Article on Genetics role in Sexual Orientation

[GalacticiaActual]

Through the billions of variables that define who we are as individuals, science and research continue to unlock some of our many questions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/01/homosexuality-genetics-usa

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

Oh good grief. The good old nature VS nurture again.
When are people going to get it thru their thick skulls that people are who they Are? :rolleyes:
Cat

[orsacchiotto]

Let's get this straight (?)

gay men are more likely to be left-handed, to be the younger siblings of older brothers, and to have hair that whorls in a counterclockwise direction

I can't tell my left from right, younger sibling of older sisiers and no longer have any hair where it ought to whorl. That makes me............ hey there might be something in this!

Much more interesting the British government is going to start asking people
[URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/dec/05/sexual-orientation-survey-government-confusion"]

_____________

"If you can keep your head while all around are losing theirs ..... maybe they know something you don't:eek:

[FalconAngel]

Oh good grief. The good old nature VS nurture again.
When are people going to get it thru their thick skulls that people are who they Are? :rolleyes:
Cat

Maybe they just want to know the why and how of it to put to rest the idiotic disinformation that's out there, so that we can all live our lives in relative peace, free from sexuality-based harassment.

I think it's great to know, since knowledge gives us more ammo against our opponents.

[darkeyes]

I think it's great to know, since knowledge gives us more ammo against our opponents.
Agree wivya Falcie hun..but kno at least 1 buncha less than nice peeps in the last century who wud hav luffed 2 kno an use it as ammo gainst us... cum 2 think of it..didn they jus do that even tho they didn kno...but merely suspected???:eek::(

An ther r a few wud use it now if they cud..still mite in time...:(

[FalconAngel]

Agree wivya Falcie hun..but kno at least 1 buncha less than nice peeps in the last century who wud hav luffed 2 kno an use it as ammo gainst us... cum 2 think of it..didn they jus do that even tho they didn kno...but merely suspected???:eek::(

An ther r a few wud use it now if they cud..still mite in time...:(

Possibly, but remember that anything the enemy has that you also have, levels the playing field.

And there is another adage, with a somewhat more obscure lesson (as it applies to this situation) "if you are in range of the enemy, he is in range of you".

[darkeyes]

Possibly, but remember that anything the enemy has that you also have, levels the playing field.

And there is another adage, with a somewhat more obscure lesson (as it applies to this situation) "if you are in range of the enemy, he is in range of you".Tryin 2 teach grannie 2 suk eggs gain Falcie?? Tee hee...:tong: but reely... me don wan a level playin field wen it cums 2 me enemy..me likes nice hi slope wiv me havin the hi ground.. an far as me can tell.. me enemy mite hav the same info as me.. but on the hi ground me is stikkin... can make much more use a the info from up 'ere than down ther...;)

[Bluebiyou]

**Sigh**
It's not nature vs. nurture.
It's nature and nurture.
Some were clearly gay or bi from kindergarden (implying nature).
Some 'discovered' themselves later on.
Some have been raped (higher incidence of rape for gay/bi than 'standard' population).
Nature... AND nurture. Why are some folks convinced it have to be either/or?

[izzfan]

I'd have to agree with Bluebiyou, I think both nature and nurture shape someone's sexuality. I mean, there are some people who have known they are gay for their entire lives, there are others who discover that they have a gay side a bit later (I only realised that I liked men as well as women when I was about 17). Also, some people might repress homosexual feelings due to society/religion but that does not change who they are.

However, some aspects of sexuality are more likely a product of experience/ psychology rather than genes. The only example I can think of are fetishes, seeming as many of these revolve around man-made objects (eg: shoe fetish, rubber fetish etc..) or behaviours not seen in other species (eg: BDSM). This is not to say that fetishes should be seen as a bad thing (I am quite kinky myself and just see it as part of my sexuality) or as something that can be "changed". But that aspects of sexuality related to most fetishes probably comes from experiences/psychology rather than genetics.

[FalconAngel]

Tryin 2 teach grannie 2 suk eggs gain Falcie?? Tee hee...:tong: but reely... me don wan a level playin field wen it cums 2 me enemy..me likes nice hi slope wiv me havin the hi ground.. an far as me can tell.. me enemy mite hav the same info as me.. but on the hi ground me is stikkin... can make much more use a the info from up 'ere than down ther...;)

We don't want a level playing field either, as long as we hold the high ground.

Unfortunately, most of the time, the enemy has the high ground through propaganda and disinformation. So, if I can at least get the playing field level, then I have removed the enemy's advantage.

[FalconAngel]

**Sigh**
It's not nature vs. nurture.
It's nature and nurture.
Some were clearly gay or bi from kindergarden (implying nature).
Some 'discovered' themselves later on.
Some have been raped (higher incidence of rape for gay/bi than 'standard' population).
Nature... AND nurture. Why are some folks convinced it have to be either/or?

In a related bit of data, back just after the Blitz, in London, researchers there did a study of children born during the war. They checked events of high and low stress for the mother during different times of her pregnancy and discovered that there was a correlation between stress levels during early pregnancy and gender of the child as well as stress during late pregnancy and the correlation between sexuality of the child as it relates to stress during certain periods after gender had been established with the fetus.

Stress, as most of us know, increases and decreases estrogen and testosterone levels in the fetus, based on stress levels in pregnant women.

High testosterone in very early pregnancy will tend to produce a male child, but excessive estrogen levels in later pregnancy, where the fetus is male, could produce a child that is gay.

At least that is what they determined in that study.

I do not recall the original source, since I read this information during psych classes in college, 16 years ago. I am sure that someone knows where it is on the web, though.

[darkeyes]

We don't want a level playing field either, as long as we hold the high ground.

Unfortunately, most of the time, the enemy has the high ground through propaganda and disinformation. So, if I can at least get the playing field level, then I have removed the enemy's advantage.

The enemy has neva had the hi ground Falcie.. it has always occupied the lower pits an always will... don mean that from time 2 time we won get our arses kikked cos we will.. but we r still ere an makin progress so on the hi ground we stay until such times as we becum as intolerant an as shitty as they..... up 2 us then 2 prevent that innit?;)