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."
Seems irrelevant to me. Some people may be born criminally insane too. (XYY) Does it make what they do OK? Some are born with a predisposition toward alcohol addiction. Does it make regularly drinking oneself into a stupor OK?
With respect, I doubt that very mcuh.
You don't know my cousin or the environment we were raised in. He and I had very extensive discussions about his homosexuality. He was very forthcoming with infomation about his sexuality.
He told me that as teenagers when the male cousins viewed the usual Playboys etc. he was actually looking at the male models. According to him the sexual attraction to males began at puberty.
There was no one in our environment to recruit him.
My question, why is it so important that science 'prove' that some are born gay?
The right to own property
The right to say and believe what you want
The right of self-defense and to be armed for that end
the right of privacy and security in one's home and person
The rights enumerated in the 5th and 6th amendments
Everyone, homosexual or not, already has these rights.
And finally, the right to be left alone by the government and society when one's actions cannot be proven empirically in a court of law to do harm to someone's physical well-being or property.
This one is a little vague - already people, no matter what their sex acts, are extremely bothered and harassed by intrusive laws; it's a huge topic. So this one is problematic. But homosexuals use this one to justify cruising in public parks, bathrooms, and beaches. If they want to do stuff in private, no one would even know to be able to care. But when they have anonymous sex and accost people (even adolescents) in public places, this is not a right, nor should it be.
I agree. Sex is a desire, not a need. Food is a need. Big difference. And tough to discern in our society. From advertising, you would think toothpaste and sex are closely related. In our society, some can't tell the difference between a need and a desire. Others take a thought, turn it into a desire, then a need, then a right, then a protected status. All from 1 warped thought that we all have, but most of us throw it out before letting it take control of us.
Both - people are born with certain potential, which can be damaged in utero if the mother takes drugs or alcohol, at birth from injury, and in childhood from malnutrition, poor upbringing, etc. Or the potential can be enhanced through good education and upbringing, and personal endeavor.
When it comes down to it, you are admitting people are born gay.
I am only saying that some VERY few people - who have, for instance, genital malformation such as hermaphrodites, have the potential for some kind of sexual dysfunction due to birth. But since homosexuals are roughly 2% of the population, and maybe a tiny percentage of THAT have possibly some kind of SSAD from birth, this is a tiny, tiny percentage.
What you are saying is that they could resist if they wanted to.
I am saying that everyone has desires going through their minds at some point in their lives that they don't have to indulge. Some people (for whatever reasons) have difficulty with different cravings or desires. And a funny thing is - the more you indulge a desire, the more it haunts you. The more you ignore it, the less power it has over you.
Muleteam1
Those are her words, I'm not sure why she is frightened by the thought of sexual intercourse with men. She certainly is not afraid of men or their company.
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