Big Gay Al had it right!

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NachtcGleiskette
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Big Gay Al had it right!

Post by NachtcGleiskette »

http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/0 ... ingdom.php

I found this in a science magazine in the gym (I know, i was wondering what it was doing there too) and read it while doing my bike! A: the magazine kicks ass, and B: this was a FAB article.

The point made by the article which I had never thought of, but makes more sense than anything else, is perhaps rather than taking Homosexuality as a deviation, we should update our definitions of exactly what sex is, and what it is for. MANY species exhibit sexual practises which are completely unrelated to procreation. I think it's very very true that if we were to take in all this as perhaps natural sexuality for our species, we could learn more as a whole.

Anyway, great article, and awesome magazine. Check it out!
"If you live your life to please everyone else, you will continue to feel frustrated and powerless. This is because what others want may not be good for you. You are not being mean when you say NO to unreasonable demands or when you express your ideas, feelings, and opinions, even if they differ from those of others.â€
Saint Kurt
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Big Gay Al had it right!

Post by Saint Kurt »

A lot of what is talked about in this article is stuff we've been covering in my Biology of Reproduction class this summer. There is an amazing variety of sexual behavior out there (even among humans - don't just think western culture). There is a type of male octopus that fires its penis into the female and then swims away and when the professor put a description of camel sex in front of us, the entire class though he was describing human copulation. The term "nymphomania" was first coined to describe cows, because during their estrus period (heightened sexual arousal), if no bull is present cows will engage in sex with any partner, including those of the same gender. (It was only later used to describe women who were "behaving like sexually excited cows". :yech)

The most incredible thing though is something I knew, but never really connected before. In the womb we begin our first weeks of life as female whether we are genetically male or not. It is only later that the Y chromosome triggers a series of events that alter the anatomic development to maleness. But the Y chromosome doesn't only alter the nether regions - it alters the brain too. The male brain is anatomically different than the female brain. This isn't speculation - it's a fact and there is a test for it.

Females ovulate - release an egg from their ovary for fertilization. Some species (like humans and cows) are cyclical, but there are other stimuli that can cause ovulation in a species (cats for instance are induced ovulators; it is triggered by copulation with a male). No matter what though, women require a special area in their brain called a "surge center" to trigger the hormonal shift to release that egg. Males do not have one. And this can be tested for. An injection of certain hormones will trigger the surge center in a woman's brain and cause her to ovulate. The same hormones in a male will have absolutely no effect.

During development the presence of testosterone inhibits the development of the surge center. Both male and female brains share a region called the "tonic center" which triggers the release of various hormones in a steady pulse.

So. What does this have to do with homosexuality? Well, for a long time there has been this debate - what causes it? Is it predetermined in the individual or is it caused by something in society? But, here we have knowledge that men and women have different brain anatomy and from an evolutionary perspective we can say that it makes more sense that men would be pre-programmed to be attracted to women and women pre-programmed to be attracted to men. But what happens when there are alterations in chemistry?

What happens if someone who is genetically female (XX) is exposed to testosterone during development? Her genetalia would develop normally (it is not testosterone that controls it), but her brain would be anatomically male (because the testosterone would have inhibited the surge center etc...). There have been many documented cases of this and these women have all been attracted to other women as sexual partners. (This doesn't mean they have a lot of testosterone later in life - I'm just talking about fetal development here. The "butch stereotype" doesn't apply.)

Additionally, a similar test was done like the one I described above - injecting a hormone into women to see if their surge center reacted. Instead of ovulation they were monitoring blood hormone levels, looking for a rise in a hormone called LH that is triggered by the surge center. Women's LH levels rose, Men's did not. However they also tested a group of homosexual men and these men's LH levels rose as well indicating the presence of an anatomically female brain.

Now, given that we still have government organizations arguing about whether or not to call homosexuality a mental illness , it blows my mind that people aren't exploring this. We've known about this since the 1960's! And while I wouldn't call it any kind of definitive test for "gayness", it certainly begins to shed at least a little bit of light on the connection between the brain and sexual preference.

Sometimes I feel like we're going backwards as a society when it comes to these issues. It seems like Dr. Kinsey threw the doors open on discussing these topics frankly and openly in the 1950's and now in the era of AIDS, right wing politics, and family values we are shoving them closed again.

So, yeah. Cool article. That does look like a very cool magazine.

-e
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