobbie’s parents did not intentionally teach him to
be a transgender person; but, nonetheless, the accidental contingencies and accidental pairings
may have.

AND NOW, LET’S BEGIN.
Usually people talk about being heterosexual, homosexual, gay, lesbian, transgender,
transsexual, or bisexual; but that may be painting with too wide a brush. It may help if we analyze
sexual orientation into four components:
 Sexual values (i.e., reinforcers & aversive conditions)
 Sexually reinforced behavior
 Sex-style (gender) behavior
 Source of sexual reinforcers

IS THE BEHAVIOR THAT PRODUCES SEXUAL REINFORCERS LEARNED OR INNATE?
Generally, in behavior analysis, we find it most useful to consider the behavior that produces
a reinforcer to be fairly arbitrary. The reinforcer, not the behavior, is what’s inherently important.
Here’s one of the best examples of the arbitrariness of behavior - imprinting. As we saw in
Chapter 11, in the typical environment, the chick gets the imprinted reinforcer (a bigger or better
or clearer sight of Mom) by making the response of approaching Mom. But laboratory
demonstrations show that any old response will do, as long as it produces a closer Mom (the
reinforcer). The chick will peck a response key, if that peck will produce the reinforcer (a closer
Mom). In one amazing experiment, using an especially contrived apparatus, the chick had to walk
away from Mom in order to get nearer to her. And of course, the chick learned walking away,
instead of the more typical learned response of walking toward Mom. But the chicks easily
learned this counterintuitive response.

12

IS GENDER BEHAVIOR LEARNED OR INNATE?
Gender behavior is behavior or style typically associated with a particular gender or sex
(e.g., style of walking, talking, playing, working, and dressing). I argue that gender behavior is
arbitrary, and what gender behavior is learned depends on what behavior is reinforced. According
to the actual, published case study our fictional story was based on, Bobbie’s mother wanted a
little girl, but she got Bobby, a little boy, instead. Though we don’t have the details of Bobby’s
history, in one case, during the crucial preschool years, the mother found it cute when the child
dressed up in mommy’s clothes and put blocks in his shoes, so he could have high-heeled shoes
too, just like mommy. It seems plausible that Bobbie’s mother not only tolerated but also
accidentally reinforced his female gender behaviors. What you get is what you reinforce, ready or
not. This interpretation is even more plausible, because we’ve seen that when Bobbie worked
with Sid and Dawn, he could learn to sit, walk, and even talk in a traditional male style rather than
in the traditional female style he had previously learned.
In addition, many people who consider themselves gay or lesbian behave in a style typical
of their biological gender. And many others switch between “female” and “male” gender behavior,
depending on the contingencies of reinforcement and punishment operating at the moment. All of
this suggests that gender behavior is arbitrary and learned, depending on the contingencies of
reinforcement and punishment. Contrary to popular belief, I’m suggesting there is nothing
inherent in being male or female that determines much of our gender behavior.
However, most of us would find it impossible to change our gender behavior from “female”
to “male” or vice versa. Just as, for a long time, Bobbie found it impossible to perform typical
male-gender behavior. And because of that difficulty, we assume our style is innate. But most of
us would also find it impossible to speak Spanish without sounding like a gringo. And, yet,
because of that difficulty, we would not assume our gringo accent is innate; instead, it was just
learned so well while we were children that we can’t get around it. The same goes for gender
behavior.

IS THE REINFORCING VALUE OF SEXUAL STIMULATION LEARNED OR UNLEARNED
(INNATE)?
What about direct physical stimulation of the erogenous zones? The physical stimulation
itself is probably an unlearned reinforcer. No one has to pair M&Ms with erogenous stimulation for
that stimulation to be reinforcing.
IS THE REINFORCING AND PUNISHING VALUE OF DIFFERENT SOURCES OF SEXUAL
STIMULATION LEARNED OR UNLEARNED (INNATE)?
But what about the source of that stimulation - whether it’s a man, a woman, or an inanimate
object? Well, in the dark, all cats look gray; if you don’t know, it can’t matter. However, in the light,
when you do know, it’s crucial. Sexual stimulation by the wrong person, a person of the wrong
sex, or a disgusting object may have such a larger aversive component that it overwhelms the
reinforcing component.
So what about this aversiveness of sexual stimuli when paired with certain visual stimuli
(such as the wrong person, a person of the wrong sex, or a disgusting object)? Surely this
conditional aversiveness is learned. Though we know of no such experiment, suppose every time
you were sexually stimulated in the presence of a red light, you were also shocked; and suppose
sexual stimulation in the presence of the green light had no shock paired with it.
NEUTRAL STIMULUS AVERSIVE CONDITION

Sexual stimulation
Shock
AND red light
Sexual stimulation
No shock
AND green light
No doubt, the pairing of the conditional stimulus (sexual stimulation and the red light) with
the aversive stimulus (shock) would cause that conditional stimulus to become aversive.

13

Now, for most of us, such conditional aversiveness may not be acquired through direct
pairings of this sort. Instead, like so many of our values, it is probably acquired through a verbal
analog to pairing, for example other people’s comments about how inappropriate (immoral,
disgusting) certain sources of sexual stimulation are.

Sexual stimulation AND Criticisms from other
image of same sex person people
Sexual stimulation AND image of No criticisms
opposite sex person.

While there is no experiment just like the one we described, there is some relevant
experimental research. A group of male rats were raised from birth without contact with females.
These rats acquired the sexually reinforced behavior of mounting their male companions. And, as
adults, they would then mount males more frequently than females. Again, this is not to say most
of the sexual values of human beings result from such direct pairing. It is to say that the
conditional reinforcing value can result from our learning history rather than our biological
inheritance.

OTHER DATA SUGGESTING OUR INNATE SEXUAL FLEXIBILITY
 The bonobos (pigmy chimps of the equatorial forests of central and west Africa) are
vigorously bisexual. They appear to be our closest relatives, sharing more than 98% of our
genetic profile, making “it as close to a human as, say, a fox is to a dog.6”
 Historically, homosexuality has commanded much interest and attention. Attitudes toward
such preference have varied in different epochs and among diverse cultural and
subcultural groups, ranging from acceptance (as among the ancient Greeks), to measured
tolerance (in Roman times), to outright condemnation. During modern times ambivalent
attitudes have prevailed.
 Of 76 societies studied by the American anthropologist Clellan Ford and the
psychobiologist Frank A. Beach, two-thirds consider homosexual activities normal and
socially acceptable.
 In some societies, such as the Arunta (Aranda) of central Australia, homosexuality is
almost universal.
 Some nations, such as Great Britain and Germany, have legalized homosexual relations
between consenting adults.
 One-third of the societies studied by Ford and Beach, including those of many
industrialized countries, give little or no sanction to homosexuality, its practice often leading
to long-term imprisonment. In many countries, it can at the very least result in job loss,
housing discrimination, government blacklisting, and social ostracism.
 In recent years in the United States such organizations as the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the Legal Defense and Education Fund
(LAMBDA), and numerous regional and church-related groups have worked to influence
public opinion and legislation toward acceptance of gays and lesbians7.
All of this suggests to me that we are born bisexual or even multisexual. It is only through
our behavioral history that we become more focused in our sexual behavior and our preferences
for specific sources of sexual stimulation.

6
de Waal, F. B. M. (1995, March). Bonobo sex and society. Scientific American, 82-88.
7
Editors. (1994). Homosexuality. Microsoft Encarta. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation.

14

To further explain how deeply ingrained some of our learned reinforcers are, it helps to look
at other sources of learned reinforcers. It’s hard for most of us to imagine eating insects, even
harder to imagine enjoying the taste and the experience. Food is an unlearned reinforcer, but the
form of the food is a learned reinforcer. When Baby is hungry and Baby is given a grilled cheese
sandwich (or Big Mac, or hot dog), the taste, smell, and texture of the grilled cheese sandwich are
paired with the reduction of hunger and the grilled cheese sandwich becomes a learned
reinforcer.

NEUTRAL STIMULUS REINFORCER

Taste, smell, and texture of
Reduction of hunger
gril ed cheese
No taste, smell, and texture
No reduction of hunger
of gril ed cheese

In a similar manner, insects become reinforcing to hungry children in other cultures, when
they are given insects to eat. Now those of us who may not have acquired the learned reinforcing
value of insects might think “ugh! Insects are disgusting and full of germs,” but to those for whom
the taste, smell and texture of insects have become learned reinforcers - those insects have
become the equivalent to a grilled cheese sandwich.

NEUTRAL STIMULUS REINFORCER

Taste, smell, and texture of
Reduction of hunger
beetle
No taste, smell, and texture
No reduction of hunger
of beetle

The European and American rejection of insects as food has little to do with insects as
disease carriers or their association with dirt and filth. The reason we don’t eat them is not that
they are dirty and loathsome; rather, they seem dirty and loathsome because we don’t eat them.
Why then, don’t insects remain neutral stimuli when they don’t become learned reinforcers.
Why do they become learned aversive conditions? Because there are many verbal analogues to
the pairing procedure that change the previously neutral insect into aversive stimuli. The words
(such as “ugh,” “gross,” and “ick”) that Mom says about insects are learned aversive conditions to
Baby. Therefore, the bugs also become learned aversive conditions.


Talking about bugs Mom says "ugh!"

Talking about flowers Mom doesn't say "ugh!"

So not only are the stimuli produced from eating insects not established as learned
reinforcers, but insects in general are learned aversive conditions.
There are many different foods around the world that become learned aversive conditions in
some places but not in other places due to verbal analogues to pairing procedures. Horses, dogs,
and cats are aversive to eat in America because of the verbal pairings that establishes these
neutral stimuli as aversive to eat. No such verbal pairings exist in many Asian countries where
these meats are enjoyed on a daily basis.

15

What’s the point? Just because something seems like a powerful reinforcer (for example,
sexual stimulation from an opposite sex partner, or a grilled cheese sandwich), and something
else seems like a powerful aversive condition (for example, sexual stimulation from a same sex
partner or the taste and texture of bugs) doesn’t mean that the reinforcing or aversive properties
of those things are unlearned.
But it’s hard to imagine that our sexual values are learned; instead, they seem so natural to
us, they seem like something we were born with. This is because we’re unaware of the subtle but
ever-present social programming easing us into the sex roles we acquire, just as we’re unaware
of the subtle pairings and reinforcement contingencies teaching us to love the good ol’ American
grilled cheese sandwich. And given that the large majority of us end up with heterosexual
repertoires and values, it’s even harder to imagine how a minority end up with gay and lesbian
repertoires and values, let alone transgender repertoires and values, just as it’s harder to imagine
how a minority of Americans would seek out the gourmet taste of a deep-fried grasshopper. But
few would argue that they inherited a craving for grasshoppers. And by the same logic, a
behavioral world view suggests to us that we should not argue that our sexual values are
inherited. If you grew up in classic China, you’d find snake to be a delicacy and products based
on glandular secretions from cows (e.g., a Dairy Queen sundae) to be disgusting, but your
American grandchildren would have the opposite values. Genes rarely change over three
generations, but cultural programming sure can.

IF SEXUAL ORIENTATION IS NOT INNATE, IS IT CHOSEN?
Whether sexual orientation is learned or biologically determined (innate) is controversial and
has political implications. Part of the problem is that people don’t understand the power of our
behavioral histories. They think that either you inherit your sexual values or you must choose
them as you would choose which hat to wear to school. When we say “learned” we do not mean
chosen.
Suppose you’re heterosexual. Suppose you behave in a typical manner, similar to others of
your same biological sex. And suppose you find sexual stimulation from people of the other sex to
be reinforcing and sexual stimulation from people of the same sex to be aversive. Even if you
learned your style and values, did you chose them? You would probably say, no. No choice.
Instead, your style and values resulted from your behavioral history.
People don’t understand the concept I call preschool fatalism: Some of the behaviors and
values we learn before certain ages (e.g., preschool) interact with existing contingencies of
reinforcement and punishment in such a way as to make them almost impossible to change when
we become adults (e.g., our gringo accent or autistic behavior and values).

EVIDENCE FOR BIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM
Some correlational research does point to the inheritance of male homosexuality. But other
research has been unable to get the same results. So it’s hard to say what the case is. No doubt
the search for a biological basis for “sexual orientation,” will continue as it does for “criminal
tendencies,” “intelligence,” and “mental illness.” And no doubt, the results will continue to be so
ambiguous that people will be able to make whatever conclusion they wish, as in those other
areas. And no doubt, the research will continue to generate much heat and controversy.
One reason for the heat and controversy of the learned versus innate debate is the political
implications. Some advocates of gay and lesbian rights argue that society will be more tolerant if
it believes their gay and lesbian sexual behavior and values are innate and not their “fault,” not
“chosen.” Other advocates think just the opposite. Again, this issue is based on the
misconception that if we didn’t inherit out sexual orientation, we must have chosen it.
On the other hand, just because Barlow was able to change Bobbie’s sexual orientation
using behavior-analysis training techniques does not prove that his sexual orientation was
learned. Maybe he inherited his sexual orientation, but Barlow’s behavior-analysis techniques
were so powerful that they overcame Bobbie’s innate sexual orientation.
Yes, maybe; but Bobbie’s learning a new, heterosexual orientation does strongly suggest
that he had also learned his transgender orientation.

16

Incidentally, people make a similar argument concerning the causes of “autism.” Just
because the only way to successfully replace autistic repertoires and values with more functional
ones is to use behavior-analysis training techniques does not prove that autistic repertoires and
values were learned. They might be innate, but behavior-analysis techniques are so powerful that
they overcome this innate “autism.”
Again, yes, maybe; but learning new, functional repertoires and values does strongly
suggest that “autism” was also learned.

IS HOMOPHOBIA LEARNED OR INNATE?
A few years ago, President Bill Clinton was so brave, or so naive, as to suggest that the
military should treat gay and lesbian military personnel as if they were normal human beings and
not abnormal creatures of the night to be tarred and feathered and ridden out of military service
on a rail. Now, what amazed me was the strong, negative reaction by the American citizens and
their leaders. For example, Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, almost
resigned in protest. And although he is an African American, he seemed unaffected by the fact
that only a few years before, the American military services had resisted with equal strength and
fury the requirement that they treat African Americans as if they, too, were normal human beings
and not required to be segregated and restricted to menial tasks.
At first, I thought Powell and our political leaders were just cynically playing it for a few red-
neck Neanderthals in the peanut gallery. But the more I checked it out, the more it seemed as if
they were representing a genuine homophobia that permeates the very soul of our culture. Why?
Well, many who object to gay and lesbian citizens quote the Bible (and of course the Bible
can be quoted back at them). But what is the Bible? Whether or not it is the word of God, the
Bible is an impressive, illustrated code of behavior the leaders of our culture, past and present,
consider best for the well-being of our society.
But why would our leaders be concerned with sexual behavior? Because, in the biblical
days on up to the recent past, the rate of infant mortality was high. And a large population was
considered most viable, especially when competing with other war-like societies. So our leaders
claimed as taboo and immoral any alternative sexual behavior that did not lead to procreation,
whether it be:
 Onanism - masturbation and coitus interruptus (named after Onan, son of Judah [Genesis
38:9])
 Sodomy - anal intercourse or copulation with an animal (named after Sodom of Sodom
and Gomorrah fame, the two cities destroyed by fire from Heaven because of their
unnatural carnal wickedness, according to the Bible; and so great a sin was sodomy that,
while fleeing Sodom’s coming destruction, Lot’s wife disobeyed God’s orders, looked back
at the city and was turned into a pillar of salt for that voyeuristic sin)
 Homosexuality - if a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them
have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon
them (Hebrew Bible. Leviticus 20:138); in European cultures, religious and secular laws
against homosexuality began in the Middle Ages as prohibitions against any kind of sexual
activity not aimed a procreation9

8
The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright ©
1993 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
9
The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright ©
1995 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

17

Strong language. Traditionally, our religious and secular leaders have been pretty serious
about straying from the tried-and-true path. But notice they don’t have much to say about self-
injurious behavior, other than an occasional injunction about harming the temple thy body. Why
not? Why aren’t there major religious and legal laws against gouging out your own eyes or
pounding your head on the floor until it bleeds? Surely those acts are just as harmful to the
individual and to society as are sexual variations. Imagine a whole culture full of people emitting a
high rate of self-injurious behavior. But that does strain the imagination. Our religious and legal
leaders have not spent much time addressing self-injury because it is so rare, because the
behavior of few people has come under the control of the reinforcement contingencies associated
with self-injury.
But the behavior of quite a few people has come under the control of the reinforcement
contingencies associated with non-procreative sexual reinforcers. And, historically, our leaders
have been concerned that these concurrent contingencies of alternate sources of sexual
reinforcers are so powerful and so handy that they will seriously decrease the rate of procreative
sexual behavior and thus the rate of procreation. There will not be enough true begetting and
begatting.

MY POINT:
If we were biologically wired to find non-procreative sex (including same-gender sexual
stimulation) aversive rather than reinforcing, there would be no need for all these religious and
legal sanctions. But we’re not. Instead, we’re biologically wired to find essentially any source of
sexual stimulation reinforcing. So, if our sexual behavior is to be restricted to procreative sex,
stimulation from all non-procreative sources must be made shameful, dirty, nasty, unnatural,
learned, aversive stimuli. And this is done through direct pairing with aversive stimuli, such as
physical punishment, and more often, through verbal analogs to such pairings, such as spoken
and written social, religious, and legal sanctions. For example, the behavior of many, if not most,
preschool children comes under the control of reinforcing stimulation arising from masturbation
and will masturbate frequently and openly until their caretakers (parents, preschool teachers, etc.)
effectively punish that behavior physically and/or socially. Freud called this the phallic stage,
suggesting that young children naturally stop masturbating as they grow out of it. But perhaps
they naturally stop masturbating only after that act has received enough punishment.
What amazes me is the effectiveness of these relatively subtle pairings and analogs to
pairings. So effective that, by the time we are adults, most people seem to believe we are
biologically wired to find same-gender sexual stimulation horribly aversive, so aversive that they
can’t stand the idea of being in the same military services with people who do not find same-
gender sexual stimulation aversive.
But sometimes those relatively subtle pairings and analogs to pairings weren’t done quite
that way. Instead, because of slight differences in behavioral histories, those pairings of same-
gender sexual stimulation and aversive stimulation were too subtle, so that same-gender sexual
stimulation maintained its strong reinforcing value. And in some of those cases, opposite-gender
sexual stimulation was paired with aversive stimulation, either directly or through verbal analogs;
and thus opposite-gender sexual stimulation became a learned aversive stimulus.
So, from my behavior-analytic perspective (but not the only behavior-analytic perspective),
we inherit susceptibility for our behavior to be reinforced by sexual stimulation from almost any
source, including same-gender and opposite-gender sources. It is only through aversive control
that those sources are restricted. And our different behavioral histories cause sexual stimulation
from different sources to become learned aversive stimuli; for some people, same-gender
sources have become aversive, and for other people, opposite-gender sources have become
aversive. And only with intense behavioral intervention, can those aversions be reversed, even
with voluntary participation.

18

Before finishing our discussion of this issue, we should mention another political or social-
systems concern: Cultural-materialistic reality has changed greatly since biblical times. Now we
have more problems with overpopulation than with underpopulation. Yet society continues
persecuting transgender, transsexual, bisexual, gay, and lesbian citizens (social values usually
lag painfully behind materialistic reality). So who should change - the citizens who are being
persecuted or the persecuting society? Some concerned with the development of a more tolerant
society might argue for fighting rather than switching, arguing that people with nontraditional
sexual orientations should not cave in to bigotry. We argue for doing whatever is possible to help
the individuals (whether that be to help them acquire traditional sexual orientations or to resist the
oppression of the traditional majority). But, at the same time, all involved can work for a more
tolerant society compatible with the material and social realities of the 21st century.
Regardless of the political/social agenda, we can summarize our position by saying that
people’s biological inheritance has no more to do with their preference for the source of their
sexual stimulation than it does with the their preference for the source of their auditory
stimulation. There is no gene that determines whether we prefer same-gender or opposite-gender
sexual stimulation, just as there is no gene that determines whether we prefer heavy metal, new
wave, or polkas - well, maybe there is a polka gene.

SEXUALITY DEFINITIONS
Now that we have presented our behavior analysis of sexual orientation, we might summarize
some features of that analysis with these behavioral definitions:
 A heterosexual is someone (either male or female) for whom sexual stimulation by a
person of the other sex is reinforcing and sexual stimulation by a person of the same sex is
aversive.
 A homosexual is someone (either male or female) for whom sexual stimulation by a
person of the same sex is reinforcing and sexual stimulation by a person of the other sex is
aversive.
 A transsexual or transgender person is someone (either male or female) for whom
sexual stimulation by a heterosexual of the same biological sex is reinforcing and sexual
stimulation by a person of the other biological sex or a homosexual of the same biological
sex is aversive. A transsexual person is someone who has had sex-change surgery, while
a transgender person has not.
TO INTERVENE OR NOT TO INTERVENE
There are three limitations of the Barlow study on which we base the Bobbie/Bobby story.
 Some of the data are subjective self-reports.
 Although we have follow up data for a year, we have no real-long-term follow-up data.
 There have not been many replications of this study. The lack of replications could be
because of the technical difficulty of doing research of this sort and the considerable social
pressure from both the left and the right on scientists doing sexual research, especially
research on gender identity. So the Barlow intervention has not really been proven to be a
reliable or effective intervention, though it has also not been disproven. As Barlow et al.
say, they don’t know how typical Bobbie was of transsexual (transgender) people.
In fact, at this point, which is quite a few years after the original Barlow study, if a
homosexual or a transgender person were to come to me for help, I would probably suggest that
their best bet might be to find or move to a community that would be less aversive for them to
participate in as a gay, lesbian, or transgender person, if their current community were as
repressive as Bobbies was. This seems to be what the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual
community would recommend, also.
Incidentally, this community and much of the professional psychological and psychiatric
communities object to efforts to change or help change people’s sexual orientation. I think this is
for two reasons:

19

 They think that sexual orientation is a biologically determined part of an individual’s
essence and thus not to be tampered with.
 There is practically no scientific evidence that attempts to change sexual orientation have
been successful; and in some or many cases, those attempts may have just created more
problems for the client.
However, none of this means I think a skilled behavior analyst couldn’t or shouldn’t replicate
Barlow’s intervention, if the client could find a behavior analyst with Barlow’s skills and resources
to do the intensive training the person would need. But, generally, it’s so hard to make such an
extensive change in some sorts of repertoire and values of adults that it is almost impossible. For
example, even the world-famous Ivar Lovaas restricts his work to preschool autistic children; to
my knowledge, no one has had the success with teenage autistic clients that many people have
had with preschool autistic children.
Incidentally, Barlow has also done research helping a transgender man adjust to the role of
a transgender male rather than trying to switch to the role of a heterosexual male.

THE BIG DEAL
So why do we make such a big deal of the Barlow studies in this book?
 Because it illustrates what I think is the least you would have to do, if you were to help
someone make as complete a transformation as Bobby did. You can’t solve big problems
of this sort with once-a-week talk therapy.
 This study provides an excellent intro to the analysis of the complex issues involved in the
nature-nurture debate--biological determinism vs. behavioral contingencies and behavioral
history.

QUESTIONS
1. According to this book, sexual behavior is
a. learned
b. innate
2. According to this book, the reinforcing and punishing value of different sexual stimuli (for
example, tactual [touch] stimuli) is
a. learned
b. innate
3. According to this book, the reinforcing and punishing value of the sources (not type) of different
sexual stimuli (for example, a good-looking man or woman) is
a. learned
b. innate
4. According to this book, homophobia is
a. learned
b. innate
5. According to this book, if we were biologically wired to find nonprocreative sex (including same-
gender sexual stimulation) aversive rather than reinforcing, there would be no need for the
large number of religious and legal laws against nonprocreative sex.
a. true
b. false

Chapter 26A

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Chapter 26A