Posted on 10/06/2003 4:07:01 PM PDT by AntiGuv
MONDAY, Oct. 6 (HealthDayNews) -- The origins of sexual orientation may be evident in the blink of an eye.
In what is the first study to show an apparent link between a non-learned trait and sexual orientation, British researchers have discovered the way peoples' eyes respond to sudden loud noises may signal differences between heterosexual and homosexual men and women that were developed before birth.
The authors, whose study appears in the October issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, say about 4 percent of men and 3 percent of women are gay. Scientists have long sought to determine whether sexuality is learned or biological.
"We have several decades of research which suggests rather strongly that human sexual orientation is to some degree biologically determined," says study author Qazi Rahman, a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of East London. "The problem with those types of studies is that we can't disentangle the effects of learning."
The question then became, "What kind of task could be used that is not influenced by learning or socialization?" The answer came in human startle responses, which are involuntary and instinctual.
Specifically, Rahman and his colleagues decided to use pre-pulse inhibition (PPI). When humans hear a sudden noise, they respond by blinking. If that loud noise is preceded by a quieter noise (the pre-pulse), the response to the second, loud noise is weaker. In other words, it is inhibited.
The researchers compared responses to a loud noise both alone and after a quieter noise to see what the degree of inhibition was. Participants were 59 gay and straight men and women.
In the heterosexual women, the PPI averaged 13 percent and, in heterosexual men, 40 percent.
Lesbians, however, had a PPI of 33 percent, closer to the straight-man end of the spectrum, while gay men averaged 32 percent, slightly lower than that of straight men but not statistically significant.
The findings are consistent with other studies, which have found that certain traits in lesbians are highly "masculinized," while the same traits in gay men are almost the same as in straight men.
While it's difficult to make generalizations about gay behavior on the basis of these findings (for example, "all gay male thinking is like that of women"), it is possible to build a case for the origins of sexuality, the authors say.
"On the basis of these results and in conjunction with the bulk of the literature in the last three decades or so, the evidence points to some prenatal factor or factors [in determining sexual preference]," Rahman says.
The findings could have implications for a number of social issues.
"Actual sexual orientation and sex-related research is now being accepted as a legitimate national investment in terms of research," Rahman says. "We have problems with STDs [sexually transmitted diseases]. Understanding sexual behavior is clearly important to that."
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."
Many homosexual men admit that they were seduced or introduced into same sex acts when quite young. Or they were out and out molested; but when even young boys are molested there is often some kind of sexual pleasure in it for them. I have read "advice" to young homosexuals that often anal sex is painful at first. They are advised to "keep trying" - to persevere, that eventually they'll find pleasure in it.
Your argument is weak. Why would anyone - same sex or opposite sex - "enjoy" bondage, sado-masochism, anonymous sex, group sex, bestiality, etc etc? These are all disgusting and painful sounding to normal people. Some heterosexual couples also practice anal sex, which disgusts and sounds painful to most people. And what about homo-weirdness like the cannibalism we are reading about? Where one homosexual offers to be eaten by another? Is that a biological imperative as well? Or is it just the logical extension of the philosophy of "anything goes"?
So why do they do these things? Because they are "born that way"? Or is it because their strong desire to enjoy pushes them to try acts that are farther and farther away from the normal and ordinary, since their lust burns very hot? And our sex-obsessed and porn-obsessed culture "celebrates" divsersity/perversity and offers opportunities for weird sex that previous generations never even thought of?
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I have lived in SF and Berkely, the "fag" and "dike" capitals of the world. I can assure you that many if not most homosexuals do NOT look abnormal in any way except in ways of their choosing. Many lesbians are entirely normally female in appearance - maybe not dress, but often they are. Same thing for male homosexuals. In fact, many look *ultra* masculine. You are either ill-informed or pushing an agenda.
Also, it is amazing what makeup, hormones, wigs, makeup and other cosmetic effects can do. Homosexual women sometimes take male hormones or have their breasts amputated. This is natural?
And what conclusive scientific evidence do you propose to show this?
What about all the homosexuals (and there are many) who admit - often proudly - that they DID choose their orientation?
What about the MANY ex-homosexuals who have chosen NOT to be that way any more?
Come on, your arguments are very weak.
As long as it involves only living, consenting adult humans what does it matter to you? There are people who object to oral sex as sodomy.
Then they are deviants.
And fatherless families, or mothers not there, or on drugs or alcohol. When children are "raised" without two loving parents - a mother and a father - the kids are much more at risk for not developing normally into sexually healthy adults. Add to this tragedy (currently 35% of kids in the US are born to unmarried mothers!) the homosexual promotion in schools, the media, entertainment - no wonder more kids are "trying it".
Bulls**t. I personally know very well one homosexual and I love her dearly as she is a close relative. I do not mistreat or hate her, or any homosexual. But I know that their behavior is unhealthy, immoral, unnatural, and causes them and society pain and grief.
People with strong religious faith are far more hated in our secular culture than sexual deviants. I don't blame other peoples' hatred of me because of my religion for any mental problems I might theoretically have. And anyway, people with strong religious faith - who are vilified regularly by society - have LESS mental problems than people with no spiritual beliefs. This is documented. So your argument is false, although oft repeated.
I think you are letting your phobias get the better of you.
The experts disagree with you, even the pro-gay experts state environment is the major factor in determining homosexuality.
It happens with my own family. They don't really listen to anything I say, they just react with emotion.
This argument has been beaten to death already. If homosexuals did what they do in the privacy of their own houses I could give a flying rat's a**. What I object to is the homo-promoters shoving it down everyone's throats - ESPECIALLY childrens' throats via school-based indoctrination. You and no one else can deny that this is exactly what they do, and I am rightfully angry about that. If adult men want to sodomize each in PRIVATE I could care less. But isn't it odd that they have a need to make it public?
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