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The semantic confusion in the use of the terms sexual and gender identity and role is discussed. Theories concerning the development of the sense of sexual identity in normals have been based largely on the sense of sexual identity in sexually deviant subjects. It is suggested that such subjects may have a stronger and more consistent sense of sexual identity than subjects unaware of sexually deviant impulses. Male medical students in two consecutive years anonymously completed a questionnaire concerning their sexual orientation, preference, role, and identity. In both years, students aware of a homosexual component answered the items investigating their sexual identity with greater consistency than did the students unaware of a homosexual component.

The sexual identity of 65 Malaysian male medical students was investigated by anonymous questionnaire. Of these students, 40% were aware of homosexual feelings prior to age 15 years, and 16% were so aware currently. There were correlations between current homosexual feelings and feminine sex dimorphic behavior during childhood and between current homosexual feelings and feminine gender identity. The results are discussed in light of results of a similar questionnaire completed by 138 male medical students in Sydney, Australia.

There is evidence that a significant minority of men in Western society have had some homosexual experience. It has been argued that this behavior does not usually result from sexual attraction to members of the same sex. One hundred and thirty-eight male and 58 female medical students answered an anonymous questionnaire investigating their awareness of heterosexual and homosexual feelings and their sex-dimorphic behavior and gender identity in childhood and adolescence. About 60 per cent of the students reported that they were aware of some homosexual feelings at adolescence, and over 40 per cent were still aware of such feelings. There was a significant association in males between the presence of homosexual feelings and female sex-dimorphic behavior and gender identity. This association has been found in previous studies but has been rejected as not representative of homosexuality in the total population, as the homosexuals in these studies were patients or drawn from special groups, such as homosexual organizations, and the heterosexual controls were drawn from different groups.