What causes a child to grow up gay or straight? In this book, neuroscientist Simon LeVay summarizes a wealth of scientific evidence that points to one inescapable conclusion: Sexual orientation results primarily from an interaction between genes, sex hormones, and the cells of the developing body and brain.
LeVay helped create this field in 1991 with a much-publicized study in Science, where he reported on a difference in the brain structure between gay and straight men.
Since then, an entire scientific discipline has sprung up around the quest for a biological explanation of sexual orientation. In this book, LeVay provides a clear explanation of where the science stands today, taking the reader on a whirlwind tour of laboratories that specialize in genetics, endocrinology, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology, and family demographics. He describes, for instance, how researchers have manipulated the sex hormone levels of animals during development, causing them to mate preferentially with animals of their own gender. LeVay also reports on the prevalence of homosexual behavior among wild animals, ranging from Graylag geese to the Bonobo chimpanzee.
Although many details remain unresolved, the general conclusion is quite clear: A person’s sexual orientation arises in large part from biological processes that are already underway before birth. LeVay also makes it clear that these lines of research have a lot of potential because–far from seeking to discover “what went wrong” in the lives of gay people, attempting to develop “cures” for homosexuality, or returning to traditional explanations that center on parent-child relationships, various forms of “training,” or early sexual experiences–our modern scientists are increasingly seeing sexual variety as something to be valued, celebrated, and welcomed into society.
Good. Now if only we could convince those who don’t read anything but the bible to actually read this, perhaps we could start opening minds and hearts…..I know, wishful thinking. Bravo Dr. LeVay and thank you.
Queer Science is another good book on the subject, it explains all kind of biological evidence, such as genetic origins, and especially the effects of pre-natal hormones on orientation.
This is science. It won’t matter one iota to all the religious bigots out there. The only reason that gay sexuality has been damned by all the various religions starting with the Catholic church is that it is beyond their control. If you can’t control a member with sin accusations and condemnation threats, you can’t very well expect him to be a loyal member who readily supports and, more importantly, contributes to the organization. It is always about control and money. They go hand-in-hand. Cloak it in “love” and “caring” and “helping”, but it is still condemnation. It’s the major reason for bullying in schools. Where do those kids learn that it’s OK to revile another who is perceived as gay? In church, or from their parents who learned it in church, or from the world around them whose attitude for generations has been shaped by church dogma. Why do supporters of such hateful attitudes hang on to them? Because to not do so would undermine their whole support system and their ideas of the world as it should be which started with a religious belief system somewhere. In other words, they’d have to think for themselves – frightening!
I hope this book also covers the phenomenon of genetic switches being turned on and off for various biochemical reasons. A good example of this is, I have a friend who is a lesbian who has an identical twin sister (same genes), but the sister is heterosexual and married with children. The moronic bigots would see this as proof that it’s a choice. But intelligent, educated researchers like Dr. LeVay are investigating why one set of genes went one way and the other set of duplicate genes had the chemical switches turned on for the alternative form of expression–in this case 1 gay and 1 straight.