Posted on 05/09/2005 4:59:01 PM PDT by Scenic Sounds
WASHINGTON -- Scientists trying to sniff out biological differences between gay and straight men have found new evidence - in scent.
It turns out that sniffing a chemical from testosterone, the male sex hormone, causes a response in the sexual area of gay men's brains, just as it does in the brains of straight women, but not in the brains of straight men.
"It is one more piece of evidence ... that is showing that sexual orientation is not all learned," said Sandra Witelson, an expert on brain anatomy and sexual orientation at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.
Witelson, who was not part of the research team that conducted the study, said the findings show a biological involvement in sexual orientation.
The study, published in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was done by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
They exposed heterosexual men and women and homosexual men to chemicals derived from male and female sex hormones.
These chemicals are thought to be pheromones -- molecules known to trigger responses such as defense and sex in many animals.
Whether humans respond to pheromones has been debated, although in 2000 American researchers reported finding a gene that they believe directs a human pheromone receptor in the nose.
The Swedish study was one of a series looking at whether parts of the brain involved in reproduction differ in response to odors and pheromones, lead researcher Ivanka Savic said.
The brains of different groups responded similarly to ordinary odors such as lavender, but differed in their response to the chemicals thought to be pheromones, Savic said.
The Swedish researchers divided 36 subjects into three groups -- heterosexual men, heterosexual women and homosexual men. They studied the brain response to sniffing the chemicals, using PET scans. All the subjects were healthy, unmedicated, right-handed and HIV negative.
When they sniffed smells like cedar or lavender, all of the subjects' brains reacted only in the olfactory region that handles smells.
But when confronted by a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains active in sexual activity were activated in straight women and in gay men, but not in straight men, the researchers found.
The response in gay men and straight women was concentrated in the hypothalamus with a maximum in the preoptic area that is active in hormonal and sensory responses necessary for sexual behavior, the researchers said.
And when estrogen, the female hormone was used, there was only a response in the olfactory portion of the brains of straight women. Homosexual men had their primary response also in the olfactory area, with a very small reaction in the hypothalamus, while heterosexual men responded strongly in the reproductive region of the brain.
Savic said the group is also doing a study involving homosexual women but those results are not yet complete.
In a separate study looking at people's response to the body odors of others, researchers in Philadelphia found sharp differences between gay and straight men and women.
"Our findings support the contention that gender preference has a biological component that is reflected in both the production of different body odors and in the perception of and response to body odors," said neuroscientist Charles Wysocki, who led the study.
In particular, he said, finding differences in body odors between gay and straight individuals indicates a physical difference.
It's hard to see how a simple choice to be gay or lesbian would influence the production of body odor, he said.
Wysocki's team at the Monell Chemical Senses Center studied the response of 82 heterosexual and homosexual men and heterosexual and homosexual women to the odors of underarm sweat collected from 24 donors of varied gender and sexual orientation.
They found that gay men differed from heterosexual men and women and from lesbian women, both in terms of which body odors gay men preferred and how their own body odors were regarded by the other groups.
Gay men preferred odors from gay men, while odors from gay men were the least preferred by heterosexual men and women and by lesbian women in the study. Their findings, released Monday, are to be published in the journal Psychological Science in September.
The Swedish research was funded by the Swedish Medical Research Council, the Karolinska Institute and the Magnus Bergvall Foundation. Wysocki's research was supported by the Monell Center.
"It is one more piece of evidence ... that is showing that sexual orientation is not all learned,"
On the contrary, the results show nothing but the correctness of Pavlov's prediction that he could make a dog salivate by ringing a bell, if properly conditioned to do so.
"Whether humans respond to pheromones has been debated,"
How can anyone who has actually spent their life LIVING debate this?
Thoughts acted upon and reinforced alter brain patterns.
*inhaling deeply*
Hrrmmm...
Until they explain why identical twins have a low correlation for both being gay, it will be tough to say that genetics is the key and not environment.
ROFL. ;-)
Yes, mental illness implies such.
In short, if they were cars they'd be recalled.
Gay men preferred odors from gay men, while odors from gay men were the least preferred by heterosexual men and women and by lesbian women in the study. Their findings, released Monday, are to be published in the journal Psychological Science in September.
I have said for a long time that fighting against the possiblity of a biological basis for homoeroticism is the wrong fight. Whatever makes anyone who is a Christian or Jew, and believes in the fall of man think that the corruption of our nature with its propensity to sin wouldn't lead to besetting temptations being encoded in our genome?
That there may be in inborn propensity toward sodomy doesn't signify anything: I have little doubt I have in inborn propensity toward sloth, wrath and pride, while others doubtless have inborn propensities toward avarice, gluttony, heterosexual fornication, envy, . . .
Denying evidence for these as it becomes available is pointless. The place to fight the battle is to insist that traditional morality's value lies in helping us to transcend our inborn propensities and passions.
On the contrary, the results show nothing but the correctness of
Pavlov's prediction that he could make a dog salivate by ringing
a bell, if properly conditioned to do so.
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But the question is: Could Pavlov make one male dog screw
another male dog when the bell rings ???
Oh yeah... and simultaneously salivate while screwing ??? ;-))
The only thing an identifiable "gay gene" means is that it will be among the first to go--along with, say, the Downs Syndrome gene and the Spina Bifida gene--once even rudimentary genetic engineering becomes a reality.
There are large parts of the world--the Middle East, for example--where destruction of this gene will be mandatory.
It's not evidence of anything but a conditioned response. Given that there have been so many things proposed to be evidence of genetic disposition towards homosexuality, and every last one of them have been proven not to be true, why give ground? I'd rather they spent their efforts trying to prove the untrue than to be able to move on to the next item in their agenda (giving homosexuality the same status as inalienable qualities such as gender and race).
Right on. The pheronomes are probably reminders of pleasures gained from their past queer relations.
If the dog was already doing such things it would be an academic task.
Interesting that not only did gays like gays, but straight's didn't like gays.
There is a biological basis for hating gays.
Wonder what the liberals will make of that?
I'm willing to bet there's a different "penis response" too.
If it were genetic, queers would have died out years ago, because of their much lower reproduction rates.
I was just about to post the same thing. Reminds me of the chicken I saw at a fair that could play tic-tac-toe. It was conditioned by the piece of corn that it got when it put the X in the right place. Homos are conditioned by that little reward they get when they do their thing, and their brain fires accordingly.
There are large parts of the world--the Middle East, for example--where destruction of this gene will be mandatory.
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But rudimentary Middle East genetic engineering will demand the preservation and expansion of the "head chopping" gene !!! ;-))
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