by Daryl J. Bem

About the author: Daryl J. Bem teaches in the department of psychology at Cornell University.

Exotic Becomes Erotic (EBE) theory attempts to account for three major observations: First, most men and women in our culture have an exclusive and enduring erotic preference for either males or females; gender is, in fact, the overriding criterion for most people’s erotic choices. Second, most men and women in our culture have an exclusive and enduring erotic preference for persons of the opposite sex. And third, a substantial minority of men and women have an exclusive and enduring erotic preference for persons of the same sex. In seeking to account for these observations, EBE theory provides a single unitary explanation for both opposite-sex and same-sex desire—and for both men and women. In...