Gay Men Respond Differently to Pheromones
I was a little intimidated to post my thoughts about this article Gay Men Respond Differently to Pheromones in postqueer, where I first read it, so I will write about it here.
Let me begin by stating that I hate attempts to explain human behavior, especially anything having to do with sexuality or gender, through studies which reveal some biological "truth." The majority of society accepts the findings uncritically and then believes it has factual evidence to support its arguments. It's just dangerous, even if the findings seem to be "positive" such as biological reasons for same-sex attraction. (Leave the poor faggots and dykes alone, they can't do anything about it. It's biological. But that doesn't mean we can't persecute the queer freaks who don't fit into our homo-hetero binary.) I hardly need to write these things. I'm sure most of the people who read this are similarly minded.
Anyway, I really have a problem with this pheromone study, because it doesn't prove anything. The assumption behind it is that the human brain has a fixed way of responding to stimuli that remains static throughout life. Admittedly, I am no biologist and not well-read in this area at all, but I know there have been studies (here I am doing the same thing I just criticized) done on people who have suffered brain damage in one area of the brain and the brain has compensated for this non-functional area by utilizing other areas of the brain (to the extent that this is possible) to minimize the effects of the damaged area. I don't recall if this is something the brain has to be "taught" to do or not, but it's a moot point. The significance is that it suggests that the brain is capable of shifting its patterns of activity; it is malleable to some extent. If we are operating under that assumption, then isn't it possible that the brain activity being observed in these gay men is actually the result of a learned response by the brain to a stimulus based on experience? Based on repeated experience, the brain has come to associate the perception of the presence of male pheromones with having sex, and _therefore_ exhibits activity in the hypothalamus. I think if the researchers really wanted to prove this based on their assumptions, they would have to repeat the same study on a large random sample of young children who have not yet had anything other than auto-erotic sexual experiences. If the findings were duplicated in that population, then they might be onto something, but it is my suspicion that this would not be the case.
Let me begin by stating that I hate attempts to explain human behavior, especially anything having to do with sexuality or gender, through studies which reveal some biological "truth." The majority of society accepts the findings uncritically and then believes it has factual evidence to support its arguments. It's just dangerous, even if the findings seem to be "positive" such as biological reasons for same-sex attraction. (Leave the poor faggots and dykes alone, they can't do anything about it. It's biological. But that doesn't mean we can't persecute the queer freaks who don't fit into our homo-hetero binary.) I hardly need to write these things. I'm sure most of the people who read this are similarly minded.
Anyway, I really have a problem with this pheromone study, because it doesn't prove anything. The assumption behind it is that the human brain has a fixed way of responding to stimuli that remains static throughout life. Admittedly, I am no biologist and not well-read in this area at all, but I know there have been studies (here I am doing the same thing I just criticized) done on people who have suffered brain damage in one area of the brain and the brain has compensated for this non-functional area by utilizing other areas of the brain (to the extent that this is possible) to minimize the effects of the damaged area. I don't recall if this is something the brain has to be "taught" to do or not, but it's a moot point. The significance is that it suggests that the brain is capable of shifting its patterns of activity; it is malleable to some extent. If we are operating under that assumption, then isn't it possible that the brain activity being observed in these gay men is actually the result of a learned response by the brain to a stimulus based on experience? Based on repeated experience, the brain has come to associate the perception of the presence of male pheromones with having sex, and _therefore_ exhibits activity in the hypothalamus. I think if the researchers really wanted to prove this based on their assumptions, they would have to repeat the same study on a large random sample of young children who have not yet had anything other than auto-erotic sexual experiences. If the findings were duplicated in that population, then they might be onto something, but it is my suspicion that this would not be the case.