Startling Study Says People May Be Born Gay

HealthDayNews ^ | October 6, 2003 | Amanda Gardner

[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."

[slimer]

If anything male homosexuals exaggerate the male tendency to be promiscuous.

As if men are not seen as promiscuous enough already. I always wondered why it seems that women get along with gay men so well?

[dennisw]

Some gays are born that way and nothing is going to change them. Some gays could have gone either way but life experiences turned them gay.

SUMMARY: Some are gay by nature and turned gay by nurture. Some by a combination of the two. Duh.... That was hard to fugure out.

[xzins]

ping

[nightdriver]

Another study that completely ignores the effects of early-age imprinting.

[LPM1888]

Are you seriously saying she had NO choice, she HAD to become a butch dike lezbo?

Yes, She has no sexual desire for men and is frightened at the thought of it.

[Salvation]

**Startling Study Says People May Be Born Gay**

Nonsense!

[Salvation]

Genesis 1:26-31

26

⁴ Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."

27

God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.

28

God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."

29

God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;

30

and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food." And so it happened.

31

God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed--the sixth day.

Genesis 2: 18-24

The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him."

19

So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name.

20

The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.

21

So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

22

The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man,

23

⁵ the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."

24

⁶ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.

[philetus]

There are a lot of big, brawny women who are feminine and are attracted to men.

There are a lot of x homos too.

Genitic? Bull$hit.

[sirchtruth]

Yes, She has no sexual desire for men and is frightened at the thought of it.

Do you realize how absolutey stupid and bogus this agument is? By taking reality and twisting it into a perversion just to accomadate a convoluted perception is not only harmful, but it is downright egotistical.

She is a lezbian only by choice, I don't care how bad the one-eyed trouser trout scares her!

[muawiyah]

The "eye" does not respond directly to noise!

The ear, a highly complex mechanism, responds in different ways. The stapedius muscle working with the stapedium (a small bone in the inner ear), will show different sorts of response to loud noises that can be interpreted in different ways.

The eyelid muscles must be signaled by the brain to "blink" in the face of a loud noise perceived by the ears.

This is like determining if someone is a homosexual by checking the average angle of his or her wrist.

[xzins]

These results are not statistically significant. The article says so itself.

The article says there were ONLY 59 subjects in the entire study. Those subjects came under 4 groupings: Heterosexual male, heterosexual female, homosexual male, and homosexual female. I'm assuming that means there were ONLY 15 individuals in each group. (Woodster, I need your math here.)

First, unless we are dealing with a powerful trait, a small number of respondents is not good research design. Just on that basis, this study can be discarded.

Second, the fact that the numbers were not statistically significant is probably because they were all over the board for the homosexual males and females. With only 15 subjects per category and only 59 for the entire study, I'm guessing the range must have been from one end to the other for all categories to result in the cited averages for the homosexuals not being statistically significant. There was no grouping in any category against which a deviation could be compared.

Basically, this says as at point number 1: seriously flawed study to have so few subjects with a trait that is not strongly evidenced. If you're studying a "nuance," then you'd better have a huge group to make any kind of observations that are statistically valid.

59 divided into 4 groups.....sheeesh

[Jorge]

Some gays are born that way and nothing is going to change them. Some gays could have gone either way but life experiences turned them gay.

Unfortunately there is no evidence to support the claim that anyone is born gay.

The gay activists would love us to believe there is, because this would further their agenda for total social acceptance and normalization of homosexuality.

[Quix]

The most that can be said from all the research put together is that

there is some indication that there is some predisposition.

Experts have calculated it at no more than 20%.

Having genetics and gestation biochemical predisposition factors toward alcoholism

will not make someone an alcoholic

who never drinks.

[LPM1888]

Your comments on evaluating research data are correct and on target.

In my personal experience I have encountered more bisexual females than males. IMO Females can be more easily influenced by enviromental conditions into becoming bisexual. Possibly it is the male machismo factor.

[AntiGuv]

In general, I agree with all of your observations.

[CodeMonkey]

Let me ask you a simple question. Why would a heterosexual man prefer anal sex with another man to vaginal intercourse with a woman? The former is completely unnatural to a biologically heterosexual man.

[AntiGuv]

What I actually argue in the course of my analysis - without going into too great detail - is that the totality of the research and the preponderance of the evidence establish the following as most plausible:

Women: Female sexual orientation features a strong biological component. Women divide into two groups - a subset of distinctly androgenized homosexual women and a normative supermajority of heterosexual women who may under certain circumstances engage in homoerotic behavior.

Men: Male sexual orientation is more complex and involves three different primary subgroups. The most obvious is a subset of less masculine males - which includes the transgendered - who feature a very high rate of homosexuality. The second is a subset of 'hypermasculine' males (from a biological standpoint) who feature both high rates of homosexuality and high rates of homophobia (in other words, they tend to either become gay/bi or become highly repressed..) The third is a normative supermajority of heterosexual males who may become homosexual under certain circumstances, but are likely to become either heterosexual or homosexual (in other words, less likely to feature bisexuality).

Of the three, only the first (effeminate males) features a strong biological component in their sexual orientation whereas the other two feature either a very ambivalent biological component (amongst the 'hypermasculine' males) or no identifiable biological influence.

[CodeMonkey]

Good ideas. You very well may have hit the nail on the head!

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Some people are born gay. I don't see why is so hard to accept. (actually I do see why. it goes against certain belief systems)

[Cubs Fan]

The only credible research I have ever seen on the subject said that in twin studies there is a 50% likelihood of having a gay sibling--therefore it is most likely that being gay is 50% hereditary and 50% environmental.