Question:
WASHINGTON - Having several older brothers increases the likelihood of a man being gay, a finding researchers say adds weight to the idea that there is a biological basis for sexual orientation.
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It's likely to be a prenatal effect, said Anthony F. Bogaert of Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada, This and other studies suggest that there is probably a biological basis for homosexuality.
S. Marc Breedlove of Michigan State University said the finding absolutely confirms a physical basis.
Anybody's first guess would have been that the older brothers were having an effect socially, but this data doesn't support that, Breedlove said in a telephone interview.
The only link between the brothers is the mother and so the effect has to be through the mother, especially since stepbrothers didn't have the effect, said Breedlove, who was not part of the research.
Bogaert studied four groups of Canadian men, a total of 944 people, analyzing the number of brothers and sisters each had, whether or not they lived with those siblings and whether the siblings were related by blood or adopted.
He reports in a paper appearing in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences that having several biological older brothers increased the chance of a man being gay.
It's an effect that can be detected with one older brother and becomes stronger with three or four or more, Bogaert said in a telephone interview.
But, he added, this needs to be looked at in context of the overall rate of homosexuality in men, which he suggested is about 3 percent. With several older brothers the rate may increase from 3 percent to 5 percent, he said, but that still means 95 percent of men with several older brothers are heterosexual.
The effect of birth order on male homosexuality has been reported previously but Bogaert's work is the first designed to rule out social or environmental effects.
Bogaert said he concluded the effect was biological by comparing men with biological brothers to those with brothers to whom they were not biologically related.
The increase in the likelihood of being gay was seen only in those whose brothers had the same mothers, whether they were raised together or not, he said.
Men raised with several older step- or adopted brothers do not have an increased chance of being gay.
So what that means is that the environment a person is raised in really makes not much difference, he said.
What makes a difference, he said, is having older brothers who shared the same womb and gestational experience, suggesting the difference is because of some sort of prenatal factor.
One possibility, he suggests, is a maternal immune response to succeeding male fetuses. The mother may react to a male fetus as foreign but not to a female fetus because the mother is also female.
It might be like the maternal immune response that can occur when a mother has Rh-negative blood but her fetus has Rh-positive blood. Without treatment, the mother can develop antibodies that may attack the fetus during future pregnancies.
Whether that's what is happening remains to be seen, but it is a provocative hypothesis, said a commentary by Breedlove, David A. Puts and Cynthia L. Jordan, all of Michigan State.
The research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060626/ap_on_...l_orientation_3
Answer:
I have 3 brothers and none of them are gay. I have a friend who has 5 brothers and he's the youngest of the 6 boys and he's not gay. I had a classmate who was the only son of eight children with no father and he's not gay.
In short, this article is wrong.
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I have three older brothers, but I'm not gay. Wouldn't you be more gay if you had 3 older sisters that you look up to? I mean I've seen younger boys play with their older sisters and they are doing stuff like tea parties and dress up.
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what the heck.
does that mean that girls with older sisters are more likely to be lesbian?
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/mellow.gif)
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I have 3 brothers and none of them are gay. I have a friend who has 5 brothers and he's the youngest of the 6 boys and he's not gay. I had a classmate who was the only son of eight children with no father and he's not gay.
In short, this article is wrong.
In short you didnt read it. But, he added, this needs to be looked at in context of the overall rate of homosexuality in men, which he suggested is about 3 percent. With several older brothers the rate may increase from 3 percent to 5 percent, he said, but that still means 95 percent of men with several older brothers are heterosexual.
In long you dont understand that three examples does not equal a fact of something. My mom has brown hair, I have brown hair, my brother has brown hair SO ALL PEOPLE HAVE BROWN HAIR?!
I have three older brothers, but I'm not gay. Wouldn't you be more gay if you had 3 older sisters that you look up to? I mean I've seen younger boys play with their older sisters and they are doing stuff like tea parties and dress up.
Read above.
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It doesn't matter. I still don't believe it's true. There just HAS to be some kind of data or statistic, or whatever they want to call it, to back-up their information.
I don't believe homosexuality increases on the number of brothers or sisters a person has whether or not the person does become a homosexual.
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It doesn't matter. I still don't believe it's true. There just HAS to be some kind of data or statistic, or whatever they want to call it, to back-up their information.
I don't believe homosexuality increases on the number of brothers or sisters a person has whether or not the person does become a homosexual.
This is a report on a study, thats their date and backup information.
Your belief is based on...nothing. While their belief is based on a study.
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It has more to do with the hormones.
Wow. They go so far to even drag family members into this. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)
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This is a report on a study, thats their date and backup information.
Your belief is based on...nothing. While their belief is based on a study. Their belief is based on what... only homosexual men? 10? 20? I don't buy this stuff. But you can believe in it while I don't, right?
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It's possibly true, but they're going to have to come up with a better explanation as for why.
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thank god im first male! lol
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thank god im first male! lol
funny^
lmao......i'm middle child of 3 child........i'm perfectly straight...
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Their belief is based on what... only homosexual men? 10? 20? I don't buy this stuff. But you can believe in it while I don't, right?
What are you talking about? Did you even bother to read the article?
The very title of this article states that males with older brothers are more likely to be gay. And yes, this hypothesis has been statistically proven more than a few times within the last couple decades. Taking a couple instances of a straight guy with older brothers does not, in any way, prove the article wrong. Such flawed logic makes you look like a silly moose.
By the way, for all you know, these males you mentioned could very well be gay. Ever heard of a closet case? They're pretty common.
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why do people keep analyzing gays like they're aliens or something, god. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)
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Their belief is based on what... only homosexual men? 10? 20? I don't buy this stuff. But you can believe in it while I don't, right?
True you can believe whatever you'd like, do you also believe the sky is green and gravity doesnt exist?
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I had to read this for ToK............ yeah.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5120004.stm
Womb environment 'makes men gay'
Scientists have not found the biological mechanism for this effect
A man's sexual orientation may be determined by conditions in the womb, according to a study.
Previous research had revealed the more older brothers a boy has, the more likely he is to be gay, but the reason for this phenomenon was unknown.
But a Canadian study has shown that the effect is most likely down to biological rather than social factors.
The research is published in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Professor Anthony Bogaert from Brock University in Ontario, Canada, studied 944 heterosexual and homosexual men with either biological brothers, in this case those who share the same mother, or non-biological brothers, that is, adopted, step or half siblings.
These results support a prenatal origin to sexual orientation development in men
Professor Anthony Bogaert
He found the link between the number of older brothers and homosexuality only existed when the siblings shared the same mother.
The amount of time the individual spent being raised with older brothers did not affect their sexual orientation.
'Maternal memory'
Writing in the journal, Professor Bogaert said: If rearing or social factors associated with older male siblings underlies the fraternal birth-order effect [the link between the number of older brothers and male homosexuality], then the number of non-biological older brothers should predict men's sexual orientation, but they do not.
These results support a prenatal origin to sexual orientation development in men.
He suggests the effect is probably the result of a maternal memory in the womb for male births.
A woman's body may see a male foetus as foreign, he says, prompting an immune reaction which may grow progressively stronger with each male child.
The antibodies created may affect the developing male brain.
In an accompanying article, scientists from Michigan State University said: These data strengthen the notion that the common denominator between biological brothers, the mother, provides a prenatal environment that fosters homosexuality in her younger sons.
But the question of mechanism remains.
Andy Forrest, a spokesman for gay rights group Stonewall, said: Increasingly, credible evidence appears to indicate that being gay is genetically determined rather than being a so-called lifestyle choice.
It adds further weight to the argument that lesbian and gay people should be treated equally in society and not discriminated against for something that's just as inherent as skin colour.
Answer:
Bogaert studied four groups of Canadian men, a total of 944 people, analyzing the number of brothers and sisters each had, whether or not they lived with those siblings and whether the siblings were related by blood or adopted.
Wah, only 4 groups of Canadian men which totalled up to 944 people is rather a weak study. I'm sorry, but even after reading the article I find it hard to believe.
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Wah, only 4 groups of Canadian men which totalled up to 944 people is rather a weak study. I'm sorry, but even after reading the article I find it hard to believe.
thats a valid arguement (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
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I have three older brothers, but I'm not gay. Wouldn't you be more gay if you had 3 older sisters that you look up to? I mean I've seen younger boys play with their older sisters and they are doing stuff like tea parties and dress up.
the opposite
the guys i know whom have old sisters tend to be very manly
my own experience
