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Born Gay: The Psychobiology of Sex Orientation
A key study in the psychobiology of sexual orientation and its true causes.
Since the ground-breaking work of Simon LeVay and Dean Hamer in the early 1990s, a tremendous amount of new research has been carried out by scientists who now understand a great deal more about the biology of sexual attraction. In this book the authors show that attempts to find a sociological cause for homosexuality have little foundation and argue that popular efforts to blame parents or teachers for a child's homosexuality are futile and unjust. Combining their own findings with all the available quantifiable research, the authors have, with this study, provided an urgently needed addition to the major work that has been done in this field.
Since the ground-breaking work of Simon LeVay and Dean Hamer in the early 1990s, a tremendous amount of new research has been carried out by scientists who now understand a great deal more about the biology of sexual attraction. In this book the authors show that attempts to find a sociological cause for homosexuality have little foundation and argue that popular efforts to blame parents or teachers for a child's homosexuality are futile and unjust. Combining their own findings with all the available quantifiable research, the authors have, with this study, provided an urgently needed addition to the major work that has been done in this field.
188 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 3, 2024
A SUMMARY OF THE RECENT RESEARCH
Glenn Wilson is Reader in Personality at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London; Qazi Rahman is Lecturer in Psychobiology at the University of East London. They wrote in the Preface of this 2005 book, "Searches for the causes of the homosexual orientation began in the era when the behaviour was pathologized... hence some gay people have been resistant to the idea of a science seeking answers to this question.
"However, since a self-declared gay neuroscientist in San Diego found anatomical brain differences between gay and straight men, the homosexual community has come to realize that science might just as well be used to dispel the idea that gay behaviour is a matter of fickle choice subject to 'correction.' Scientific work has progressed a great deal since the ground-breaking discovery of Simon LeVay in 1991, and this book is intended to summarize these modern developments." (Pg. 9)
They observe, "The first hint of an inherited component to sexual orientation comes from the fact that it tends to aggregate in families, or at least among siblings. Gay men to tend to have more gay brothers and lesbians do tend to have more lesbian sisters than their heterosexual counterparts..." (Pg. 43) They add, "Twin studies on human sexual orientation also point to the conclusion that genetics are important as well as the non-shared environment. For some time it has been recognized that MZ twins are more often concordant for homosexuality than fraternal twins." (Pg. 46)
Later, they add, "the birth order effect in human sexual orientation is real... about one in every seven gay men owed their sexual orientation to the big brother effect... a substantial proportion (but clearly not all) of gay men owe their sexuality to fraternal birth order." (Pg. 97, 99) However, they admit, "although genetic factors are important in sexual orientation, genes do not account for everything. Less than half the variation in sexual orientation can be ascribed to genetic differences between individuals. The rest is therefore down to environment..." (Pg. 55)
Of Simon LeVay's studies ['Queer Science: The Use and Abuse of Research into Homosexuality'], they observe, "More recent work attempting to replicate LeVay's findings has produced less striking results." (Pg. 112) They state, "In summary, the available evidence suggests a bilateral brain organization of language function in gay men that is female-typical. The study... seems to confirm a neurophysiological basis for the similarity in mental rotation ability between straight women and gay men but tells us little about brain asymmetry for spatial functions. Nonetheless... it is reasonable to suspect that a bilateral representation of language in gay men incurs the cost of reduced spatial ability." (Pg. 123)
They also observe, "a pre-gay boy is likely to be less interested in competitive sports than other boys, whereas a pre-lesbian girl may be more interested in these." (Pg. 134)
This is a very enlightening volume, that will be of great interest to anyone wanting to know more about scientific research in this area.
Glenn Wilson is Reader in Personality at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London; Qazi Rahman is Lecturer in Psychobiology at the University of East London. They wrote in the Preface of this 2005 book, "Searches for the causes of the homosexual orientation began in the era when the behaviour was pathologized... hence some gay people have been resistant to the idea of a science seeking answers to this question.
"However, since a self-declared gay neuroscientist in San Diego found anatomical brain differences between gay and straight men, the homosexual community has come to realize that science might just as well be used to dispel the idea that gay behaviour is a matter of fickle choice subject to 'correction.' Scientific work has progressed a great deal since the ground-breaking discovery of Simon LeVay in 1991, and this book is intended to summarize these modern developments." (Pg. 9)
They observe, "The first hint of an inherited component to sexual orientation comes from the fact that it tends to aggregate in families, or at least among siblings. Gay men to tend to have more gay brothers and lesbians do tend to have more lesbian sisters than their heterosexual counterparts..." (Pg. 43) They add, "Twin studies on human sexual orientation also point to the conclusion that genetics are important as well as the non-shared environment. For some time it has been recognized that MZ twins are more often concordant for homosexuality than fraternal twins." (Pg. 46)
Later, they add, "the birth order effect in human sexual orientation is real... about one in every seven gay men owed their sexual orientation to the big brother effect... a substantial proportion (but clearly not all) of gay men owe their sexuality to fraternal birth order." (Pg. 97, 99) However, they admit, "although genetic factors are important in sexual orientation, genes do not account for everything. Less than half the variation in sexual orientation can be ascribed to genetic differences between individuals. The rest is therefore down to environment..." (Pg. 55)
Of Simon LeVay's studies ['Queer Science: The Use and Abuse of Research into Homosexuality'], they observe, "More recent work attempting to replicate LeVay's findings has produced less striking results." (Pg. 112) They state, "In summary, the available evidence suggests a bilateral brain organization of language function in gay men that is female-typical. The study... seems to confirm a neurophysiological basis for the similarity in mental rotation ability between straight women and gay men but tells us little about brain asymmetry for spatial functions. Nonetheless... it is reasonable to suspect that a bilateral representation of language in gay men incurs the cost of reduced spatial ability." (Pg. 123)
They also observe, "a pre-gay boy is likely to be less interested in competitive sports than other boys, whereas a pre-lesbian girl may be more interested in these." (Pg. 134)
This is a very enlightening volume, that will be of great interest to anyone wanting to know more about scientific research in this area.
February 22, 2011
My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.
February 27, 2012
Was tempted to give it 3 stars, but in summary: Sexuality is largely bimodal; more so in men than women; people are more likely to move towards straight than gay if their sexuality fluctuates; there might be some genetic cause, but err, the stats are a bit dodgy. Should have been a single chapter in a book about homosexuality, rather than a whole book. Anyway, you live and learn.
March 11, 2013
It is a nice overview of explanations of the origin of homosexuality, describing proportion of population, theories of genetic, hormones, brain differences, childhood indications and different social theories. If you are looking for a quick insight into these theories and searching for explanations this is the book.
March 4, 2009
This book is a useful compilation of the important empirical studies regarding the roots of homosexuality. However, the authors do tender their opinions, so be take care not to mistake their musings as facts.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews