Study Suggests Sexual Orientation Is Decided Before Birth

[Az]

Perhaps I should've made myself more clear. I don't think that they refer to it as some sort of deity, but it seems that people think of it as something quasi-sentient.

but enough with the threadjack.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by cinch


Post-birth... After-birth... Are these not the same term?

Well, sometimes "after-birth" refers to the placenta, so in that usage, no. OTOH it is rather difficult to conceive of a placenta as having sexuality.

[Az]

LOL...

[Dr Strangelove]

I think that those species in which some males exhibit homosexual behavior are those in which mating occurs in a harem dominated by an alpha male. In those species, after mating season battles with other males, a single powerful male attracts the females within his domain and attempts to monopolize them. The males who loose the battle are excluded for mating, but still have the urge to mate. Since they're excluded from mating with females they may take it out on each other.

It's also true that in many mammalian species cubs play at mating each other.

[Wittlich]

Shi Huangdi, my earlier post was a joke (a play on Tass' earlier post)...I guess some people just take life too seriously...

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Azazel
Perhaps I should've made myself more clear. I don't think that they refer to it as some sort of deity, but it seems that people think of it as something quasi-sentient.

but enough with the threadjack.

Jesus ****ing Christ! I was being colloquial. Now please unplug the pedant chip from your brain and give me a reasonable answer.

There is no a priori argument against homosexuality being an adaptation.

[Az]

I don't have to prove a negative.

[Saint Marcus]

I think that those species in which some males exhibit homosexual behavior are those in which mating occurs in a harem dominated by an alpha male.

No alpha males with harems in the penguin population.

[Japher]

My problem with this study is that this test was performed with fully developed adults. In order for this study to prove that it is "not a choice" this would need to be done at birth and then track the child through adulthood to decide whether this eye reflex cannot be learned, since I see it as a reflex not an instinct...

Interesting none-the-less. Now that we can identify them I guess the "don't ask, don't tell" policy went right out the door.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Saint Marcus


No alpha males with harems in the penguin population.

Well..... but penguins aren't gay, they just look that way because they have really, really good fashion sense!!

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Japher
My problem with this study is that this test was performed with fully developed adults. In order for this study to prove that it is "not a choice" this would need to be done at birth and then track the child through adulthood to decide whether this eye reflex cannot be learned, since I see it as a reflex not an instinct...

Precisely. They would also have to prove that the response of an individual was consistent and reproducible.

[Saint Marcus]

Well..... but penguins aren't gay

read the link

[Curiosity]

Originally posted by Agathon

There is no a priori argument against homosexuality being an adaptation.

There is, in that homosexuality obviously reduces the chances of an individual passing on genes. In should be impossible for evolution to select directly for homosexual traits, certainly to the exclusion of heterosexual traits.

It could be an offshoot of some other factor which is advantagous in some other way (male bonding, say).



Anyway, the study is awful. I've heard better studies on identical twins, which indicated that if one twin is gay then the other has a 50% chance of being gay; so at least some gay people are not 'born gay', though some may be.

Or to quote the first page of every genetics textbook ever written, genotype plus environment equals phenotype. For some reason people ignore this every time they study human traits, and we end up discovering it all over again...

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Saint Marcus


read the link

In the wild most penguin species have a relatively confined mating ground. Males compete for spaces within the mating area. Those that win will be able to mate with females in heat, those that don't.....well, that's just tough. In those species the losers are generally condemned to hang out together. In other species of penguins there is limited space for nesting, and it is the females who compete for a space to nest and then the males compete for the acceptance of a female. In these species there may be both male and female "outcasts". Perhaps under these conditions males who are unable to bond with a female then make a bond with another male. I wonder what happens to the females under these conditions. I'd also like to know how the sexual/ mating/ parenting behavior of this species in captivity compares with the wild state.

[MrFun]

Re: http://www.asmincorp.com/thenleave/thenleave_001.htm

Originally posted by SlowwHand

The findings may also help illuminate sex differences in mental health issues. "Although homosexuality per se is not related to psychiatric problems, on those occasions that gays and lesbians do present with psychiatric problems, they often show disorders that are typical of the opposite sex," Rahman says. Gay men, for example, may be more likely to suffer depression, anxiety and eating disorders than their straight counterparts, while lesbians may be more vulnerable to substance abuse than heterosexual women.

"Maybe having an understanding of brain basis of sexual orientation in healthy individuals may give us some clues in what is going wrong in the brain circuitry underlying certain psychiatric problems," Rahman says. "In the future, we may be able to tailor treatments more specifically."

It's important not to draw too many generalizations. "It's not that the gay brain is like the heterosexual brain of the opposite sex. It seems to be a mosaic of male and female typical traits," Rahman says. "Because we're looking at humans, thing are always more complicated that you would expect."

I do agree with them that a gay/lesbian's brain is not wired like that of the opposite gender, since sexual orientation and gender are two separate aspects of human identity.