GLR Forum
General Forum => GLBT General Topics => Topic started by: Feral on Wed, Apr 12, 2006, 11:13
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Much provocative research on left-handed people points to links between left-handedness and, for example, talent for music and mathematics, but also with autism and schizophrenia. Underlying these links, scientists have suspected, may be right-brain/left-brain differences, including which side of a person's brain is "dominant." Now, a leading geneticist has a theory that could explain a lot—perhaps even hair-whorl direction and homosexuality.
Source (http://www.dana.org/books/press/cerebrum/fall05/index.cfm)
The PDF of the entire article (http://www.dana.org/pdf/cerebrum/art_v7n4asbury.pdf) is more intriguing than informative. Sadly, while this theory shows considerable promise in explaining the genetic origins of orientation, like most good work in genetics, it's a tad complicated.
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If gayness holds exclusively or mainly onto genetics,then the corresponding method to wipe us out exists and bears the name of genetic surgery and engineering.If however gayness holds onto human will,exclusively or mainly,than the stubborness of a certain number of individuals guarantees that we will never become extinct.
K6
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"Knowing that each side (hemisphere) of the brain controls movements of the opposite side of the body, some scientists have looked to handedness to yield clues to how the hemispheres function. Adding greatly to the interest are reports that three times as many left-handed people have schizophrenia, bipolar disease (manic-depressive illness), or autism as would be expected from the population at large. A disproportionately high prevalence of left-handedness has been found, as well, in people with dyslexia and stuttering, in people with math and music prowess, and among people in intellectually demanding professions."
It is certainly interesting that left-handed people are more often being homosexual or musically gifted. However, I cannot withhold my doubts about the wide-spread opinion that all interesting scientifical findings are actually important... ::) From the scientifical point of view, it would be necessery to examinate why that many left-handed people choose an "intellectually demanding profession". Is it possible that the lack of appropriate tools for left-handed people hinders them to discover joys of handwork?
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New findings (http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2006/06/26/hscout533470.html) strengthen the suggestion that sexual orientation is determined during the prenatal development. Apparently, repeating pregnancies predispose mothers to bear more gay sons.
Adding to the theory that homosexuality may be hardwired and not the product of environmental factors, new research again confirms that the more older brothers a male has, the more likely he is to be gay.
Researchers have known for years that a man's likelihood of being gay rises with the number of older biological brothers. But the new study found that the so-called "fraternal birth order effect" persists even if gay men were raised away from their biological families.
Study author Anthony F. Bogaert said the findings add to a growing body of evidence that links homosexuality to nature, not nurture.
"The research suggests that the development of sexual orientation is influenced before birth," said Bogaert, a professor of community health sciences at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Bogaert and a colleague first reported the older-brother effect a decade ago. According to Bogaert, men with no older brothers have about a 2 percent to 3 percent chance of being gay. If they have three or four older brothers, the rate goes up to about 5 percent.
The article will appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (http://www.pnas.org/), so far I was not able to determine the exact citation informations.
The Council for Responsible Genetics offers some additional informations in its Position Paper by The Council for Responsible Genetics (http://www.gene-watch.org/programs/privacy/gene-sexuality.html).
Well, we will see whether our Ex-Gay "friends" will shift their focus from juvenile gays to unborn ones - and advise multiple mothers pregnant with a boy to consider a preventive "corrective medication", maybe available in the next convenience store?
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I am told that the article's title will be "Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and men's sexual orientation."
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The links to the articles:
- Anthony F. Bogaert: Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and men’s sexual orientation (http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0511152103v1.pdf)
PNAS published June 28, 2006, 10.1073/pnas.0511152103
......Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and mens sexual orientation Anthony...orientation in men is the number of older brothers (fraternal birth order). The mechanism...were studied. Only biological older brothers, and not any other sibling characteristic...... - COMMENTARIES:David A. Puts, Cynthia L. Jordan, and S. Marc Breedlove: O brother, where art thou? The fraternal birth-order effect on male sexual orientation (http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0604102103v1.pdf)
PNAS published June 30, 2006, 10.1073/pnas.0604102103
......mother carried, not the presence of older brothers while growing up, that makes some...orientation of females. So it is only older brothers af-fecting younger brothers. This...How many men are gay because of older brothers? One estimate is that ap-proximately......
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I have searched at PubMeds for further articles by Mr. Bogaert, a fine list of articles was delivered, among them this funny abstract:
"1: Arch Sex Behav. 1999 Jun;28(3):213-21.
The relation between sexual orientation and penile size.
Bogaert AF, Hershberger S.
Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada. tbogaert@spartan.ac.brocku.ca
The relation between sexual orientation and penile dimensions in a large sample of men was studied. Subjects were 5122 men interviewed by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction from 1938 to 1963. They were dichotomously classified as either homosexual (n = 935) or heterosexual (n = 4187). Penile dimensions were assessed using five measures of penile length and circumference from Kinsey's original protocol. On all five measures, homosexual men reported larger penises than did heterosexual men. Explanations for these differences are discussed, including the possibility that these findings provide additional evidence that variations in prenatal hormonal levels (or other biological mechanisms affecting reproductive structures) affect sexual orientation development."
Out of reasons disclosed from me, these remarkable findings were not sufficiently covered by the international straight press. =))
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Out of reasons disclosed from me, these remarkable findings were not sufficiently covered by the international straight press. =))
Odd that this should come up. A few years ago there was posted on another gay message board a happy little news story about a similar survey. A major German condom manufacturer had found the sales of their various sizes of condoms to be...curious. So they commissioned a study to determine the range of penis sizes. As it happened, they found that an inordinate number of men buy condoms that are not at all properly sized for effective use.
Well anyway, the average size mentioned in the news article was met with great skepticism by the gay men reading the board. While this figure was not unreasonable, they found it was by no means common enough in "the wild" to call it an average.
In a similar vein, a female friend of mine from university (oh, so very long ago) expressed an interest in the small pornography collection my roommate and I had accumulated. She was shocked. "Wherever do you guys find such large...?" In truth, neither of us knew what to say. The gentlemen in the images were fairly ordinary.
It is perhaps best for the str8 boys' dignity if this finding should remain our little secret.