Do gay guys have less testosterone
Brain responses differ in gay, straight men
The brains of lgbtq+ men respond more like those of women when reacting to a chemical derived from the male sex hormone, new evidence of physical differences connected to sexual orientation.
The finding, published in Tuesday’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows differences in physiological reaction to sex hormones.
Researchers led by Ivanka Savic at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, exposed heterosexual men and women and lesbian men to chemicals derived from male and female sex hormones. These chemicals are thought to be pheromones, molecules known to activate responses such as defense and sex in many animals.
Whether humans respond to pheromones has been the subject of debate, although in 2000 American researchers reported finding a gene that they believe directs the human pheromone receptor in the nose.
Biological basis to sexual orientation?
In the Swedish study, when sniffing a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains committed in sexual action were activated in gay men and straight women, but not in unbent men, the researchers found.
When they sn
Most people think of testosterone as a "male" hormone. That is, a hormone that is responsible for much of what we reflect of as characteristically male such as assertiveness, impulsivity, competitiveness and, of course, sexuality. There is substantial evidence that this is largely correct. Most of this evidence comes from studies on other species, particularly rodents. Many people imagine that humans, with their greater brains, are liberated from the governance exerted in other species such as rodents by hormones like testosterone. But are they right? Have we really shrugged off our biological heritage?
When it comes to the sexuality of women, most people would suppose that it is the traditional ovarian hormones, estrogen, and progesterone, that might play a part, if indeed, women’s sexuality is in any way subject to direct by hormones. It’s certainly the case in animals such as rats or cats. Is there any vestige of a similar process in women? But here there is a surprise as well.
Let’s start with males. Rats are born very immature, looking like fetuses. The testes of a new-born male rat secrete testosterone. If the testes are removed, then he grows up to behave more like a female
WHAT ARE SOME INDIVIDUALS Male lover WHILE OTHERS ARE NOT?
Since sexual orientation is a gendered trait, meaning that sexual orientation is a part of gender, current research on the growth of sexual orientation is primarily focused on prenatal sex hormones. Based on animal studies, it is likely that the critical period for sex hormones in humans is pre-birth. Prenatal sex hormones are found to influence gender and gendered traits, so it is safe to assume it also influences sexual orientation.
While such studies have been conducted in animals, it is unethical to inject sex hormones into human fetuses in the uterus. So how do we know that sex hormones influence gender and sexual orientation in humans? Researchers study conditions that mimic the studies in conducted in rats. One such condition, called Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) which is a disorder that causes the adrenal gland to secrete excess testosterone during prenatal training in pregnant women. Children of these women with CAH are significantly more likely to be lgbtq+ compared to the children of women without this condition.
Since sexual orientation is one aspect of gender, it can be assumed that human sexu
Homosexuality, one of the many other sexual behaviors exhibited by humankind, has been rejected, persecuted, and denied. Are the studies that attempt to find causation moral? Is this search for the "why" of homosexuality a prolongation of the heterosexist assumption that heterosexuality is normal and homosexuality abnormal? Are assumptions being made that homosexuality is a disease and should therefore be treated medically? Is the research currently being done heterosexist? Studies that are being performed currently and those done in the recent past have shown that there are strong connections between male homosexuality and biology. By presenting the scientifically significant studies that I have come across, I intend to reduce the ignorance surrounding homosexuality and the behaviors often found with it, and to show some of the correlations between biology and male homosexuality.
Throughout my research of homosexuality, I wavered back and forth, debating the morality of this search for a produce. It seemed that finding a cause for homosexuality was somewhat akin to finding the produce for a disease. Unhappy with the association of homosexuality with abnormali