VanderLaan, D. P. & Vasey, P. L. (2012). Relationship status and elevated avuncularity in Samoan fa’afafine. Personal Relationships, 19: 326-339.

Forrester, D.L., VanderLaan, D.P., Parker, J.L. & Vasey, P.L. (2011). Male sexual orientation and avuncularity in Canada: Implications for the Kin Selection Hypothesis. Journal of Culture and Cognition, 11: 339-352.

Gynephilia

Vasey, P.L. & VanderLaan, D.P. (2009). Kin selection and the evolution of male androphilia [Letter to the Editor]. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 38: 170-171.

In my redesign, I shifted the layout to a vertical tricolor, to show a relationship with the NYC flag. The flag is in a blue-white-gold sequence to make the borough colors more pronounced. In the center, I removed a rod of the fasces for aesthetics and have the axe blade coming out of the side rather than the top. The six rods of the fasces maintain the original symbolism.

Vasey, P.L., VanderLaan, D.P., Hames, R. & Jaidee, A. (2016). A problematic test of the kin selection hypothesis among the Urak-Lawoi of Ko Lipe, Thailand: Commentary on Camperio Ciani, Battaglia, & Liotta (2015). Journal of Sex Research, 53: 149-152.

VanderLaan, D.P. & Vasey, P. L. (2014). Evidence of enhanced cognitive biases for maximizing indirect fitness in Samoan fa’afafine, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43: 1009-1022.

One potential explanation is that genes for male androphilia could be maintained in a population if enhancing one’s indirect fitness offset the cost of not reproducing directly. Indirect fitness is a measure of an individual’s impact on the fitness of kin (who share some identical genes by virtue of descent) weighted by the degree of relatedness. Androphilic males could increase their indirect fitness by directing altruistic behaviour toward close kin, which, in principle, would allow kin to increase their reproductive success. No support for this Kin Selection Hypothesis has been garnered from studies conducted in industrialized cultures such as the USA, Canada, the UK and Japan. However, cultural factors like individualism and homophobia may mitigate the expression of elevated kin altruism by male androphiles living in industrialized cultures.  Thus, tests of this hypothesis are needed in non-industrialized, collectivistic cultures such as Samoa where androphilic males are relatively accepted.

Vasey, P.L. (2008). Samoan research is consistent with the kin selection hypothesis for male androphilia. PLoS ONE, 3(6): e2282, note 1.

Vasey, P.L. & VanderLaan, D.P. (2007). Birth order and male androphilia in Samoan fa’afafine. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 274: 1437-1442.

The manner in which male androphilia manifests varies cross-culturally. Sex-gender congruent male androphiles occupy the gender role typical of their sex and identify as “men.” In contrast, transgendered androphilic males often occupy alternative gender role categories distinct from the categories of “men” and “women,” and exhibit gender role presentation that is markedly similar to that of members of the opposite sex within their given cultural context.

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VanderLaan, D.P. & Vasey, P.L. (2011). Male sexual orientation in Independent Samoa: Evidence for fraternal birth order and maternal fecundity effects. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40: 495-503.

VanderLaan, D.P., Forrester, D.L., Petterson, L.J, & Vasey, P. L. (2012). Offspring production among the extended relatives of Samoan men and fa’afafine. PLoS ONE 7(4): e36088. doi: 101371/journal.pone.0036088.

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The major problem is that this iconic flag has many different versions in use from having the seal, to having the seal to having no seal. With this inconsistency being the main problem, my solution is to remove the seal from the current flag. By removing the seal, the city maintains the history of the flag and its uniqueness. Additionally, New Yorkers have a clear, powerful, and timeless symbol.

On the basis of this body of work, we have concluded that elevated avuncularity on the part of the fa’afafine cannot be explained in terms of their childlessness; their increased femininity; a generalized interest in all children; a desire to respond to questions in a socially desirable manner; a failure to form or invest in intimate relationships; social expectations on the part of Samoans for fa’afafine to behave in an extremely avuncular manner; or expectations on the part of the fa’afafine themselves to behave in such a way.

Vasey, P.L. & VanderLaan, D.P. (2012). Male sexual orientation and avuncularity in Japan: Implications for the Kin Selection Hypothesis. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41: 209-215.

Androphiliapronunciation

As you'll see my redesigns are intended to promote a uniformity among all the flags, being that they are all tied to the City of New York. However, I also wanted to maintain the historical nature of each flag, which makes them distinctive and unique from one another.

The current flag of Staten Island is actually a 2016 redesign. Unfortunately, it follows the repeated pattern of being a "seal on a bedsheet". The current flag is in "earth tones" and features "an allegoric female figure representing the city standing on the island's shore and looking out onto the Narrows, where Henry Hudson's ship The Half Moon is at anchor. In the background is a small canoe with three oystermen; two native Staten Islanders, and the third a sailor from the Half Moon" (Wikipedia).

An alternative explanation for the evolution of male androphilia (but not a mutually exclusive one) is that the reproductive costs associated with genes for male androphilia are offset by the reproductive benefits that accrue if the same genetic factors result in increased reproductive success among the female kin of male androphiles. Empirical support for this Sexually Antagonistic Gene Hypothesis (otherwise known at the Female Fecundity Hypothesis) comes from various low fertility Western populations in which the female relatives of androphilic males exhibit higher reproductive success compared to those of gynephilic males. These findings are intriguing, but require replication in non-Western populations in which individuals are reproducing at, or near, their maximum capacities.

VanderLaan, D.P., Garfield, Z.H., Garfield, M.J, Leca, J-B., Vasey, P.L., Leca, J-B., & Hames R.B. (2014). The “Female Fertility-Social Stratification-Hypergyny” Hypothesis of Male Homosexual Preference: Factual, Conceptual and Methodological Errors in Barthes et al. Evolution and Human Behavior, 35: 445-447.

Societies in which transgendered male androphilia predominates are characterized by a significantly greater presence of socio-cultural conditions that are thought to have characterized the ancestral past. This suggests that the transgendered form of male androphilia was likely the ancestral form.  The outcome of evolutionary process may be obscured when using more derived forms of male androphilia as models

Abild, M., VanderLaan, D.P. & Vasey, P.L. (2013). No evidence for treating friends’ children like kin in Canadian androphilic men. Journal of Sex Research, 50: 697-703.

Our work in a higher fertility population, Samoa, has shown repeatedly that the mothers of fa'afafine are, on average, produce significantly more offspring than the mothers of gynephilic men. We have also shown that the maternal grandmothers of fa’afafine produce more offspring, on average, compared to those of gynephilic men. However, we have been unable to replicate a paternal grandmother effect, and we have found no evidence that the aunts of fa’afafine produce more children. Taken together, the results of our research provides some support for the Sexually Antagonistic Gene Hypothesis.Â

Gynephilia meaning

So, the bottom line is that our research in Samoa has furnished consistent support for the Kin Selection Hypothesis.  That being said, more research needs to be done before any strong statements can be made regarding the adaptive basis of male androphilia or elevated avuncularity among fa’afafine.

Adopted in 1912, the current flag of The Bronx has a horizontal tricolor that uses different shades than that of the New York City flag, but mimics the historical Dutch tricolor more closely. In the center of the current flag, is a wreath circling the Bronck family arms where, "the shield of the family arms shows the face of the sun with rays displayed rising from the sea,

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New York City's current flag, while breaking a cardinal rule of "no words or seals", is not a terrible flag. The blue-white-orange colors are very distinctive and unique. As stated in the NYC administrative code the colors were meant to be, "the same as those of the flag of the United Netherlands in use in the year sixteen hundred twenty-five".

Vasey, P.L., Parker, J.L, & VanderLaan, D.P. (2014). Comparative reproductive output of androphilic and gynephilic males in Samoa.  Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43: 363-367.

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Gynephilia flag

Playà, E. Vinicius, L., & Vasey, P.L. (2017. Need for alloparental care and attitudes toward homosexuals in 58 countries: Implications for the Kin Selection Hypothesis. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 3: 345-352.

The current flag of Queens features three horizontal bands in a sky blue-white-sky blue pattern, representative of the arms of the 1st Dutch Governor Willem Kieft. It also features a ring of wampum representing the place where the Lenape natives would collect clams and whelks used to make it, a tulip representing the early Dutch settlers, a Tudor rose representing England and the English monarchy, and lastly in the canton (upper left corner) is a crown with "Queens Borough 1898 (Wikipedia).

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VanderLaan, D.P., Ren, Z. & Vasey, P.L. (2013). Male androphilia in the ancestral environment: An ethnological analysis. Human Nature, 24:275-301.

Abild, M.L., VanderLaan, D.P. & Vasey, P.L. (2014). Does proximity influence the expression of avuncular tendencies in Canadian androphilic males? Journal of Cognition and Culture,14: 40-62.

Androphiliaflag

Vasey, P.L. & VanderLaan, D.P. (2010b). Avuncular tendencies in Samoan fa’afafine and the evolution of male androphila. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39, 821-830. (Selected as a “Editor’s choice” recommended reading by the journal Editor).

In keeping with the predictions of the Kin Selection Hypothesis, we have demonstrated repeatedly that fa’afafine exhibit significantly higher altruistic tendencies toward nieces/nephews (i.e., avuncularity) compared to childless women, mothers, childless gynephilic men and fathers. In terms of one behavioural assay, we have shown that the fa’afafine’s elevated avuncularity is manifested in terms of more money given to nieces, compared to women and gynephilic men.

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In my redesign, I kept the main feature of the arms, the rising sun over the sea. This feature is prominent in much of New York's symbolism, but by redesigning the flag in this way, it maintains the original 103 year meaning of the flag, while still paying homage to the namesake of the borough. The colors are also altered to the NYC flag's shades of orange and blue to show relation.

In this flag redesign, I put five wavy blue lines on a white field which is a symbol from a prior flag of Staten Island symbolizing the bodies of water that surround the island. The main feature of the flag is an orange circle with two ducks in the middle, a connection to the first flag of the borough, when it was known as Richmond Borough. The blue semi circle represents Henry Hudson's Half Moon, and the orange circle itself takes the place of Staten Island being it is surrounded by water.

Androphiliameaning

Vasey, P.L. & VanderLaan, D.P. (2009). Materteral and avuncular tendencies in Samoa: A comparative study of women, men and  fa’afafine. Human Nature, 20: 269–281.

Gynephilic man

VanderLaan, D.P., Petterson, L.J., Mallard, R. & Vasey, P.L. (2015). (Trans)gender role expectations and childcare in Samoa. Journal of Sex Research, 52: 710-720.

Vasey, P.L. & VanderLaan, D.P. (2010a). Monetary exchanges with nieces and nephews: A comparison of Samoan men, women, and fa’afafine.  Evolution and Human Behavior, 31: 373-380.

Male androphilia has a genetic component, yet male androphiles reproduce at a fraction of the rate of gynephilic males. One would expect genes for male gynephilia to have long replaced those for male androphilia given the reproductive benefits associated with the former. Nevertheless, prehistoric cave art and pottery suggests that male same-sex sexual activity has existed for millennia. Given this, how do genes for male androphilia persist over evolutionary time?

Semenyna, S., Petterson, L.J., VanderLaan, D.P. & Vasey, P.L. (2017). A comparison of the reproductive output among the relatives of Samoan androphilic fa’afafine and gynephilic men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46: 87-93.

Androphilic males

The current flag of Brooklyn dates back to 1860. It features the city seal on a white background. In the seal, the goddess Justice holds a fasces, a "traditional emblem of unity". "The fasces is composed of six rods representing the six towns of the original Dutch settlement". Additionally the blue and gold "in the border of the seal reflect recognized colors of the borough" (Wikipedia).

In my redesign, I followed the same pattern in using the same layout as my redesigned New York City flag. In thinking about a design element to make the flag Manhattan's flag, I placed in the center a graphical representation of the world. People from across the globe come to visit or create their life in the city and to symbolize this borough as the world's borough I believe makes this a good flag. I decided to also not include the outlines of nations as it would complicate the design.

VanderLaan, D.P., Petterson, L.J., & Vasey, P.L. (2017). Elevated kin-directed altruism emerges in childhood and is linked to feminine gender expression in Samoan fa’afafine: A retrospective study.  Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46: 95-108.

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The current flag of Manhattan is a carbon copy of the New York City flag, with the words "Borough of Manhattan" and "November 1, 1683" around the city seal. I believe that having the flag's seal modified to fit the borough was a poor means of connecting the New York City to its borough.

In my redesign, I changed the flag dimensions to fit a traditional style found today. I also eliminated the tulip and the Tudor rose because they were redundant symbols and complicated the original design. I removed the words and made the crown the main feature of the flag as the namesake of the borough is "Queens". It represents the English monarchy and the colors of the flag represent the Dutch. The orange color, also connects it with the New York City flag. Lastly, the ring of wampum is simplified and encircles the crown, keeping the changes subtle, but maintaining the symbolism of the original 1913 flag.

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Vasey, P.L. & VanderLaan, D.P. (2010c) An adaptive cognitive dissociation between willingness to help kin and non-kin in Samoan  fa’afafine. Psychological Science, 21: 292-297.

VanderLaan, D.P. & Vasey, P. L. (2013). Birth order and avuncular tendencies in Samoan men and fa’afafine. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 42: 371-379.

The flags of the City of New York and its boroughs have always been of interest to me. Having visited New York City often in my youth, I got to see, at the very least, the New York City flag waving in many locations. That said, I was always frustrated by the "seal on a bedsheet", or words on many of these flags. I know New York can do so much better, which is why I decided to redesign the flag of the city along with those of its five boroughs: Brooklyn, The Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.

Vasey, P.L., Pocock, D.S., & VanderLaan, D.P. (2007). Kin selection and male androphilia in Samoan fa’afafine.  Evolution & Human Behavior,  28: 159-167.

In addition, we have conducted a number of studies which indicate that the avuncular cognition of fa’afafine appears to be adaptively designed. For example, compared to women and gynephilic men, fa’afafine appear to be more focused on maximizing resources directed to nieces/nephews while minimizing resources directed to non-kin children.

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