Guess what I learned in Bio today about gay people, mommy!

[kazukorin49]

So my biology instructor decided to spend today's lecture discussing biological aspects concerning specific propositions up for ballot--the energy one, the animal cruelty one, and the gay marriage one

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[clicheterms]

i learned about this during my summer course and i don't remember whether it was the hypothalamus but it's been proven that a part of the brain of a gay person is slightly smaller/shaped differently than that of a straight person. also, there's been twin researches conducted (you might be interested to hear this xD) and the concurrence of gay twins is something like 63%. also, research has shown that the homosexuality has something to do w. the mother and that the more likeliness of a gay male increases w. the number of male children or sth.

<3 tiffo

[kazukorin49]

Yeah, sex-linked traits and twin studies *nods* Also, there's something that happens during the development of the embryo/fetus, where genes are 'turned on' and 'turned off' during cell production/growth--sometimes, a trait will be turned on too long or too short, which results in identical twins looking a little different despite having the same genes. This can also occur in certain organs like someone having a slightly bigger heart, someone having fingers shorter than their palm, or, in this case, someone's hypothalamus being stretched out or smaller.

*huggles*

[acanismajoris]

I learned about this briefly in intro psych, but I checked it up in my neuro book (homosexual behavior is indexed, doncha know!)

There are many interesting tidbits, but it's the INAH-3 section (long writ=third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus) of the hypothalamus. It's generally larger in men, but homosexual men tend to resemble women in their size of INAH than men.

As for women, there seems to be a connection to fetal androgen exposure (androgen being a hormone, fetal meaning during development) but this is less correlated and less evidence, so it's more of a trend and less understood (which is saying something, since the INAH-3 difference could, in fact, be CAUSED by homosexuality...)

Other interesting tidbits! Boys with more older brothers, even when separated and raised elsewhere, in a different family are more likely to be gay. So, by having more boys, the mother is more likely to pop out a gay boy. Genetically. Or something. Also, a quote: "Interestingly, homosexual behavior is more common among anthropoid

[kazukorin49]

OOOOO. I would love to be spammed with more random psych/neuro info 8DDDD