Why are there homosexuals? page

[Neckhammer]

ROCK ON!

Like anything there seems to be an enviromental and a genetic component. Is there any scientific revelations to either? Skip the political or religious stuff. This is in interest of evolution and WWGD.

It's probably easy stuff for the studied.

[RobinNM]

ROCK ON!

Like anything there seems to be an enviromental and a genetic component. Is there any scientific revelations to either? Skip the political or religious stuff. This is in interest of evolution and WWGD.

It's probably easy stuff for the studied.

Lots of different answers and lots of different opinions/ideas will be forthcoming, I'm sure. There is a British actor by the name of John Barrowman who is openly gay and is probably most well known for playing the omnisexual Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and Torchwood (love him!). He did a really interesting show on BBC several years ago called "The Making of Me" and he explored a lot of different areas and talked to a lot of different people who are researching this very thing. It's worth a look.

[badgergirl]

What would Grok do? The same as we do - get with whoever looks best to us and who answers our need to be loved, however we define that concept. I can see that there would be tribal advantages to spectrum sexuality; which is what I, as a ten-years monogamously hetero married card-carrying bi, think most of us have. Can't honestly see the advantage to pure-play hetero sexuality. Yes, reproduction is vital, but it isn't the only hallmark of a successful tribe (and who says you have to be in love/attracted to your co-procreater anyway?)

That Love is all there is,
Is all we know of Love;
It is enough, the freight should be
Proportioned to the groove.
(Emily Dickinson)

In the lingo of this forum, grease the groove and you'll be amazed at the results/gifts that ensue.
I'm a newbie and lurker and have been impressed thus far by the thoughtful sanity of your posts, but to frame the question, imho, is to invite the bigots.

[parrottrl]

Honestly, I've always thought that they provided the glue that made ancient tribes work and communicate socially, acting as match-makers and peace-makers in early societies where heterosexuals were too locked into procreation and strict gender roles. The ability to sit by both firesides, if you get my meaning. Very useful people to have around, even if they weren't producing the usual litters than straight people of the time were producing.

[JoanieL]

Because it feels so good to get butt banged?

[Rasputina]

Why do any of us exist? Why do people reproduce and populate the world? To what end do we serve? Is there a reason? These are universal, existential questions that no human can hope to answer.

[Dr. Bork Bork]

Because it feels so good to get butt banged?

um... no. Even a rectal exam is, well... unpleasant. And they're using extra lube!

[Goldie]

I've read some studies that seem to find a correlation between the number of male children a mother gives birth to, and the subsequent boys having a higher probability of being gay. The thought is that the mother builds more antibodies to each successive male fetus (because the male genetic map is "foreign" to the mother's immune system), which affects the male child's brain development.

As far as an evolutionary reason for this, I suppose there could be some advantage for not passing on the same male genes--to ensure as much diversity as possible. Only the older brothers would pass on the genetics, not the homosexual siblings born later. You'd have fewer children in the next generation with those similar genetics.

Another interesting aside to the above is that the homosexual siblings born later are right-handed more often than the general population. So whatever the biological brain development mechanism is, it also seems to affect handedness.

Fraternal birth order and the maternal immune hypothesis of male homosexuality

The association between the fraternal birth order effect in male homosexuality and other markers of human sexual orientation

Of course, this correlation doesn't hold true all the time, and doesn't explain lesbian women at all.

[Rasputina]

I've read some studies that seem to find a correlation between the number of male children a mother gives birth to, and the subsequent boys having a higher probability of being gay. The thought is that the mother builds more antibodies to each successive male fetus (because the male genetic map is "foreign" to the mother's immune system), which affects the male child's brain development.

As far as an evolutionary reason for this, I suppose there could be some advantage for not passing on the same male genes--to ensure as much diversity as possible. Only the older brothers would pass on the genetics, not the homosexual siblings born later. You'd have fewer children in the next generation with those similar genetics.

Another interesting aside to the above is that the homosexual siblings born later are right-handed more often than the general population. So whatever the biological brain development mechanism is, it also seems to affect handedness.

Fraternal birth order and the maternal immune hypothesis of male homosexuality

The association between the fraternal birth order effect in male homosexuality and other markers of human sexual orientation

Of course, this correlation doesn't hold true all the time, and doesn't explain lesbian women at all.

Um, yeah, this is insane. I'm the oldest of six, a female, bi-sexual. You're right, this doesn't explain lesbianism, at all, but why does it need explaining?

[badgergirl]

I've read some studies that seem to find a correlation between the number of male children a mother gives birth to, and the subsequent boys having a higher probability of being gay. The thought is that the mother builds more antibodies to each successive male fetus (because the male genetic map is "foreign" to the mother's immune system), which affects the male child's brain development.

As far as an evolutionary reason for this, I suppose there could be some advantage for not passing on the same male genes--to ensure as much diversity as possible. Only the older brothers would pass on the genetics, not the homosexual siblings born later. You'd have fewer children in the next generation with those similar genetics.

Another interesting aside to the above is that the homosexual siblings born later are right-handed more often than the general population. So whatever the biological brain development mechanism is, it also seems to affect handedness.

Fraternal birth order and the maternal immune hypothesis of male homosexuality

The association between the fraternal birth order effect in male homosexuality and other markers of human sexual orientation

Of course, this correlation doesn't hold true all the time, and doesn't explain lesbian women at all.

There's a huge assumption there, of course, that your orientation decrees whether or not you want to procreate. I would suggest that there are plenty of straights who do not want to and plenty of homos who do - in a world without contraception and fewer endocrine disruptors I would imagine that getting to the preg stage at least would not be too tricky no matter which way you preferred to butter your bread. Surrogacy is not a new concept. Now, maternal and infant survival are other, more difficult issues to assess.