Dyed in the womb - A lesbian's sexual identity seems to be established before her birth

The Economist print edition ^ | Oct 9th 2003 | staff

[Phil V.]

Homosexuality

Dyed in the womb

Oct 9th 2003
From The Economist print edition

A lesbian's sexual identity seems to be established before her birth

MEN and women blink differently when startled. That simple and well-established observation has led Qazi Rahman of the University of East London, in England, and his colleagues to evidence supporting the idea that homosexuality is a characteristic which people are born with, rather than one they acquire as they grow up. The team's research, just published in Behavioral Neuroscience, shows that lesbians blink like heterosexual men. That, in turn, suggests that the part of their brain that controls this reflex has been masculinised in the womb.

Anyone who is startled by an unexpected noise tends to blink. If, however, the startling noise is preceded by a quieter sound, this blink is not so vigorous as it would otherwise have been. It is this lack of vigour which differs between the sexes. Men blink less vigorously than women when primed in this way.

Given such a clear and simple distinction, testing the responses of homosexuals to noise seemed an obvious experiment to do. So Dr Rahman and his colleagues did it. Their subjects, men and women, gay and straight, were sat down one by one in a dimly lit room. The muscles that cause blinking were wired up with recording electrodes, and the subjects were fitted with headphones through which the sounds (sometimes a single startling noise, and sometimes a combination of soft and loud) were fed.

In the latter case, as compared with the former, straight men had blinks that were 40% less vigorous. In the case of straight women the drop was 13%. Lesbians dropped 33% which, statistically, made them more similar to straight men than straight women. Gay men were also intermediate, although in their case the difference was not statistically significant. Even in this apparently trivial matter, it seems, lesbians have male-like brains. So what is going on?

By default, people are female. Without the influence of testosterone in the womb, a fetus will develop into a girl. The way testosterone acts to turn a fetus male is still poorly understood. It seems likely, though, that different organs respond independently to the hormone, and may do so at different times. Hormonal surges at critical moments could thus cause particular organs in an otherwise female body to become "male". (A lull in hormone production might have the opposite effect.) If the organ concerned is the brain, the result is more male-like behaviour including, possibly, male-type sexual preferences.

Previous research has provided some evidence for this idea. Lesbians, for instance, are more accurate throwers of objects such as darts than straight women. In this they resemble straight men in a way that has nothing to do with sexual preference. And tissues other than the brain's may be affected, too. On average, lesbians have ring fingers that are longer than their index fingers, a feature that is typical of men but not of heterosexual women. In that context, a difference in the blink of an eye is no surprise at all.

[netmilsmom]

I have a ring finger that is the exact length as my index finger. I do not startle easily. Should I be bisexual?? Nice way to get money for a research study though!!

[Not gonna take it anymore]

I don't know that it is a blink of the eye.

I do know that we have spent too many years on why people are homosexual.

They are what they are.

If a homosexual is part of your family, do you say, you're no longer of me?

Or do we still love our family and deal with whatever comes up?

I think a murderer or a child molester is much worse.


This does not mean that the lifestyle should be shoved in my face.

It means that if you love someone, you love them.

Period.

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[Larry Lucido]

Well, that settles that.

[chicagolady]

Yada,Yada,Yada....

[Phil V.]

If eye blinks are an indicator of sexual identity then WHO is Michael Kinsley?

[TrueBeliever9]

Oh how hard they work to justify.........junk science!

[Theresawithanh]

Um, yeah, I'm convinced! Sounds a little far-fetched to me.

Could the study possibly show, instead, why some females are better athletes? Or why different people have different abilities, like throwing darts, while somebody else couldn't hit the broad side of the barn?

[netmilsmom]

Do you have a homosexual member of your family?

[ChemistCat]

Yea verily.

[EternalVigilance]

On average, lesbians have ring fingers that are longer than their index fingers, a feature that is typical of men but not of heterosexual women..

Or maybe it means that us hetero men have just been fooling ourselves, and we're actually lesbians...

[billhilly]

This just confirms my theory that men wanting to come back with a total understanding of what it is like to be a woman in order to seduce women, is being punished by half. #;^D

That theory is about thirty seconds old.

[Phil V.]

I have a ring finger that is the exact length as my index finger. I do not startle easily. Should I be bisexual?? Nice way to get money for a research study though!!

I say go for the study grant, but first consult hubby. The research may entail (sorry . . .uh. . . my brain just experienced a "needle-skip" as I was typing the word, entail) . . . but as . . . uh . . . I was going to say your hubby may object to some of the testing procedures etc.

[John Jorsett]

I've wondered what might happen if genetic markers or in-womb indicators for homosexuality are discovered. What if parents decided to abort the child because it was going to be gay? Would the pro-abortion folks suddenly turn anti? And vice versa? What if 'corrective' therapy was possible: would those who urge tolerance/acceptance of homosexuals go nuts and condemn it? I once had the experience of hearing an advocate for the deaf condemn a new potential treatment for deafness as threatening the deaf "community," so I know some bizarre things can happen when technology changes the landscape and threatens what were established viewpoints/customs/relationships. It'll be interesting to see what develops if this ever happens.

[mrobison]

No one was foreordained to fail or to be wicked.

(Neal A. Maxwell)

[EternalVigilance]

That theory is about thirty seconds old.

LOL...well, that gives it about as much breadth and depth as the theories propounded on the article... ;-)

[alternatives?]

If homosexuality is caused by heredity why isn't the gene extinct or extremely rare?

[Not gonna take it anymore]

Does that matter?

[Bonaparte]

The "gay gene" NIH "research" was thoroughly discredited by our friends in Canada. I guess this latest is an attempt to revive the "born queer" propaganda.