News > Geek > Mom, I'm Gay ... And It's Your Fault

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SATURDAY FEBRUARY 25 2006 4:00 PM

Mom, I'm Gay ... And It's Your Fault

Submitted by crispy

Edited by WilWheaton

Are you born gay or do you choose to be gay? This question has been floating around for a while.

UCLA research might be coming up with some clues.

A study has shown that the genetic makeup of the mother may determine whether or not her son will be gay.

The finding, detailed in the February issue of the journal Human Genetics, adds fuel to the decade-long debate about whether so-called "gay genes" might exist.

The researchers examined a phenomenon called "X chromosome inactivation" in 97 mothers of gay sons and 103 mothers whose sons were not gay.

[...]

Normally, X chromosome inactivation occurs at random: half of the cells in a woman's body will have one X chromosome inactivated, while the other half inactivates the other chromosome.

However, when the researchers in the current study examined cells from those women who had at least two gay sons, they found that 42 of themor 23 percentshowed something different.

"Every single cell that we looked at in these women inactivated the same X chromosome," Bocklandt told LiveScience. "That's highly unusual."

In contrast, only 4 percent of mothers with no gay sons and 13 percent of those with just one gay son showed this type of extreme skewing.

Bocklandt thinks this suggest that a mother's X chromosomes partly influences whether her son is gay or not.

"We think that there are one or more genes on the X chromosome that have an effect on the sexual orientation of the sons of these mothers, as well as an effect on the cells we were looking at," Bocklandt said.

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Comments

mathilde74

France

August 2003

MAR 03, 2006 01:10 AM

CoralSea said:

mathilde74 said:

I suggest everbody tries to read some ethnology.

I would suggest this too. Many studies on Indigenous Australian groups have been heavily criticised by Indigenous people because anthropologists examined their behaviour through their own cultural perspective; only focussing on male power within these groups (which is completely at odds with the principles of reciprocity that underpin the Indigenous values system). Basically they saw what they wanted to see.
I don't think you can satisfactorily explain the sexual norms of a culture simply by examining the behaviours that are condoned or out in the open...clandestine sexual activity is far more revealing of real human sexuality (I think anyway).

[Edited on Mar 03, 2006 by CoralSea]

Thanks you.

I can add something. A feminist anthropologist shows how feminist anthropologist can be influenced by their beliefs. Some of them want to see women's power in other cultures are more than they really are.
Or we can see Margaret Mead who study during the 60's. As she didn't know her society (and how rape was big in her own society) she did not see how important rape was in Trobriand's society.

tolron6607 : you can see what she means whith some little sentences in anthropology books. For example. "Men work while women are cooking with children around". We can see how male anthropologists forget to see cooking is a work. second they forget "having children around" while you are cooking is hard and needs lots of energy.
A male anthropologist just studies energy you spend in a tribe. He just forgets to see women always have children on their arms which means a hard waste of energy.
It is not a judgment ; it is just to show how some male antrhopologists can forget to study what they see because they are in their own social structures.

This example...the example that homosexual behavior exists in all cultures regardless of whether those cultures have ever interacted with another culture...indicates homosexuality has a genetic component. If it were strictly cultural, there would be at least one culture with no evidence of it.

I'm not speaking of homosexual behaviour because in this tribe it is the norm, not a behaviour.
We can also speak about what homosexuality is. In some tribes young boys have to drink sperm (to have power and get real men) ; they drink where the sperm come from if I can say. :o)
But homosexuality doesn't exist any more after this period. (Anyway you can call this homosexuality I won't because with their cultures standards it is not homosexuality).

No. Genetics are not simply on or off. That has been demonstrated inarguably. All genetic traits are activated through a complex series of methods which allow for mild, moderate, or extreme expression...not to mention the constant conflict between dominant and recessive genes.

I was just saying I was not sure some people here don't believe to cultural influences. It is just an opinion.

Culture does not modify our biological tendencies...however our intellect gives us the capability to overpower them. Culture cannot make you attracted to a member of the same, or opposite, sex...however culture can pressure us to act, or not act, based on our existing attractions.

I suggest you to read the link I gave to you.

[Edited on Mar 03, 2006 by mathilde74]

CoralSea

Australia

July 2005

MAR 03, 2006 01:35 AM

Hey, no worries! *insert smiley thing*
Things have gotten better...people seem/perhaps are more aware of their own bias (if it's possible to say that objectively !) and there is just a more diverse group of people who actually are anthropologists, therefore you get more diverse perspectives...and more importantly, Indigenous people are actually being listened to when they make criticisms. To clarify; I wasn't intending my statement to sound like I think all male anthropologists are incapable of being aware of their cultural bias, it's just that actually trying to be aware of your cultural bias wasn't hot anthropological news until relatively recently.

[Edited on Mar 03, 2006 by CoralSea]