Homosexuality is biological, not a choice.

[ristin]

I am keen to see more studies in this field now that some initial findings have arisen. Something in a mainstream peer-reviewed scientific journal would be nice too.


Homosexuality lies in the brain: Study
http://www.allvoices.com/userevents/647764-grey-matter/stories
http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=73297
Brains of homosexuals are structurally and functionally different from those of 'straight' people, according to a collaborative study on human sexuality.

During the study, scientists found that lesbians appear to have a lower proportion of grey matter - the cells that process signals from the senses - in their brains than straight women, giving their brains a more 'male-like' structure.

And they found that the brains of gay men appear to have structural similarities to those of heterosexual women.

They also exhibit the same powerful response as straight women to the sex hormones released in male sweat.

For instance, it is known that the greater size of male brains and the higher proportion in females of grey matter are caused partly by sex hormones released during foetal development.
These hormones are also involved in determining sexual orientation.

Scientists have long thought this meant that there should be differences in the brains of homosexuals.

In one study, researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London, examined the brains of 80 men and women - including 16 gay men and 15 lesbians - using magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.

The scans showed that lesbians had a 'male-like' proportion and distribution of grey matter in their brain when compared with heterosexual women.

"In homosexual women the perirhinal cortex grey matter displayed a male-like structural pattern," Times Online quoted the authors, as saying.

The perirhinal area is linked to social and sexual behaviour.

In the other study, Ivanka Savic of the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, asked 12 gay men, 12 heterosexual women and 12 heterosexual men to smell hormones found in male sweat while she measured their brain responses.

She found that the anterior hypothalamus, an area linked to sexual behaviour, responded strongly in both heterosexual women and gay men. Straight men showed little response.

This means the brains of gay men have functional similarities to those of straight women.

Savic also measured the brain responses of 12 lesbians who were asked to smell male and female hormones.

She found that the lesbians responded much more strongly to female hormones.

According to Savic, the study suggests that sexual orientation is largely programmed into people early in life.

The first study is published in the Public Library of Science and the second study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Comments

[ponypig.livejournal.com]

ah yes but dont forget that we are all evil and shouldn't be allowed any rights, mayby this will help towards people being more open and accepting, we can only hope and pray for tollarence


btw i have my own domain now
www.rogermetoo.com

[ristin.livejournal.com]

It's the sort of thing I would do for an initial feasibility study to gauge if further time and resources should be invested.

[jedd-marten.livejournal.com]

This is apparently a big part of the scare with bisphenol-A. ;)

[vass]

On a sample of 12 people they decide that lesbians are mannish? Fuck them. And fuck them for the bisexual invisibility too.

Signed,
Not A Man.

[ristin.livejournal.com]

As I said above it looks like an initial feasibility study to me, an initial check to see if more time and resources should be invested in this.

By the way I take extreme offense to you implying that being mannish is derogatory. If that is what you meant then that is extremely sexist on your part. Man or Woman are two different but equal states and it's not acceptable to hold one as superior to the other, and that applies even if you are saying men are women's inferiors.

[vass]

What's offensive is the stereotype that lesbians are mannish. It doesn't mean I think being mannish is derogatory (I identify as butch, for fuck's sake,) it means I object to gender essentialism and the idea that one's sexuality is inexorably defined by one's gender identity, to the degree that if you're gay, it means that you're more masculine (if female) or more feminine (if male). And when I object to people assuming that gay men must be feminine, I'm not saying being feminine is bad, I'm saying that stereotyping gay men is bad.

You could have found that out by asking "Hey, Elena, it sounds like you're saying men are bad. Is that what you mean? Because if you mean that, I'm offended." Instead you imputed an offensive belief to me, and took offense (extreme offense, even) yourself.

Also: sexism is actually institutional discrimination - the state of a gender with more power (that's men, and you might not feel like you have power, but your gender *does* even if you individually don't) oppressing genders with less power (that's women, including transwomen, and transmen, and genderqueer and intersexed individuals.) If I were to say that men are pigs (which I wouldn't, because I don't believe it) then that would be a mean thing to say, but it would not be sexist, because women do not have institutional power over men.

[ristin.livejournal.com]

You may wish to be more clear in future. That was in no way apparent from your earlier post. I am not exactly sure what your position is now actually.

I do not agree with your definition of sexism by the way. I define sexism as one person allowing the gender of others to influence decisions as sexist. For example I would not agree that saying derogatory things about men is okay because women do not have institutional power over men. To me it is still sexist to judge people based on gender stereotypes rather than the individual in question. (You'll notice my definition is not gender specific, does not rely upon environmental factors such as 'institutionalized power' and also applies to a person bashing their own gender).


*(edit)* It's late and I am tired. On the assumption that will make me more irritable I will head to bed now rather than continue this tonight. Goodnight and sleep well when you do.

[vass]

Before I go any further with this discussion, I want to check. Are you a feminist? If no, do you believe in gender equality? And do you believe that women are disadvantaged in this society? You don't have to answer, but it'd help me understand where you're coming from.

[ristin.livejournal.com]

I believe that women are advantaged in certain aspects of the legal system and disadvantaged in certain industries, while being advantaged in others. I also believe common media presentation of males (particularly in advertisements and TV series, less so in movies) are predominantly negative stereotypes portraying males as intellectually inferior to females.

I am not a feminist because I believe in gender equality, not over-correction. For example I don't accept ideas that the mother is automatically the superior parent and should be the primary carer in favor of the father. I don't think women should be portrayed as delicate beings needing protection and being a victim-class. I don't think men should be portrayed as brutish sex-crazed thugs to be feared.


Technically I probably count as a gender-abolitionist. I would prefer to live in a society where people are treated as individuals rather than a set of personalized variations layered upon a social pigeonhole. And that goes waaaaay beyond gender. (There are all sorts of stereotypes about subcultures...why are all goths seen as emo, or all bikers as thugs, or all IT professionals as fat virgin nerds, etc...people see the stereotype not the individual).
So male, female, androgynous, inter sexed, interspecies, transsexual, gay, straight, bi, pan sexual, asexual, auto sexual and so on...should all be far less important than a person's personality and capabilities.


^_^ Goodnight.

[guma-kawauso.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with quiet a few dissenters. The pool is too small to have shown anything conclusive.

But if you could show conclusive evidence, a Conservative/Religious Zealot will doubt the claim saying that the study was slanted towards that goal. I've argued the point before with a former Methodist preacher.

And when you possibly wear away them on this issue, they then say that because man has a soul, he is better than the animals, and as such should control his animalistic desires (this is how sex got demonized).

These studies, though well intended, still make arguing with a brick wall, arguing with a brick wall. It's just this time the wall has a nice coating of plaster.

[ristin.livejournal.com]

But if you could show conclusive evidence, a Conservative/Religious Zealot will doubt the claim saying that the study was slanted towards that goal. I've argued the point before with a former Methodist preacher.

Your point is well made. But those are not the people that need to hear the message. It's "the general public" who are reality-based and are open to the message. The close-minded few who have hijacked Christianity(*) are not going to be helped by this or anything else. No amount of science will convince these demagogues, and groups like Phelps's will not be swayed by facts or popular opinions. Everyone else can, and that's where the message should be directed...assuming they do a more detailed study, that is.


(*) In time, the people most likely to save that faith are the non-firebrand clergymen who are not using Christianity for personal gain or to justify their own agendas. The leaders of the so-called 'silent majority'.

[brian-pegasus.livejournal.com]

My Mom told me that one's sexuality is decided from birth, not by choice.

[ristin.livejournal.com]

Mine said the same until I came out as homosexual and then she turned anti-gay for a few years. Now it's a topic I warily avoid.

You are very lucky. Would you do me a favor? Please tell her that you recognize that and appreciate her for her understanding and tolerance?

[brian-pegasus.livejournal.com]

Sure :)

[ristin.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[brian-pegasus.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.

Gay Brains Have Greater Proportion of Gay Matter

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

The data about lesbians' brain structure may in fact be significant. (I don't see the point in criticizing their statistics on the basis of a story on a news site online. If you want to read the papers they have published, then go read the papers.) Though I'm curious that they don't mention anything about the structure of gay men's brains (proportions of grey matters, etc.) - maybe they found no differences?

However, the gay men's responses to male/female sweat could easily be a learned behaviour or a conditioned response or anything else that was not hard-wired from birth. Though again, I'd have to actually read their papers to see if they haven't used some other data to rule this out. And I'm purely being devil's advocate here, seeing as I do think that a great proportion of homosexuals were born that way.

Re: Gay Brains Have Greater Proportion of Gay Matter

[ristin.livejournal.com]

I still suspect this is an initial feasibility study to see if further research is worthwhile. I would expect more detailed studies to follow, larger sample-groups and so on.