Courtesy of brewergnome

[ariestar]

Now we can stop wondering why. (I still think hormones are a good explanation, but this isn't too shabby...)

Comments

[bexone]

Does this mean I have to stop using you two as my "it's a million times more complicated than either nature or nurture, you homophobic asswipes" example now?

[ariestar]

Probably not, because it's still pretty complicated, it seems.

[bexone]

oh good. you guys have been my secret weapon for *mumblety* years now, I'd hate to have to give you up. :->

[giliofleaves]

[ariestar]

Perhaps it's a good survival gene--the more gay uncles you have, the more fabulous you are.

[giliofleaves]

a bit o' bio

[cosmic_hiccup]

There is also the epigenome. The epigenome controls which genes are switched on/off and when, which is environmentaly cued, partly in your life, partly in your fetal development, partly in your father's life, and partly in your mother's fetal development.

So even if you have exactly the same DNA as each other, you have different genes switched on and off, producing different humans.

Re: a bit o' bio

[ariestar]

...but only the ones that switched during our own fetal development and lives, since our mother's fetal development (I'm assuming this is the end of her influence, since women are born with all their eggs, I seem to remember hearing from Miss Odell) and our father's life up to the point of conception are the same. I'm also assuming that since we are less identical than certain other twin pairs, we were an "early split" with two sacs, so basically we only had one millisecond of fetal development we shared...

TELL ME MORE

Re: a bit o' bio

[ariestar]

Also, one of the reasons I've been using the "hormone in the sac" theory to explain things is that the Human Genome Project reported no "gay gene"--not that it's perfect, but I kind of like the idea of gender where you can be masculine or feminine regardless of the other, so it's possible to be mostly masculine and kinda feminine, making you gay because of hormones and stuff, but not yet transgender or genderqueer.