Posted on 06/26/2006 7:36:28 AM PDT by presidio9
A new Canadian study suggests a male's sexual orientation is influenced by so-called nature as opposed to nurture.
Researchers at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., found evidence that the more biological older brothers a man has, the more likely he is to be homosexual, findings which suggest a man's sexual orientation is genetically determined.
The study says "prenatal mechanism (s) ... affect men's sexual orientation development," which means sexual orientation may be the result of biological processes that occur in the womb.
The study's author, Prof. Anthony F. Bogaert, explored the causes behind what is called the fraternal birth order, or the theory that suggests a man's chance of being homosexual increases with each biological brother that precedes him.
"These results support a prenatal origin to sexual orientation development in men and indicate that the fraternal birth-order effect is probably the result of a maternal 'memory' for male gestations or births," Bogaert writes in the study, which will be published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
It has been theorized that the fraternal birth order effect is the consequence of bodily changes stimulated in the uterus when a woman is carrying a boy, which affects subsequent sons.
Bogaert claims that only the number of biological brothers had an impact on sexuality, whether or not they were raised in the same home.
"The number of biological older brothers, including those not reared with the participant ... increases the probability of homosexuality in men," the study reads.
Bogaert examined more than 900 heterosexual and homosexual men in Canada who had either biological or non-biological brothers.
Bogaert observed the influence of all types of older brothers, including step and adopted siblings, as well as the amount of time brothers spent together while growing up.
Writing a commentary piece that accompanied the study study, professors from Michigan State University said the research disproves the theory that sexuality is learned behaviour.
"It is the number of older biological brothers the mother carried, not the presence of older brothers while growing up, that makes some boys grow up to be gay," write David Puts, Cynthia Jordan and Marc Breedlove.
Bogaert's study, called Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and men's sexual orientation, will appear Monday in an online version of the PNAS journal.
Isn't this old news? I swear I read this years ago.
Wow! Now it all makes sense!
I believe this is the "gays are just born that way" PING list.
On what planet could this possibly be classified as "local news"?
Um... say what? Maybe I'm missing something, but "having a lot of biological older brothers" correlating with "being homosexual" does the opposite of suggesting that sexual orientation is "genetically" determined. After all, correct me if I'm wrong (in fact, I could be wrong) but it seems to me that your genes don't know how many older brothers you have. The number of older brothers you have is not something that is somehow encoded in your genes. So if your sexuality is affected by your # of brothers, that's an argument against it being "genetically" determined. More likely explanation would involve something like hormones (which your mother's womb affects) being affected by the older brothers (which your motehr's womb remembers) - this is not a "genetic"/DNA phenomenon, but a hormonal one. (Evolutionarily speaking, perhaps having many brothers tells your body you live in a male-rich village & have little chance of finding a mate yourself, thus don't "need to" be heterosexual, it's better to remove yourself from the competition thus increasing your brothers' (who have half your genes) chances of finding a mate... just guessing, but it's a far more likely guess than "it's genetic!".)
Writing a commentary piece that accompanied the study study, professors from Michigan State University said the research disproves the theory that sexuality is learned behaviour.
Whatever. I hate MSM writeups of science research. This research merely establishes a nonlearned component. That doesn't mean it's "not learned". Maybe having lots of brothers gives you that tendency AND any given person has to "learn" to indulge in that tendency? (With such "learning" being more likely for some people than others.) Both could be true.
Researchers Putz and Breedlove?
I hadn't really thought about it before reading this article, but the only homosexual men I know either have no brothers at all (biological or not)but do have sisters, or were the only child.
All politics is local?
I have he same experience. I am from a large family of all boys. No shirtlifters among us. I have two gay cousins. Both are only children.
I am genetically predisposed to having many, many, many beautiful female partners. It is simply how I was born and I cannot help myself. It is in my genes....or should I say, "jeans".
Now if someone could explain this to my wife.....
A new Canadian study suggests a male's sexual orientation is influenced by so-called nature as opposed to nurture.Researchers at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., found evidence that the more biological older brothers a man has, the more likely he is to be homosexual, findings which suggest a man's sexual orientation is genetically determined.
It couldn't be that a mother is wishing for a daughter and projecting on the last of many boys... < /sarc >
What is the genetic trait that cause a man to want to wear a dress specifically because it is of "woman"? We are born naked so all clothing is fashion and culture.
After all, correct me if I'm wrong (in fact, I could be wrong) but it seems to me that your genes don't know how many older brothers you have. The number of older brothers you have is not something that is somehow encoded in your genes. So if your sexuality is affected by your # of brothers, that's an argument against it being "genetically" determined. More likely explanation would involve something like hormones (which your mother's womb affects) being affected by the older brothers (which your motehr's womb remembers) - this is not a "genetic"/DNA phenomenon, but a hormonal one.
Yes, it it were genetically pre-determined, the odds would be greater of multiple affected children and order of births would be irrelevant.
I slightly buy into the idea that single moms do damage to young sons by giving them love and attention not available through a spouse and not available to the son through a Father. Then the boy looks for irrational, unnatural relations with men that he had lacked, as well, it seems that he would learn effemiant manner from the mother.
Secondly, it seems that it you "think something" - i.e. to be gay or to have gay thoughts, you don't necessarily become that which you "think". However, I can see if you dwell on it then sure... a door is opened.
Thirdly, the psy-ops from the gay community is real. I heard that pedophiles are pedophiles however if they are male and they go for boys then they are Homosexual pedophiles. This is a correct classification. Sure, those types recruit boys. I.e. Environment and trauma filled experiences.
I also truly buy into the idea that says girls that are raped, in many instances, can become careless and wild heterosexuals or anger filled homosexuals that hate men.
A new Canadian study suggests a male's sexual orientation is influenced by so-called nature as opposed to nurture.
The second article on this "suggestion" versus statiscally significant scientific conclusion I note posted on FR today:
The magical "fraternal birth order effect" raises its head again -another psychological theory without ANY physical biological proof premising it.
Considering the elite psychological community has declared the homosexual disorder normal without ANY scientific basis one must wonder why this purely psychological theory premised in subjective declarations exists let alone is pursued by psychologists seeking physical biological causes YET to be found? One must also wonder why other behavioral disorders attributed to the "fraternal birth order effect" seem to get published less frequently?
The cause(s) of the fraternal birth order effect in male homosexuality.James WH.
The Galton Laboratory, University College London, Wolfson House, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HE.
It has been established that the probability that a man is homosexual is positively related to his number of older brothers, but not older sisters when the brothers are accounted for. This is known as the 'fraternal birth order' effect. In the past, efforts have been made to explain this phenomenon in terms of several alternative biological hypotheses and a psychosocial hypothesis. This note examines how well these hypotheses accommodate the fraternal birth order effect. It is concluded that: (1) the evidence for the hypothesis of maternal immunoreactivity to the male fetus is weak; (2) the evidence for the intrauterine hormone exposure hypothesis is also weak; (3) the evidence for the hypothesis of postnatal learning is stronger. Lastly, there seem likely to be causes common to male homosexuality and paedophilia. They may include sexual (or quasi-sexual) experience in childhood or adolescence.
PMID: 14989531 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
-some other interesting observations attributed to the "fraternal birth order effect":
How many older brothers a person has is related to the BEHAVIOR of the parents. It is no more a correlation to genetics than rainfall on the day the child was born.
Someone needs to do a study on boys raised without a father in the home, or boys raised by an over-attentive mother.
I already know the results.
Or it could be that mothers don't spend as much personal time with later children. Either way, the study is pure conjecture, and doesn't explain my OLDER gay brother.
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