Posted on 05/10/2005 10:50:21 PM PDT by mastercylinder
WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) - A compound taken from male sweat stimulates the brains of gay men and straight women but not heterosexual men, raising the possibility that homosexual brains are different, researchers in Sweden reported on Monday.
It also strengthens the evidence that humans respond to pheromones -- compounds known to affect animal behavior, especially mating behavior, but whose role in human activity has been questioned.
The pheromone in question is a derivative of testosterone called 4,16-androstadien-3-one, or AND.
"AND is detected primarily in male sweat," the researchers write in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In a previous study, Ivanka Savic of Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm and colleagues found that the hypothalamus region of the brain became activated when women smelled AND and when men smelled a corresponding compound in female urine called EST.
This time they compared the reactions of 12 women, 12 heterosexual men and 12 homosexual men.
They let them smell EST, AND, and ordinary odors such as lavender, and used positron emission tomography to watch their brain responses.
"In contrast to heterosexual men, and in congruence with heterosexual women, homosexual men displayed hypothalamic activation in response to AND," Savic's team wrote.
And a region of the brain called the anterior hypothalamus responded most strongly -- an area that in animals "is highly involved in sexual behavior".
But other smells were processed the same in all three groups.
"These findings show that our brain reacts differently to the two putative pheromones compared with common odors, and suggest a link between sexual orientation and hypothalamic neuronal processes," Savic's team wrote.
In most animals, pheromone signals go to the hypothalamus region of the brain via a pit-like structure in or near the nose called the vomeronasal organ.
People have a vomeronasal pit but there are no nerves connecting it to the brain, leading biologists to question whether humans respond to pheromones.
Sure... So have your children tested for gay.
It seems to me that a lot of people really want to believe that homosexuality is a choice...as if they sit around the house thinking, let's see....do I want to have sex with a man or woman this evening? Hmmmm...
If true, this is actually good news. It would indicate that it is a biological aberration that may some day be preventable.
My thoughts exactly.
So is Mick Jagger gay or did he just dabble in it because it was trendy?
Some jaded people really do try to be sexually "adventerous" after they are bored by everything else. Does it mean that they weren't really straight?
Why is it only those who "try out" homosexuality are always the ones discovering their true selves? Why couldn't some of the early seduced homosexuals be caught up living a lie? Some use drugs to escape the Hell that is their lives. Doesn't sound like a very "gay" lifestyle.
And before you say, "why would they choose that", some will take what sex and companionship they are offered. Some guys will go out with heavy women if that is all that pay them attention. Doesn't mean that they are necessarily physically attracted to heavy women. Some go on living alone but it doesn't mean that they want to be celibate or lonely.
I've seen a number of women who go lesbian because of rejection from men. But every now and then they find a guy and drop being butch. It does happen.
The left pushes junk science measuring finger lengths and inner ear fluids because they don't have the conviction to stand behind their position that people have the "God given" right to choose any sexual fetish they want (including homosexuality). Instead they tell us that it is "none of our business" and "they can't help themselves, they were born that way". The animal kingdom is full of species that rape, eat their young, and eat feces. None of these should be encouraged in the civilized world of man.
If someone want to live outside of society's laws and they don't hurt anyone, there is little chance of any prosecution. Instead they push an agenda claiming it is the "same as" any relationship between a man and a woman (a complimentary binary pair). They have to fudge the facts and now try to claim that it is by birth.
Should there be a test to only permit those who are biologically gay live their lives as homosexuals?
So......if a guy likes to make it with cows............and the aroma of the barnyard gives him wood...........well, it's genetic............I think I'm finally beginning to understand. </sarcasm>
Not my point whatsoever, newbie-troll.
If it's a choice, then you could switch this very minute. Are you willing to admit that you could have strong sexual feelings for a member of the same sex within the next 10 minutes?
Science is so beautiful.
Sounds reasonable, if it is a gene, you can hopefully correct it at birth.
Bingo! The study does not include this as a constant in their analysis, whatsoever.
Like the old joke, if it tastes S--ty turn it over.
It is nothing about "feelings" it is a sex act.
The same as being an "exhibitionist".
Porn stars have sex (oral, anal, vaginal) with people who do not sexually interest them at all. Do you think those pretty girls really like having sex with older fat hairy men?
Same goes for them chowing down on members of the same sex in front of the camera.
Even John Holmes did gay porn although there is no indication that he dated gay men offscreen. And for the record, he doped up before such scenes.
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