Study: Lesbians' Brains React Differently

[Christina (imported)]

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON - Lesbians' brains react differently to sex hormones than those of heterosexual women, new research indicates. That's in line with an earlier study that had indicated gay men's brain responses were different from straight men _ though the difference for men was more pronounced than has now been found in women.

Lesbians' brains reacted somewhat, though not completely, like those of heterosexual men, a team of Swedish researchers said in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A year ago, the same group reported findings for gay men that showed their brain response to hormones was similar to that of heterosexual women.

In both cases the findings add weight to the idea that homosexuality has a physical basis and is not learned behavior.

"It shows sexual orientation may very well have a different basis between men and women ... this is not just a mirror image situation," said Sandra Witelson, an expert on brain anatomy and sexual orientation at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

"The important thing is to be open to the likely situation that there are biological factors that contribute to sexual orientation," added Witelson, who was not part of the research team.

The research team led by Ivanka Savic at the Stockholm Brain Institute had volunteers sniff chemicals derived from male and female sex hormones. These chemicals are thought to be pheromones _ molecules known to trigger responses such as defense and sex in many animals.

Whether humans respond to pheromones has been debated, although in 2000 American researchers reported finding a gene that they believe directs a human pheromone receptor in the nose.

The same team reported last year on a comparison of the response of male homosexuals to heterosexual men and women. They found that the brains of gay men reacted more like those of women than of straight men.

The new study shows a similar, but weaker, relationship between the response of lesbians and straight men.

Heterosexual women found the male and female pheromones about equally pleasant, while straight men and lesbians liked the female pheromone more than the male one. Men and lesbians also found the male hormone more irritating than the female one, while straight women were more likely to be irritated by the female hormone than the male one.

All three groups rated the male hormone more familiar than the female one. Straight women found both hormones about equal in intensity, while lesbians and straight men found the male hormone more intense than the female one.

The brains of all three groups were scanned when sniffing male and female hormones and a set of four ordinary odors. Ordinary odors were processed in the brain circuits associated with smell in all the volunteers.

In heterosexual males the male hormone was processed in the scent area but the female hormone was processed in the hypothalamus, which is related to sexual stimulation. In straight women the sexual area of the brain responded to the male hormone while the female hormone was perceived by the scent area.

In lesbians, both male and female hormones were processed the same, in the basic odor processing circuits, Savic and her team reported.

Each of the three groups of subjects included 12 healthy, unmedicated, right-handed and HIV-negative individuals.

The research was funded by the Swedish Medical Research Council, Karolinska Institute and the Wallenberg Foundation.

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On the Net:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: http://www.pnas.org (http://www.pnas.org/)

[A-1 (imported)]

Yes,

I have read that Lesbians' brains had queer reactions to sex hormones...

:-\ ...did I say something wrong?



OUCH!*^&)()*^^

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[Hairless (imported)]

This my not have much to do with this thread, but it is interesting. I know a woman at work who is a lesbain and she has an identical twin sister who isn't gay. I guess they really aren't identical or being gay is not a gene issue, it's choise.

[numnuts (imported)]

If it's choice, then everyone must be bi-sexual, and simply 'Chose' to like the opposite sex. Right? Can you follow that?

I mean, if you can choose to like the same sex, then you can choose to like the opposite sex, right? There would have to be an equal attraction there. Otherwise you wouldn't have the need to 'Choose' between one or the other. Right?

If there wasn't an equal attraction, your mind would already be made up. Don't you think?

What made you decide to feel the way you feel? Why did you choose that?

Why does someone choose to fall in love with someone? Is it for their money? Is it because they look really cool? Did you just see someone in high school or a restaraunt and say to yourself, "Hey! I think I'll choose to fall in love with that person!".

And then you were off to the races, huh? You can just turn that shit on and off at will, huh? It's your choice. Like picking out a new tie?

One final question about choice. Can you explain to me why you chose to love the people you have throughout your life? What list of criteria did you make that made you decide to love them?

Just wondering.

[tugon (imported)]

I always wonder why straight people think being straight is normal for them but being gay is a choice. The two women's brains reacted differently inutero. During the bombardment of hormnones one woman's brain masculanized and the other woman's brain feminized. My being gay is as much a part of me as it is for my brother to be straight. The only choice I have ever made is not to hide in the closet. I have all the joys and hardships of a very out man in a small Ohio town. Oh, another thing I never ask a straight person why they are straight and I would enjoy not being asked why I am gay.

[kristoff]

This my not have much to do with this thread, but it is interesting. I know a woman at work who is a lesbain and she has an identical twin sister who isn't gay. I guess they really aren't identical or being gay is not a gene issue, it's choise.

Some folks ask me why I have limp wrists - it is really simple: Weak Muscles...

I personally know of at least a dozen families where there are multiple siblings, often with multiple numbers of gay or lesbian sibs, straight sibs, etc. I know of families where members across several generations are or have been gay, lesbian or whichever. I have three sons, identical triplets. They are all gay. So is daddy. So is uncle and several cousins, as well.

There is a tremendous amount of corroborated and validated research in the scientific literature which significantly points toward a strong (not exclusive) genetic element in sexual orientation. But then, it is a relatively youthful area of study, with much territory to be explored.

I would suggest that prior to making such strong conclusory statements and judgements that one actually engage google, and perhaps a critical and hopefully open intellect and actually do some research and reading and thinking, without the bias of preconceived notions or ideologies polluting the process. One might be amazed at what can be learned.

K

[Hairless (imported)]

You guys sure get pissed off easy. It only took one word. Choise. I think I'm getting better at it. Usually it takes two words. I didn't mean to offend anyone. Since my own expierence with Disphoria has come to light, I do have more understanding for others. All I was saying is, that there may be other reasons for preferences besides the Gene pool. I hope this statement doesn't PO anyone. I re-wrote it the most PC way I could, I think. I guess reasons are difficult to pin point for all of us. Sorry if I use the wrong words sometimes. I haven't the vocabulary many of you have. I also have to use Google to spell big words correctly. Steve

[kristoff]

You guys sure get pissed off easy. It only took one word. Choise. I think I'm getting better at it. Usually it takes two words. I didn't mean to offend anyone. Since my own expierence with Disphoria has come to light, I do have more understanding for others. All I was saying is, that there may be other reasons for preferences besides the Gene pool. I hope this statement doesn't PO anyone. I re-wrote it the most PC way I could, I think. I guess reasons are difficult to pin point for all of us. Sorry if I use the wrong words sometimes. I haven't the vocabulary many of you have. I also have to use Google to spell big words correctly. Steve

My concern is not PC - that is nothing more than Political Censorship. My concern is with accuracy, generally involving removing religion and bias and thoughtlessness from any critical analysis of a topic. One can certainly have his own beliefs and values, whatever their basis. I can certainly challenge them. That doesn't mean that I am Pissed at you. If that were the case I would probably vehemently hate my dad, and many others who may be ignorant or ill-informed about things of great import to me.

You spoke to a subject which does have great importance to me, about which I am very widely read and studied, and which many others far better than me have done even more study and research. Your conclusion and that of others that sexual orientation results as a matter of choice simply demonstates a vacuum of information, or an unwillingness to acknowledge the result of scientific study in the area. Some are willing to look, listen, and learn, others choose the ostrich with the head in the sand response, others bask in their ignorance (which to me is not ignorance, but rather a lack of intelligence). I simply invite one to take the opportunity to be objective, to look, listen, and learn.

I long ago gave up being pissed at people about ignorance (which means lack of data, not stupidity). This can always be remedied with information. I get frustrated with stupidity and unwillingness to explore and learn.

My hope is that you are always willing to learn different things, new ways, and tolerance to others different than yourself. I suspect that you are!

K

[numnuts (imported)]

I too am hardly pissed, just expressing what I know to be true.

Choosing to be gay would be the equivalent of choosing to be black instead of white in the 1950's and before. Ask anyone who feels drawn toward humans with a similar gender, and they will all tell you that they'd have paid any amount of money to not feel that way.

You would have to be a masochist, even today, to choose to be gay in any highschool. The fear and confusion alone is enough to give most people a nervous breakdown. Who would choose not to fit in? Who would choose to be made fun of? Who would choose to be assaulted?

I have always maintained that no one chooses to be fat, stupid, ugly, poor, or gay. Who would choose that?

I can't cite the numbers now, but a few short years ago I read that the number one cause of suicide in boys aged 12 to 17 was believed to be because they were gay. The discrpancey was in that not all victims left suicide notes, and not all families were willing to discuss it. Yet there is still enough evidence to support it.

How do you feel about the idea of your parents, family, friends knowing you were gay? Just for instance? And how do you feel about them knowing how you actually feel now?

About that same time a few years ago, I also saw a report on gay runaway children in New York on either 20/20 or 60 minutes. They asked 1,000 gay children in their study if they could, would they change from being gay to being straight. Unbelievably, or perhaps not, EVERY, and I mean as in ALL 1,000 kids said they WOULD.

Do you actually think some gay children enjoy the idea of choosing to be gay so much, that they'd rather be thrown out of their parents homes and ostricized by their entire family to live alone on the streets at the ages of 15, 16, 17, and 18? Who in the fuck would choose that?

No, I'm here to tell you it's not a choice. You can take the pizza away from the fat person, but you can't get rid of the craving.

One last thing, what's your favorite color? The one you love the most out of all the colors you know. Think of that color in your head.................. okay, you got it?

Now Change It! Quit loving that color! Then get back to me when it happens.

[A-1 (imported)]

You say Toe-Mae-Toe and I say Toe-Maw-Toe...

Nature or nurture... well, it's both.

The genetic pre-disposition if present (Nature), must have an environmental trigger (Nurture) to activate it.

That is the way that genetics work. Sometimes, according to the genetic predisposition, the trigger may not have to be much. However, it may have to be significant in certain circumstances and in others it may not be possible to trigger it.

So, that about covers Str8, Bi and Gay, preference or whatever. If you look for this at work in the world in the behaviors of people, it will soon become obvious.

As for race, it is a bad example. Suffice it to say that black people when exposed to the sun, generally become blacker, but they still burn some first. Fair-skinned peoples, when exposed to the sun, only become black after substaining a significant burn.

It's just that some of us have been in the sun too long...

When you look at a man or woman, transgendered or child, you FIRST must think "HUMAN". After you can lose enough psychological baggage to accomplish this feat, everything else will fall into place. It is not a choice, nor is it a destiny. It is a circumstance, sometimes beyond control, and sometimes not. Nevertheless, it is something that an individual must work their way through without the "benefit" of being brainwashed.

Either way...

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