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To the Doctors here- Gay brain dfference?!How many of you agree with this? The Swedish study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, compared the size of the brain's halves in 90 adults. Gay men and heterosexual women had halves of a similar size, while the right side was bigger in lesbian women and heterosexual men. A UK scientist said this was evidence sexual preference was set in the womb. Scientists have noticed for some time that homosexual people of both sexes have differences in certain cognitive abilities, suggesting there may be subtle differences in their brain structure. When these results were collected, it was found that lesbian women and heterosexual men shared a particular "asymmetry" in their hemisphere size, while heterosexual women and gay men had no difference between the size of the different halves of their brain. In other words, structurally, at least, gay men were more like heterosexual women, and gay women more like heterosexual men. A further experiment found that in one particular area of the brain, the amygdala, there were other significant differences. In heterosexual men and lesbian women, there were more nerve "connections" in the right side of the amygdala, compared with the left. The reverse, with more neural connections in the left amygdala, was the case in homosexual men and heterosexual women. Read further here. Source:BBC Submitted by Sonu (39 posts) on June 17, 2008 - 8:25am. |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media
The neurobiology of
The neurobiology of homosexuality is always a controversial topic. Ever since I started remembering things I've always felt more comfortable around a woman. The feeling strengthened as I grew up and that made me think if I was BORN gay. At this point in time, I welcome this view for its contribution to scientific inquiry in explaining multiplicity of sexual identities and interests. It is logically fine to believe that sexual orientation could be a result of interdependent relationship between social forces, biological processes and personal choices. I remember reading about studies conducted in understanding the influence of "genetics" on homosexuality (Choice or Genetics?). There have been to date no therapeutic interventions of a specifically genetic kind of homosexuality such as interventions to modify a person's genomic endowment or to conduct germ line therapy for the purpose of eliminating gay and lesbian progeny.
I would like to know what a Neurosurgeon think about this news. Do we have one among us?
PS: I would also like to point out that so far I haven't noticed any functional or anatomical difference between heart of homosexual and heterosexualpeople :)
If they continue research
If they continue research at this pace it wont be too late before they come up with a sexual orientation transplant surgery as a CURE for this 'abnormality'. Then they will start therapy and then compulsory counselling. I am scared at the thought of having had to take medication to CURE this CONDITION. We are at the mercy of a heteroworld to let us marry and let us live openly as gay and dont feel ashamed of it when in reality heterosexuals breed and give birth to homosexuals.
I've just sent you the
NewScientist July 19th issue
Interesting indeed
Thanks for the link. I remember meeting up with Jane last dec 2007 when i was visiting Yale.
Sonu, all the best with your presentation today.
err
I also read somewhere that
I also read somewhere that heterosexual males have a portion of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) that is larger than women and homosexual males. The study was done in the 70's I think and they never looked at lesbians' brains for comparison.
You can't really believe those kinds of studies. The sample size is relatively small, and there can also be other factors that could account for the differences in brain structure. Remember reseatchers usually look at the average size, so the size of the brain or number of nerve connection to the amygdala of individuals will be along a range.
What does it mean for bisexuals?
I just wondered if any studies were ever done on brains of bisexuals.
It would be interesting to see if they can even find an equally defined and identified group of bisexuals to carry out the study on.
Following the logic of the results of the study mentioned above (and it's not to say that I accept or deny them); maybe the percentage of homosexuality/heterosexuality will be expressed in brain size. Or is it the other way around?
I just think that accepting bisexuality as a legitimate sexual orientation sometimes puts a damper on such "scientific discoveries". I'm sorry if it's hard for me to accept a study with such a small sample group as the last word on biology and homosexuality.
I also wonder why they didnt
I actually used to be a neuroscientist
Don't get too worked up, girls. It's just one study. There will be others, which may or may not find the same differences. At some point they also might include bi or transgender study subjects. But for the moment, they probably already put months to years into scanning just those 90 people. (Which is actually quite a good sample size compared to what I used to be working with. Never mind.)
I would have liked to see the actual statistics, but since I don't work in the lab anymore, I don't get access to the original paper. (And as a stupid European, I don't even have a credit card to buy it.)
Anyways, like all science, the outcome of this study is not a fact. It's just data, just a hint that there might be something there we have in common with straight guys. Which is actually what common sense tells me: If I assume that my mind is a product of my brain (and neuroscientists usually do), obviously the circuits for "Ooh, that girl is hot" have to be the same for everyone. I'm not saying they actually found just that circuit in this study, mind it. Any ideas on what the amygdala does are still quite vague. And I never bought into the "guys have the larger right hemisphere and are therefore better at parking a car."
So no fear, ladies. A "cure" for our preferences is still far from sight. Sadly also for the cute straight girl who's unnaturally in love with a man. :)
The abstract of the original paper is at
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0801566105v1
the brain is not static
if you read loads of other stories or do some research about the brain, it'll become clear that the brain is not static, it's not one lump object, it's can grow new nuerotransmitters and receptors, as well as have them die, it can change in ways that will change us at different points in our lives and part of that is because of how our experinces effect our brain's development, and part of that is the result of hormonal shifts that happen through everyperson's life, and part is to do with what we were born with, and it's basically a super sensative and flexible part of the body.
Plus, our consciousness also effects the ways the brain develops and the choices we make, so we can't just turn off our conscious selves or every connection in our brains that might lead us to be gay.