Do Our Brains Have Gender?

Research seems to show that homosexuality is caused by a hormonal "delay" during the first 6 weeks of life.

Since my youth, I have been asking questions and seeking answers. "Why is the sky blue?" "Why do we have to die?"

These simple inquiries usually went unanswered and caused a distinct wrinkle in the forehead of my parents; nevertheless, as I grew older and wiser, the answers were available in the form of scientific explanations. As a young adult I began to ask other questions which seemed to allude scientific explanations. One of the most perplexing, for me, was why some people were homosexual.

I am not homosexual. I state this not as an excuse or out of fear for being labeled as such. It is simply a fact. But in my nearly fifty years of life I have known many homosexual people and have had many friends who were homosexual-- some secretly and some openly. As a mental health worker in my youth, I counseled many homosexuals and was able to witness the painful humiliation and blatant disrespect that most people afforded individuals who preferred their own gender. It always seemed an oxymoron to call them "gay." Despite their own acceptance of who and what they were, they continued to struggle against the name calling and ridicule that came from even the clergy and so-called "moral" people.

Link

Instead of us looking at whether or not our brains are gender specific, is it more efficient for our brains to look at the (more than probable) fact that they possess the tendency toward a "spiritual existence" as opposed to the traditional "mom & pop" theories. And you ask, "What are the mom & pop theories? Well, my friend (or friends), the mom & pop theories are those with whom our parents & grandparents grew up. The men had their "socially acceptable" roles and the women had their "socially acceptable" roles. If we ALL paid attention during this formidable period of time, we would have learned a valuable lesson: One is not complimented without the other!!!
I suspect that I will receive argumentative comments concerning my sole stance on this subject. If so, I welcome any and all comments with open arms!

With Peace and Love to All,

Diva

Know what I think ...

They choose to be ... uhhh ... homosexual's I guess is the proper word ...

I'm sorry, but a nice clean warm wet (you get the picture ) is alot better than some smelly dirty diseased ridden poop chute. If any homosexual man after doing a damned fine looking women STILL prefer's a man, then he's simply mentally retarded and need's ALOT of help.

Then again ... that just what I think ...

Actually, all fetuses begin as female in gender. It's during the first few weeks after conception that the mother's body secretes a hormone that will determine the baby's gender for the rest of it's life.

Considering what is being learned about the human genome & genetic shuffling that occurs during prgnancy, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that homosexulaity is something that happened during some of those hormonal surges during pregnancy...

I haven't heard or tried to research that specific point yet, but then I've never heard of it being said anywhere during my studies of genetics in general either.

"They choose to be ... uhhh ... homosexual's I guess is the proper word ... "

So you would choose to be discriminated against, targetted by various militant and non-militant social groups wishing you into a state of non-existence? You would choose that? I didn't think so! What makes you think that anybody would make a conscious decision to do that? That is why I am inclined to believe that homosexuality is NOT a choice, in fact it is a biological disposition-- just as it is in the animal kingdom.

"I'm sorry, but a nice clean warm wet (you get the picture ) is alot better than some smelly dirty diseased ridden poop chute. If any homosexual man after doing a damned fine looking women STILL prefer's a man, then he's simply mentally retarded and need's ALOT of help."

Well, straight folks have been having anal sex for centuries.. some like it, some don't. Here's a newsflash for you- not all homosexual men enjoy anal sex. And in fact not all lesbians enjoy grinding the beaver, can you believe that? And you know, some straight people don't have sex at all... I'd imagine its the same for gay people as well. For some reason I don't think they are the retarded ones... after all you're the one generating how you think!

Oh, FYI: In order to diagnose someone with mental retardation, they need to have an IQ below 70 along with an impairment in their adaptive behaviors. Sexual orientation has not been a clinically-significant criterion since DSM-II.

[Edited on 23-2-2003 by MKULTRA]

MidnightDStroyer have clicked the link in my first post.
For the others posters, I don't know.

When I found this article, I was thinking that it would be a god topic for ATS. I'm surprised, there is only some few posts. Probably, our eyes are too much focused on the Gulf and Irak.

UP, it's long been known that there are indeed differences in the brains of males and females. kalkor.com...

Right now, evidence suggests that the basic wiring differences between male and female brains start early. The different wiring means that they respond to things differently (men tend to be better at spatial problems and navigation, women tend to be better at language and have faster reactions.) But this is not a "law." There are many women who are good navigators and who can work spatial problems and many men with excellent reactions and who can write and speak well. This is also, as MD points out, affected by hormones.

Culture has a lot to do with how people end up, though.

While there's a lot of research that shows homosexuality is genetic (all animal species have homosexuals) rather than learned, no one has found a gene or a way of raising babies (whether human or animal) that "turns them homosexual."

And nobody has found a way of changing a homosexual animal or person into a successful heterosexual (this is a HUGE problem in the farm communities and in the pet breeding associations. Nobody likes to buy a stud animal (bull, ram, dog, cat, etc) only to find out that the stud isn't interested in breeding females and only wants to mount males or that your prizewinning female animal likes to be mounted by females and will attack and hurt any male that comes near her.)

Yes, I know there are some human conversions. Few are long-term and the most successful ones are when the person is actually bisexual.


The info in the article is thought provoking -- though I do question the effects of stress in the mother on the fetus' sexuality. That would imply that we'd see peaks and waves of homosexuality (as the world went from peace to crisis to peace to crisis), and as far as the research I've seen indicates, it stays at a consistant 10%.

And I'm not sure that extra testosterone in women or extra estrogen in males turns either homosexual.

Otherwise, every woman who's gone through menopause would be a flaming lesbian.

Very good post Byrd, thanks.

But I already knew what you wrote.

When I did this topic, I didn't want to be provocative or even be a troublemaker. I was wanting to know what other ATS users were thinking. Also, I'm pretty sure there is a scientific explanation to almost 90% of any homosexual tendency. The last 10%, I don't know.

UP.

People, one question..... Who Cares! Only ones who care are the same ones who care about skin color, size, the superficial things of a person. If you actually care about what a person does with thier free time, get a hobby.

I have several bi and gay and les freinds. I don't care though. Well, except with the gay/bi guy freinds cause can't ever tell if they are joking or being serious. But hey, if you care what people do in thier free times, get over it.

It doesn't matter to me, JTL...If you've noticed in my last post, I mentioned that I never put any kind of specific research on the topic...What I've known came by as periphial points while I was researching genetics & sociology. As long as they know not to try to entice me into practicing it "their way", friendship is good enough. I don't push my preferences on them & expect the same lack of pushing from them.



[Edited on 24-2-2003 by MidnightDStroyer]

I dont think Testosterone (sp?) and Estrogen lvls have anything to do with it, my girlfriend and i have the exact same levels of both (strange isn't it) and she's bi-sexual, and i'm completly hetero-sexual

by the way, e-nonymous, i have lost all respect for you, i have no respect whatsoever for all forms of racism (against Nationality, religion, sex, age, sexuality, race)

Still, whether or not a certain trait like homosexuality is genetically-based or not...Some people have the psychological ability to disregard it, in varying amounts from person to person. For example, some guys who might experience a (latent) homosexual preferences may decide to not follow through with those thoughts & not suffer from any psychological problems...Other guys wouldn't be able to disregard such impulses so easily & wind up with mental scars from the efforts to disregard those tendencies. However you look at it, all people are different & they'll be taking their own views in a given situation...No matter what the genetic causes for certain mental traits (such as homosexuality) a person may have, they can still exercise a certain amount of choice as to whether or not they decide to carry through with them.

For example, have you ever gotten angry enough at somebody to contemplate killing them? In my observation, many people do get that angry from time to time...But it's thier choice whether or not to enact those thoughts or not.

Even if homosexual traits are genetic or not, a person can still have the choice whether or not to act upon those traits...And different people will have differing amounts of ability to enforce their own choice upon those traits or not. It's as much a matter of strength of will as it is the strength of the trait itself.

"Know what I think ...

They choose to be ... uhhh ... homosexual's I guess is the proper word ...

I'm sorry, but a nice clean warm wet (you get the picture ) is alot better than some smelly dirty diseased ridden poop chute. If any homosexual man after doing a damned fine looking women STILL prefer's a man, then he's simply mentally retarded and need's ALOT of help.

Then again ... that just what I think ... "

As this is blatantly offensive, off topic and, frankly, rude, wwhy hasn't it been removed?

what happened to take back ATS or does this only apply to people who make purile obnoxious posts concerning things you don't object to.

Originally posted by Lupe_101
"Know what I think ...

They choose to be ... uhhh ... homosexual's I guess is the proper word ...

I'm sorry, but a nice clean warm wet (you get the picture ) is alot better than some smelly dirty diseased ridden poop chute. If any homosexual man after doing a damned fine looking women STILL prefer's a man, then he's simply mentally retarded and need's ALOT of help.

Then again ... that just what I think ... "

As this is blatantly offensive, off topic and, frankly, rude, wwhy hasn't it been removed?

what happened to take back ATS or does this only apply to people who make purile obnoxious posts concerning things you don't object to.

I completely agree

Originally posted by Lupe_101
"Know what I think ...

They choose to be ... uhhh ... homosexual's I guess is the proper word ...

I'm sorry, but a nice clean warm wet (you get the picture ) is alot better than some smelly dirty diseased ridden poop chute. If any homosexual man after doing a damned fine looking women STILL prefer's a man, then he's simply mentally retarded and need's ALOT of help.

Then again ... that just what I think ... "

As this is blatantly offensive, off topic and, frankly, rude, wwhy hasn't it been removed?

what happened to take back ATS or does this only apply to people who make purile obnoxious posts concerning things you don't object to.

yah- please get your sh** together and erase this