Exploring the Science of Sexuality: Is There a 'Gay Gene'?

[Stratosphere]

I searched this term on Google and I only got religious results.

What are the current views held by the scientific community? I tend to think there is a gay gene, but I can't find any sources.

 

[thack45]

I searched this term on Google and I only got religious results.

What are the current views held by the scientific community? I tend to think there is a gay gene, but I can't find any sources.

Sounds like you've answered your own question.

 

[DaveC426913]

The terms you Googled will give biased results.

Try Googling 'homosexuality' and 'genetic' or 'heredity'.

 

[thack45]

Sounds like you've answered your own question.

The terms you Googled will give biased results.

Try Googling 'homosexuality' and 'genetic' or 'heredity'.

I stand humbly corrected. It would be nice however if there were no search results.

 

[zomgwtf]

I stand humbly corrected. It would be nice however if there were no search results.

Impossible...
However when you are looking for papers or sources that are 'of quality' I'd suggest you use google scholar:
http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=homosexuality+genetics&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

27,500 results and many citations. I'd suggest you first take a look at the studies done on the twins. In my opinion there is no such thing as a 'gay gene' however it does seem quite likely that some genes combined with particular enviromental factors will make a person have a higher probability of being a homosexual.

 

[mgb_phys]

The terms you Googled will give biased results.
Try Googling 'homosexuality' and 'genetic' or 'heredity'.

Google used to have a page apologising for the results if you searched for "jew" rather than jewish/hebrew/judaic - just because the particular term was used by a certain political segment.

 

[zomgwtf]

Google used to have a page apologising for the results if you searched for "jew" rather than jewish/hebrew/judaic - just because the particular term was used by a certain political segment.

You mean this:
http://www.google.com/explanation.html

 

[thack45]

I stand humbly corrected. It would be nice however if there were no search results.

Impossible...
However when you are looking for papers or sources that are 'of quality' I'd suggest you use google scholar:
http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=homosexuality+genetics&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

27,500 results and many citations. I'd suggest you first take a look at the studies done on the twins. In my opinion there is no such thing as a 'gay gene' however it does seem quite likely that some genes combined with particular enviromental factors will make a person have a higher probability of being a homosexual.

I'm not sure if this entire post is in response to mine or not.

 

[thack45]

Google used to have a page apologising for the results if you searched for "jew" rather than jewish/hebrew/judaic - just because the particular term was used by a certain political segment.

*sigh*

 

[Evo]

Homosexual behaviour due to genetics and environmental factors




30 June 2008
Homosexual behaviour is largely shaped by genetics and random environmental factors, according to findings from the world’s largest study of twins.

Writing in the scientific journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, researchers from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, and Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm report that genetics and environmental factors (which are specific to an individual, and may include biological processes such as different hormone exposure in the womb), are important determinants of homosexual behaviour.

Dr Qazi Rahman, study co-author and a leading scientist on human sexual orientation, explains: “This study puts cold water on any concerns that we are looking for a single ‘gay gene’ or a single environmental variable which could be used to ‘select out’ homosexuality - the factors which influence sexual orientation are complex. And we are not simply talking about homosexuality here - heterosexual behaviour is also influenced by a mixture of genetic and environmental factors.

continued

http://www.qmul.ac.uk/news/newsrelease.php?news_id=1075

 

[epenguin]

I think these attempts to say there is a gene or genes for something which is partly conscious or free choice and partly a socially or ideologically related tendency are, even when they, as not always, are clear and true, are a philosophical category mistake.

Take a more extreme example. People try to make relations between genes and which political party you vote for. But that would have no meaning in even a different country or historical epoch.

It is more likely that the genes could be related with temperamental tendencies or general psychological types. Things like degrees of extroversion, neuroticism, any number of psychological categorisations. Then a given temperament might be more likely in one society with a given ideological background to vote for a particular kind of politics, or have more tendency to go for a given type of sexual orientation or for that matter a given profession. There are not genes for professions surely – but probably you could find the same sort of correlational evidence that would show that there are. And even the science of psychological type seems to me a bit dubious and at best its categorisations are rather culture-limited.

 

[Jobrag]

This is quite old but still thought provoking.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article493668.ece

 

[arildno]

You should also check out SimonLeVay's homepage.

In the 1990s, the neurologist LeVay published an article in "Science" that indicated that a particular region in the male hypothalamus was about half the size among men known to have been gay when alive, against the size of the same region among (presumably) straight men.

For 3 other, adjacent regions in the hypothalamus, there were no similar differences.

It had been well-known for a long time that the brain is slightly dimorphic; women typically have halved sizes of two of the mentioned hypothalamic regions compared to the males, one of them being the same as the one found halved among gays.

On LeVay's site, you can find links to two other studies confirming his initial findings, one on gay men&heterosexuals, the other on "gay" wethers compared to ordinary wethers:
http://www.simonlevay.com/

 

[DaveC426913]

"gay" wethers compared to ordinary wethers

I've never heard this term before. A quick dictionary check pulls up "castrated ram". Is that what you're referring to?

 

[Engine #9]

Consider hormonal habituation, starting in utero, and perpetuated by environmental factors, such as diet, behavior and, indirectly, belief.

A mother's biochemistry is effected by a great many things and hormonal changes during pregnancy are expected.

People actually take hormones to effect biological and psychological changes.

 

[Stratosphere]

Impossible...
However when you are looking for papers or sources that are 'of quality' I'd suggest you use google scholar:
http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=homosexuality+genetics&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

27,500 results and many citations. I'd suggest you first take a look at the studies done on the twins. In my opinion there is no such thing as a 'gay gene' however it does seem quite likely that some genes combined with particular enviromental factors will make a person have a higher probability of being a homosexual.

Why didn't I think to use Google Scholar? Thanks for reminding me of that useful tool, I'll be sure to use it in the future.

 

[arildno]

I've never heard this term before. A quick dictionary check pulls up "castrated ram". Is that what you're referring to?

Mea culpa.

In Norwegian, "wether" would be the english word closest to the one we use for what you call a "ram".

So, I falsely assumed you used "wether" in the same sense..

 

[lisab]

Mea culpa.

In Norwegian, "wether" would be the english word closest to the one we use for what you call a "ram".

So, I falsely assumed you used "wether" in the same sense..

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wether" ; it's just not a commonly used term. I think it's used for castrated goats, too.

 

[Engine #9]

Keep in mind that the DNA/RNA mechanism is not deterministic. It functions to produce proteins. If you were to bottle and sell those proteins, you'd have to list their effects, along with possible side effects.

An individual protein may have many uses inside the body. The genes that cooperate to produce that given protein should be identified as part of a group that supplies the protein for all of those uses.

 

[Chase leader]

I think have

 

[zomgwtf]

I think I have the gay gene, want to study me?

:rofl: in all seriousness though what were you trying to say?

 

[Moonbear]

I've never heard this term before. A quick dictionary check pulls up "castrated ram". Is that what you're referring to?

Actually, it means they were castrated while still pre-pubertal. It applies to both sheep and goats.

To the OP, A gay gene (singular) is highly unlikely and probably would have been found by now if such a thing existed. Human sexuality is a complex system that involves both multiple genes and environmental influences. There is no reason to think identifying a biological basis of homosexuality would be any different than identifying the differences between males and females. There is not one gene responsible, but many, many, many genes.

Just by way of heading off any such potential direction of discussion, whether genetic or environmental or a combination of both, it is still biological and natural.

 

[arildno]

The probable fact that many genes are involved in the determination of a particular sexual orientation does not mean genes cannot be dominant in shaping that orientation.

 

[epenguin]

To try make my case and example clearer, if you tried to research a correlation between genes and professions you might get data that made you say, aha! I have discovered the accountancy gene! This gene is disproportionately represented in accountants, actuaries, auditors, bookkeepers. We should look for this gene and for social and economic efficiency those who have it should be directed to this profession, Skinner and Shockley would have said. If you had done it around 1935 or 1950 you might have found it was correlated with genes also correlating with cautious churchgoing conservative unadventurous personalities and to the stiff-collar-and-tie-wearers' gene. But if you had done it in 2005 you could instead have found it correlated with genes that were frequent in racing drivers, bungee jumpers, circus acrobats and criminals. So I think there is not really a gene for accountancy or homosexuality.

 

[arildno]

Well, wouldn't we want happy accountants, whose personality will fit the job?

By rational personality analysis, coupled with knowledge of genetics, we might offer children at an early age a range of options where it is probable that something in it might trigger their interest.

Rather than just hoping they'll find out on their own, trying to find their particular needle in one of zillions of haystacks...

 

[epenguin]

Well, wouldn't we want happy accountants, whose personality will fit the job?

By rational personality analysis, coupled with knowledge of genetics, we might offer children at an early age a range of options where it is probable that something in it might trigger their interest.

Rather than just hoping they'll find out on their own, trying to find their particular needle in one of zillions of haystacks...

Well we need a philosopher here for the most effective answer, but frankly I think of that as category error and a scientistic mechanical approach to human personality, as well as perhaps to the economy, that has already had its day.

 

[arildno]

Personality analysis is becoming routine for fitness assessment for various jobs.

More knowledge of the range of probable interest, based, in part, of genetic information, will be part of future education&job offers.

 

[Monique]

Personality analysis is becoming routine for fitness assessment for various jobs.

More knowledge of the range of probable interest, based, in part, of genetic information, will be part of future education&job offers.

That is really a stretch. Let's discuss the current state of science, instead of referring to the unknown future.

 

[arildno]

That is really a stretch. Let's discuss the current state of science, instead of referring to the unknown future.

Okay.

 

[Engine #9]

Let's just avoid all of that social engineering and let freedom ring. hehe.