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Jul. 24th, 2006 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sebastienneThat article in full:
SEXUALITY: A NEW STUDY HAS REIGNITED THE DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER HOMOSEXUALITY IS DETERMINED BY OUR DNA BLUEPRINT.
Does a gay gene exist?
The debate over the reasons for sexual orientation has been raging for years. While some say our sexuality is simply a matter of choice, others say it is determined in the womb and is purely biological. Now, researchers at Brock University in Ontario, Canada, say that they have fresh evidence that being gay is a matter of out genes.
They claim that antibodies produced in the womb affect a foetus's developing brain. The mother's body may regard a male foetus as 'foreign' compared with a female one, prompting a chemical reaction in her that gets progressively stronger with each male child. So, the more older brothers you have, the higher the chance you'll be gay.
We asked Dr Qazi Rahman, co-author of Born Gay?, and Jeffrey Weeks, professor of sociology as London South Bank University, in there a gay gene?
Yes, says Dr Qazi Rahman
I don't believe there is only one gay gene but a number of them. say there are ten, you might need seven of them to be gay. If you have four of five, you would be straight but have gay traits, ie you'd be more feminine. It's random as to whether you would get all ten or just a few. Male homosexuality tends to run in families and, although female homosexuality does too, it is unlikely that you will get both - but it can happen. For example, if you have lots of gay brothers in your family, it's likely you will have one or two gay sisters as well. But the only strong pattern scientists have found are with identical twins.
Those who don't believe in the gay gene ask "What about bisexuals?". It's quite controversial as to whether bisexuality exists. Some studies say it doesn't and I don't think it does either. Sexual orientation is an 'either. or' phenomena for both genders, more so with men. We live in a society where heterosexuality is still very ingrained and yet people are still gay. This isn't a learning influence, this is a biological trait.
No, says Prof Jeffrey Weeks
Everyone is born with a mixture of sexual possibilites and the way these possibilities are shaped depends a lot on our early years and out parental and school influences, as well as the people we meet. We are not determined in a particular way and I am sceptical about explanations that try to explain what happens in society through genetic differences.
At certain points in our lives we make choices whether to express our feelings in one way or another. I also ask: 'How do you explain bisexuality if you say there is a gay gene?' You either have it or you don't.
Bisexual people have gay and heterosexual phases. George Melly, the jazz musician, is bisexual. He was gay, then married and had affairds. Our lives aren't single patterns that are shaped in the womb and are our fate. People are much more complicated and are affected by circumstance as well. I am the eldest of three brothers and I am the only person in my family who is gay - this goes against the recent canadian study. I believe there's much more in common between homosexuals and heterosexuals than scientific theories argue. We all have sexual fantasies and desires and we all fall in love. There isn't a pattern for sexuality.
SEXUALITY: A NEW STUDY HAS REIGNITED THE DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER HOMOSEXUALITY IS DETERMINED BY OUR DNA BLUEPRINT.
Does a gay gene exist?
The debate over the reasons for sexual orientation has been raging for years. While some say our sexuality is simply a matter of choice, others say it is determined in the womb and is purely biological. Now, researchers at Brock University in Ontario, Canada, say that they have fresh evidence that being gay is a matter of out genes.
They claim that antibodies produced in the womb affect a foetus's developing brain. The mother's body may regard a male foetus as 'foreign' compared with a female one, prompting a chemical reaction in her that gets progressively stronger with each male child. So, the more older brothers you have, the higher the chance you'll be gay.
We asked Dr Qazi Rahman, co-author of Born Gay?, and Jeffrey Weeks, professor of sociology as London South Bank University, in there a gay gene?
Yes, says Dr Qazi Rahman
I don't believe there is only one gay gene but a number of them. say there are ten, you might need seven of them to be gay. If you have four of five, you would be straight but have gay traits, ie you'd be more feminine. It's random as to whether you would get all ten or just a few. Male homosexuality tends to run in families and, although female homosexuality does too, it is unlikely that you will get both - but it can happen. For example, if you have lots of gay brothers in your family, it's likely you will have one or two gay sisters as well. But the only strong pattern scientists have found are with identical twins.
Those who don't believe in the gay gene ask "What about bisexuals?". It's quite controversial as to whether bisexuality exists. Some studies say it doesn't and I don't think it does either. Sexual orientation is an 'either. or' phenomena for both genders, more so with men. We live in a society where heterosexuality is still very ingrained and yet people are still gay. This isn't a learning influence, this is a biological trait.
No, says Prof Jeffrey Weeks
Everyone is born with a mixture of sexual possibilites and the way these possibilities are shaped depends a lot on our early years and out parental and school influences, as well as the people we meet. We are not determined in a particular way and I am sceptical about explanations that try to explain what happens in society through genetic differences.
At certain points in our lives we make choices whether to express our feelings in one way or another. I also ask: 'How do you explain bisexuality if you say there is a gay gene?' You either have it or you don't.
Bisexual people have gay and heterosexual phases. George Melly, the jazz musician, is bisexual. He was gay, then married and had affairds. Our lives aren't single patterns that are shaped in the womb and are our fate. People are much more complicated and are affected by circumstance as well. I am the eldest of three brothers and I am the only person in my family who is gay - this goes against the recent canadian study. I believe there's much more in common between homosexuals and heterosexuals than scientific theories argue. We all have sexual fantasies and desires and we all fall in love. There isn't a pattern for sexuality.
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 11:04 am (UTC)(And thanks for typing this up. I shall put off looking at it until I'm a little calmer, I think.)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 11:15 am (UTC)*flails with RAGE*
"The mother's body may regard a male foetus as 'foreign' compared with a female one, prompting a chemical reaction in her that gets progressively stronger with each male child"
And lesbians happen because... oh wait, silly me I forgot they don't exist!
I want to send flowers to Prof Jeffrey Weeks. Mostly because he just stopped me from hunting down Dr Qazi Rahman and torturing him to death.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 11:55 am (UTC)It doesn seem to be provoking a lot fo argument though so from that point of view it is controlversial... :)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 12:00 pm (UTC)Do bisexual wimmin exist?
The debate over wimmin as autonomous beings has been raging since Ancient Greek times. While some say they're all lying whores, others simply deny their existence. There is no middle ground.
No, says Dr Qazi Rahman.
They're all lying. Some studies agree with me on this.
Wimmin? says Prof Jeffrey Weeks.
My brothers and I often discuss George Melly, whom I believe once met a woman.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 12:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 12:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 02:43 pm (UTC)Was there any reference for the Canadian study? I want to read it so I can mock it's scientific credibility as well as it's conceptual conclusion...
no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 12:50 pm (UTC)http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=191669
I'm at work so can't spend time trying to get into the article (not sure if I have the site license here, anyway) but the abstract seems to suggest it's a simple correlation... and we know how useful those are, don't we?!?
FYI as well, this website http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/06june/article221.html claims: Andy Forrest, spokesman for a group called Stonewall, said, “Increasingly, credible evidence appears to indicate that being gay is genetically determined rather than being a so-called lifestyle choice.” No idea how accurate the website is, though.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 06:26 pm (UTC)