Transformation: From (Trans-)Gender Roles to Profiles.

Combining a philosophical approach with empirical psychology, this essay investigates the relationship between "profilicity," the formation of identity in orientation to profiles, and gender identity. We discuss empirical research that indicates a significant difference between transgender identity in traditional (collectivist) and modern (individualist) societies. We suggest that this difference is due to a shift in the formation of gender identity away from gender roles and toward gender profiles. To substantiate this claim, we first outline a basic theoretical terminology of identity and gender. Then, we critically analyze the representation of gender, including transgender, in contemporary popular culture. Finally-with a descriptive, but not therapeutic intention-we discuss several case studies of identity formation of transgender people. We conclude that theoretical problems arising from historical shifts in gender identity formation, including transgender identity formation, are best conceptualized in terms of profilicity rather than in the still prevailing semantics of authenticity.

Evidence for superior neurobiological and behavioral inhibitory control abilities in non-offending as compared to offending pedophiles.

Neurobehavioral models of pedophilia and child sexual offending suggest a pattern of temporal and in particular prefrontal disturbances leading to inappropriate behavioral control and subsequently an increased propensity to sexually offend against children. However, clear empirical evidence for such mechanisms is still missing. Using a go/nogo paradigm in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we compared behavioral performance and neural response patterns among three groups of men matched for age and IQ: pedophiles with (N = 40) and without (N = 37) a history of hands-on sexual offences against children as well as healthy non-offending controls (N = 40). As compared to offending pedophiles, non-offending pedophiles exhibited superior inhibitory control as reflected by significantly lower rate of commission errors. Group-by-condition interaction analysis also revealed inhibition-related activation in the left posterior cingulate and the left superior frontal cortex that distinguished between offending and non-offending pedophiles, while no significant differences were found between pedophiles and healthy controls. Both areas showing distinct activation pattern among pedophiles play a critical role in linking neural networks that relate to effective cognitive functioning. Data therefore suggest that heightened inhibition-related recruitment of these areas as well as decreased amount of commission errors is related to better inhibitory control in pedophiles who successfully avoid committing hands-on sexual offences against children. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1092-1104, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Executive Functioning in Pedophilia and Child Sexual Offending.

OBJECTIVES: Pedophilia (P) is a psychiatric disease associated with sexual attraction toward children and often accompanied by child sexual offending (CSO). Consequently, it is important to address the understanding of executive dysfunctions that may increase the probability of CSO. Moreover, this research field has been lacking to disentangle executive deficits associated with pedophilia (as a deviant sexual preference) from those associated with CSO (as a deviant sexual behavior). METHODS: The German multi-sided research network NeMUP offers the opportunity to overcome these limitations. By applying the Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Test Battery in four carefully matched groups of men: (1) pedophiles with (N=45) and (2) without (N=45) a history of sexual offending against children; (3) child molesters without pedophilia (N=19), and (4) non-offending controls (N=49), we were able to analyze executive functioning in pedophilia and CSO independently. RESULTS: Both CSO groups as compared to both non-CSO groups exhibited worsened response inhibition ability. However, only non-pedophilic offenders showed additionally disabled strategy use ability. Regarding set-shifting abilities, the P+CSO group showed the best performance. We also found that performances were affected by age: only in pedophiles, response inhibition worsened with age, while age-related deficits in set-shifting abilities were restricted to non-pedophilic participants. The latter also differentiated between both sexual preference groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are the first to demonstrate that executive dysfunctions are related to offense status rather than pedophilic preference. Furthermore, there was evidence for differentiating age and performance correlations between pedophiles and non-pedophiles, which warrants further investigation. (JINS, 2017, 23, 460-470).

Modulation of the attentional response to baby schema by testosterone in pedohebephilic men and its relation to the nurturing system.

Previous fMRI research found increased brain responses in men with pedophilic interest to non-sexual pictures of child and animal faces. This raised the question of whether an aberrant nurturing system could be linked to pedophilia. To further explore this hypothesis, 20 pedohebephilic and 23 teleiophilic men performed a target detection task with adult versus infant human and animal faces, which measured selective attention towards the baby schema by comparing reaction times to infant versus adult targets that were presented amongst distractors of the other category. Since the response to baby schema can be influenced by steroid hormones, saliva samples were additionally collected to determine endogenous testosterone, progesterone, estradiol and cortisol. Contrary to expectations, all men did not react faster to infant than adult faces. Yet, pedohebephilic men were more distracted by infant's faces than teleiophilic men. Pedohebephilic men with higher testosterone were faster in orienting attention to infant targets in the context of adult distractors. This association was not observed in teleiophilic men. Our results support the idea of an overactive nurturing system in pedophilia, which may be influenced by the endogenous testosterone level.

Is Dating Behavior in Digital Contexts Driven by Evolutionary Programs? A Selective Review.

In recent years, millions of citizens all over the world have used digital dating services. It remains unknown to what extent human sexuality will be changed by this. Based on an evolutionary psychological perspective, we assume that sexual selection shaped behavioural tendencies in men and women that are designed to increase the reproductive fitness. These tendencies are referred to as sexual strategies. Males and females sexual strategies differ according to sex-dimorphic reproductive investments. We assume that this inheritance will affect human sexuality also in a digital future. To evaluate this assumption, we conducted a selective review of studies on digital dating services. Based on sexual selection theory, we derived a number of hypotheses regarding how men and women will use digital dating services typically and how the use of digital dating services might affect sexual wellbeing. Out of an initial data set of 2,568 records, we finally reviewed a set of 13 studies. These studies provided support for the notion that men and women act in the digital dating area according to sex-typical strategies. However, sometimes the circumstances of digital dating affect communication flow, e.g., in that men are even more active in establishing contacts than they are in real world conditions. Overall, women appear to accomplish their sexual goals in digital dating arenas more than men do given a surplus of male demand. Our results suggest that future human sexuality will be impacted by an interaction of both: sex-dimorphic ancient sexual strategies and new technologies.

Neural processing associated with cognitive empathy in pedophilia and child sexual offending.

Behavioral studies found evidence for superior cognitive empathy (CE) in pedophilic men without a history of child sexual offending (P - CSO) compared to pedophilic men with a history of child sexual offending (P + CSO). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies also point to differences between P - CSO and P + CSO. Neural processing associated with CE has not yet been investigated. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the neural correlates of CE in subjects with pedophilia with (P + CSO) and without (P - CSO) child sexual offending. 15 P + CSO, 15 P - CSO and 24 teleiophilic male controls (TC) performed a CE task during fMRI. We observed reduced activation in the left precuneus (Pcu) and increased activation in the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in P - CSO compared to P + CSO. P - CSO also showed stronger connectivity between these regions, which might reflect a top-down modulation of the Pcu by the ACC toward an increased self-focused emotional reaction in social situations. There was also evidence for increased right superior temporal gyrus activation in P - CSO that might constitute a potentially compensatory recruitment due to the dampened Pcu activation. These findings provide first evidence for altered neural processing of CE in P - CSO and underline the importance of addressing CE in pedophilia and CSO in order to uncover processes relevant to effective prevention of child sexual abuse.

Serotonin system-associated genetic and epigenetic changes in pedophilia and child sexual offending.

Numerous studies have shown associations between anomalies of the serotonergic system and impulsive behavior, depression, or traumatic life events. However, it is currently unknown, whether pedophilia or child sexual offending (CSO) is also related to alterations of the serotonergic system. Using a two by two factorial paradigm within a multisite consortium (NeMUP*) study cohort, we analyzed whether the SLC6A4-linked polymorphic region (SLC6A4LPR) or the SLC6A4 (transporter) and HTR3A (receptor) promotor methylation rates differed with regard to a pedophilic preference and/or child sexual offending. Methylation rates of HTR3A showed significant differences between child sexual offenders and non-offenders, with child sexual offenders showing lower methylation rates. Moreover, HTR3A methylation rates showed significant negative correlations with the Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) subscale "sexual violence", and the number of sexual offenses committed. Interestingly, we also found pedophilia-related alterations in 5HT3A as well as SLC6A4 methylation rates. For HTR3A we detected significant higher methylation rates in subjects with a pedophilic sexual preference, whereas for SLC6A4 methylation rates were reduced, indicating a possible downregulation of the serotonergic system in total. Although there were no significant group differences concerning the SLC6A4LPR, we found a significant correlation of the SLC6A4 methylation rate with this polymorphism in pedophilia. The present study suggests an involvement of epigenetic alterations of the serotonergic system in pedophilia and child sexual offending as well as own experience of sexual violence. While such an environmental factor may account for the epigenetic changes seen in child sexual offending, this was not seen in pedophilia. These findings will hopefully inspire further research in this underinvestigated field which should aim at validating and extending these initial results.

MEG reveals preference specific increases of sexual-image-evoked responses in paedophilic sexual offenders and healthy controls.

OBJECTIVES: Paedophilic disorder is characterised by sexual attraction towards children. Classification of a counterpart as sexually attractive likely occurs rapidly, and involves both conscious and unconscious attentional and cognitive processes. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is an imaging method especially well-suited to examine visual and attentional processes triggered by sexual images within the range of milliseconds. METHODS: We investigated brain responses to sexual images depicting adults (frequent) and children (infrequent stimulus) in seventeen paedophilic patients with a history of child sexual offending (P + CSO) and twenty healthy controls (HC) during a passive visual oddball paradigm. Event-related fields (ERF) were measured to extract the magnetic visual mismatch negativity (vMMNm), and how it relates to the processing of different classes of sexual stimuli. RESULTS: P + CSO exhibited significantly longer vMMNm latencies (100-180 ms post-stimulus) than HC. Moreover, P + CSO showed widespread increased amplitudes in response to child images starting from P3a and P3b components and lasting up to 400 ms post-stimulus presentation localised in frontal and temporal brain regions. CONCLUSIONS: This study uncovers the first MEG differences in automatic change detection between P + CSO and HC during the presentation of subliminal sexual images of adults and children, contributing towards a better understanding of the neurobiological processes of P + CSO.

Subliminal sexual stimuli facilitate genital response in women.

Visual sexual stimuli (VSS) are believed to undergo an automatic process of stimulus appraisal and (genital or subjective) response generation. Consistent with this belief, studies have found that subliminal VSS can facilitate responses to subsequent sexual stimulus presentations. We tested whether subliminal sexual stimuli facilitated a genital response in women and, furthermore, whether this genital response could be modulated by both opposite-sex stimuli and same-sex stimuli (i.e., whether the genital response to subliminal stimuli is category-specific or nonspecific). Twenty heterosexual women underwent vaginal photoplethysmography while being subliminally (20 ms) exposed to same-sex, opposite-sex, and nonsexual slides in a priming experiment. Vaginal pulse amplitude was increased when target stimuli were preceded by both opposite-sex and same-sex priming stimuli relative to nonsexual priming stimuli. This finding suggests that subliminal VSS were subjected to automatic stimulus processing, thereby facilitating nonspecific genital response preparation. Results are discussed in terms of implicit and explicit memory access and the evolutionary benefit of female nonspecific genital response.

Assessment of sexual orientation using the hemodynamic brain response to visual sexual stimuli.

INTRODUCTION: The assessment of sexual orientation is of importance to the diagnosis and treatment of sex offenders and paraphilic disorders. Phallometry is considered gold standard in objectifying sexual orientation, yet this measurement has been criticized because of its intrusiveness and limited reliability. AIM: To evaluate whether the spatial response pattern to sexual stimuli as revealed by a change in blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal can be used for individual classification of sexual orientation. METHODS: We used a preexisting functional MRI (fMRI) data set that had been acquired in a nonclinical sample of 12 heterosexual men and 14 homosexual men. During fMRI, participants were briefly exposed to pictures of same-sex and opposite-sex genitals. Data analysis involved four steps: (i) differences in the BOLD response to female and male sexual stimuli were calculated for each subject; (ii) these contrast images were entered into a group analysis to calculate whole-brain difference maps between homosexual and heterosexual participants; (iii) a single expression value was computed for each subject expressing its correspondence to the group result; and (iv) based on these expression values, Fisher's linear discriminant analysis and the kappa-nearest neighbor classification method were used to predict the sexual orientation of each subject. MEAN OUTCOME MEASURE: Sensitivity and specificity of the two classification methods in predicting individual sexual orientation. RESULTS: Both classification methods performed well in predicting individual sexual orientation with a mean accuracy of >85% (Fisher's linear discriminant analysis: 92% sensitivity, 85% specificity; kappa-nearest neighbor classification: 88% sensitivity, 92% specificity). CONCLUSION: Despite the small sample size, the functional response patterns of the brain to sexual stimuli contained sufficient information to predict individual sexual orientation with high accuracy. These results suggest that fMRI-based classification methods hold promise for the diagnosis of paraphilic disorders (e.g., pedophilia).