Why Are There Gay Men? Science Has an Answer

[Altair]

Fascinating.



Why Are There Gay Men? Because Women Who Inherit 'Gay Genes' Have More Kids, Scientists Say

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1590501.html

I'll add--completely unscientifically--that those gay uncles are great for helping to raise all those kids, adding another evolutionary advantage.

[Lokabrenna]

Fascinating.

Why Are There Gay Men? Because Women Who Inherit 'Gay Genes' Have More Kids, Scientists Say

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1590501.html

I'll add--completely unscientifically--that those gay uncles are great for helping to raise all those kids, adding another evolutionary advantage.

Is there a similar theory explaining the existence of lesbians? We've been around for a long time too!

[Aine Rayne]

Is there a similar theory explaining the existence of lesbians? We've been around for a long time too!

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/2563-gay-women.html

here ya go :D

[Altair]

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/2563-gay-women.html

here ya go :D

Well, that was disappointing; I was hoping for an equally intriguing theory on the genetic roots of lesbianism, and it's just not there, at least not in this article.

I'll add that there are also plenty of bisexual guys, though I'll agree that as a whole guys are more polarized about sexual orientation. Note, however, that guys can also "flip" their sexual orientation under certain environmental conditions; witness otherwise heterosexual men in prison settings.

Finally--totally off-topic--the copy editor in me loves the typo in the sentence "sexuality is essentially fixed from puberty onroughout their lives" [should have been "on throughout"]. It's a great accidental contraction and should be adopted as a legitimate word in the English language. From now onroughout [pronounced the same as "en route"] my life I'm going to use it.

[Valentine]

Is there a similar theory explaining the existence of lesbians? We've been around for a long time too!

That's funny, because my kneejerk answer to "Why are there gay men?" was,
"...so us ladies don't have to carry all of the gayness for humanity, I mean, it always falls to women to pick up the slack..."

[Kessei]

Why Are There Gay Men? Because Women Who Inherit 'Gay Genes' Have More Kids, Scientists Say

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1590501.html

I was laughing earlier about the sexism in the way the study's creators were analyzing the data.

Women who are more fertile, have fewer gynecological problems, and have easier childbirth, are therefore more attractive to men, which in turn results in them having more children. Seriously? It's not, say, "women who have an easier time in childbirth or get pregnant more easily are more likely to choose to have more children"? No, it's all about the mens wanting to get with their sexy, fecund femaleness.

[yewberry]

Women who are more fertile, have fewer gynecological problems, and have easier childbirth, are therefore more attractive to men, which in turn results in them having more children. Seriously? It's not, say, "women who have an easier time in childbirth or get pregnant more easily are more likely to choose to have more children"? No, it's all about the mens wanting to get with their sexy, fecund femaleness.

I read this exactly the same way. Like "There's nothing less attractive than a difficult birth..." What the hell?

Brina

[Sharysa]

I read this exactly the same way. Like "There's nothing less attractive than a difficult birth..."

Have these people seen a NORMAL birth? I saw one of those "Miracles of Life" documentaries in sex-ed, and it turned me off having kids for YEARS. Like hell if giving birth is a MIRACLE.

Admittedly I was sixteen, but still.

[Aine Rayne]

Have these people seen a NORMAL birth? I saw one of those "Miracles of Life" documentaries in sex-ed, and it turned me off having kids for YEARS. Like hell if giving birth is a MIRACLE.

Admittedly I was sixteen, but still.

I found a better, though still less adequate than the one on dudes, article for why lesbians and bi women exist. Here it is

[Altair]

I found a better, though still less adequate than the one on dudes, article for why lesbians and bi women exist. Here it is

Slightly better, though the author's use of "drones" is maddeningly inaccurate (which doesn't boost confidence in the science). The term drone in bees is used specifically for the males, who do their one-time copulation thing and are otherwise of little use. (Apparently they get ejected from the hive, too.) The term the author wanted was worker bee.

Still, the concept of individuals forgoing reproduction themselves in order to assist close relatives in raising young is well known in lots of species (e.g., crows). It's similar to the "grandmother" theory. (Why do female humans go through menopause, when most other female animals stay fertile throughout their lives? The thinking is that in a species for which rearing the young is as extended and labor-intensive as ours, having nonreproductive females around to assist and guide younger females confers a survival benefit. It takes a village and all that.)

It's not as tidy an explanation for homosexuality as the one that's been offered for that in us guys, but for now I guess it will have to do.