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By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The sexual area of a gay man's brain works a lot like that of a woman when exposed to a particular stimulus, researchers say.

In an experiment, men and heterosexual women sniffed a chemical from the male hormone testosterone. The homosexual men's brains responded differently from those of heterosexual males, and in a similar way to the women's brains.

"It is one more piece of evidence ... that is showing that sexual orientation is not all learned," said Sandra Witelson, an expert on brain anatomy and sexual orientation at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

Witelson, who was not part of the research team, said the findings clearly show a biological involvement in sexual orientation.

The study, published in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was done by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

They exposed heterosexual men and women and homosexual men to chemicals derived from male and female sex hormones. These chemicals are thought to be pheromones - molecules known to trigger responses such as defense and sex in many animals.

Whether humans respond to pheromones has been debated, although in 2000 American researchers reported finding a gene that they believe directs a human pheromone receptor in the nose.

The brains of different groups responded similarly to ordinary odors such as lavender, but differed in their response to the chemicals thought to be pheromones, lead researcher Ivanka Savic said.

The Swedish researchers divided 36 subjects into three groups - heterosexual men, heterosexual women and homosexual men. They studied the brain response to sniffing the chemicals, using PET scans. All the subjects were healthy, unmedicated, right-handed and HIV-negative.

When they sniffed scents like cedar or lavender, all of the subjects' brains reacted only in the olfactory region that handles smells.

But when confronted by a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains active in sexual activity were activated in straight women and in gay men, but not in straight men, the researchers found.

The response in gay men and straight women was concentrated in the hypothalamus with a maximum in the preoptic area that is active in hormonal and sensory responses necessary for sexual behavior, the researchers said.

When the female hormone estrogen was used, there was only a response in the olfactory portion of the brains of straight women. Homosexual men had their primary response also in the olfactory area, with a very small reaction in the hypothalamus, while heterosexual men responded strongly in the reproductive region of the brain.

Savic said the group is also doing a study involving homosexual women, but those results are not yet complete.

In a separate study looking at response to body odors, researchers in Philadelphia found sharp differences between gay and straight men and women.

"Our findings support the contention that gender preference has a biological component that is reflected in both the production of different body odors and in the perception of and response to body odors," said neuroscientist Charles Wysocki, who led the study.

It's hard to see how a simple choice to be gay or lesbian would influence the production of body odor, he said.

Wysocki's team at the Monell Chemical Senses Center studied the response of 82 heterosexual and homosexual men and heterosexual and homosexual women to the odors of underarm sweat collected from 24 donors of varied gender and sexual orientation.

They found that gay men differed from heterosexual men and women and from lesbian women, both in terms of which body odors gay men preferred and how their own body odors were regarded by the other groups.

Gay men preferred odors from gay men, while odors from gay men were the least preferred by heterosexual men and women and by lesbian women in the study. Their findings, released Monday, are to be published in the journal Psychological Science in September.

The Swedish research was funded by the Swedish Medical Research Council, the Karolinska Institute and the Magnus Bergvall Foundation. Wysocki's research was supported by the Monell Center.

---

On the Net:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: http://www.pnas.org

Karolinska Institute: http://info.ki.se/index-en.html

Monell Center: http://www.monell.org/

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

I found this interesting. perhaps this could mean there is something biological about sexuality?

 

[Drexon]

Why does it always have to be Sweden? Can't Finland do some gay research once in a while?

 

[xsarien]

Witelson, who was not part of the research team, said the findings clearly show a biological involvement in sexual orientation.

Can the Evangelical nimrods shut their traps now?

 

[ManDudeChild]

Can the Evangelical nimrods shut their traps now?

No, because science is the tool of the devil. :lol

Seriously, I hope this shuts up some of those small minded people.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Can the Evangelical nimrods shut their traps now?

Of course not.

"Can you SMELL it? THE STINK OF SATAN! REPENT! Repent and cleanse your self of this vile lust! This lust for the STINK OF THE DEVIL! The very SMELL of gay sin!"

 

[bishoptl]

"That's Grandma, sir."

 

[tedtropy]

So a heterosexual male would be identified by what, the smell of farts and Dorito crumbs futilely masked by spray-on deodorant? I mean, I'm just putting out theories here...

 

[FoneBone]

So a heterosexual male would be identified by what, the smell of farts and Dorito crumbs futilely masked by spray-on deodorant? I mean, I'm just putting out theories here...

No, the thread title is misleading -- it's about how their sense of smell behaves, not abou their actual scent.

 

[distantmantra]

Witelson, who was not part of the research team, said the findings clearly show a biological involvement in sexual orientation.

While I believe that one's sexual orientation is largely biological, I hope that we can never 100% prove it, or one day we will see people genetically alter their children so they don't turn out to be "God-hating-homos."

 

[BigGreenMat]

Anyone with some psychology background could easily explain the findings simply as an example of conditioning. Gay men are attracted to other gay men. In their interactions they smell them quite a bit. This smell then becomes linked with such an attraction and whamo, when they smell that same smell they are stimulated similarly. Now as for why gay men smell different altogether is another question, but still this, while interesting, shows nothing other than gay men are stimulated differently than straight men which is no big surprise.

 

[Che]

No, because science is the tool of the devil. :lol

Seriously, I hope this shuts up some of those small minded people.

My opinion is that even if the research team gave an idiot all the evidence in the world, the idiot would remain an idiot. And idiots have a reputation of not understanding what the hell scientists are talking about. On the other hand if he was not an idiot but just small minded (which is rare because most of the times small minded people ARE idiots) he would just close his ears so that he won't hear the words of satan (or whatever). That sums it up about religious nuts....

 

[J2 Cool]

How the hell do you study this??

*Lab coat men walking the streets. Hear a lisp and go running off*

"Sir, are you gay?"
"Uuuuuuh.. wellllll.."
"It's a go Herman."

*sniff*sniff*

"Hmmmm.. put a check under smells like a girl. Quick, to the scientificmobile! It's picking up a swarm of lisps coming east!"

 

[Link648099]

Simply because there's evidence for it being biological (this is old news, actually) does not imply that it is also genetic. In fact, what it could point to is abnormal or stunted growth of the hypothalamus within the mother's womb, for whatever reason. I read another article on this same report yesterday maybe, cant remember where I found it though. It gave more information, nothing truly conclusive. But past research concerning the development of the hypothalamus in homosexual males confirms what was found in this report.

Just giving you guys a heads up over the significance of these findings before you all go predicting the downfall of christianity once again, or whatever.

So far the research really only supports biological causes brought on by changes in the environment (such as the womb for a developing fetus), and no genetic predispostion to homosexuality.

 

[FoneBone]

Simply because there's evidence for it being biological (this is old news, actually) does not imply that it is also genetic. In fact, what it could point to is abnormal or stunted growth of the hypothalamus within the mother's womb, for whatever reason. I read another article on this same report yesterday maybe, cant remember where I found it though. It gave more information, nothing truly conclusive. But past research concerning the development of the hypothalamus in homosexual males confirms what was found in this report.

Just giving you guys a heads up over the significance of these findings before you all go predicting the downfall of christianity once again, or whatever.

So far the research really only supports biological causes brought on by changes in the environment (such as the womb for a developing fetus), and no genetic predispostion to homosexuality.

So? Biological causes still mean it's not a choice. Knowing your perspective, I fail to see how that helps your argument.

 

[Link648099]

So? Biological causes still mean it's not a choice. Knowing your perspective, I fail to see how that helps your argument.

And what perspective is that? But anyways, in most cases such as this (i.e. stunted or abnormal biological growth, etc.) the condition is usually seen as negative, and something to be treated, etc. But due to the highly political nature of the whole homosexuality controversy, you wont hear anyone even hint at something like that due to the backlash it would likely cause.

What arguement was I making? All I was doing was correcting all the naysayers out there over the significance of this study.

But hey, believe what you like, and what do I know, right? I'm just some iggnorant ediot fundie chrisjin who cant never under-stand you superior intellecjuals with all your byology and jenitcal talk and what not.

Seriously people, get off your stereotypes, will you?

Anyways, heres the other article I was referring to in my previous post, from the NYT:

Gay Men Are Found to Have Different Scent of Attraction

The different pattern of activity that Dr. Savic sees in the brains of gay men could be either a cause of their sexual orientation or an effect of it. If sexual orientation has a genetic cause, or is influenced by hormones in the womb or at puberty, then the neurons in the hypothalamus could wire themselves up in a way that permanently shapes which sex a person is attracted to.

Alternatively, Dr. Savic's finding could be just a consequence of straight and gay men's using their brain in different ways.

"We cannot tell if the different pattern is cause or effect," Dr. Savic said. "The study does not give any answer to these crucial questions."

But the technique might provide an answer, Dr. Hamer noted, if it were applied to people of different ages to see when in life the different pattern of response developed.

Dr. LeVay said he believed from animal experiments that the size differences in the hypothalamic region he had studied arose before birth, perhaps in response to differences in the circulating level of sex hormones. Both his finding and Dr. Savic's suggest that the hypothalamus is specifically organized in relation to sexual orientation, he said.

Some researchers believe there is likely to be a genetic component of homosexuality because of its concordance among twins. The occurrence of male homosexuality in both members of a twin pair is 22 percent in nonidentical twins but rises to 52 percent in identical twins.

I think it is safe to say the jury is still out on the causes of homosexuality as it now stands.

 

[Dilbert]

I think it is safe to say the jury is still out on the causes of homosexuality as it now stands.

Obviously God is continuing to crank out gays from the production line so He can more easily distinguish between those who actually understand what the hell love and tolerance mean, and those who are completely missing the point.

 

[videogamer]

And what perspective is that? But anyways, in most cases such as this (i.e. stunted or abnormal biological growth, etc.) the condition is usually seen as negative, and something to be treated, etc. But due to the highly political nature of the whole homosexuality controversy, you wont hear anyone even hint at something like that due to the backlash it would likely cause.

Hello? What do you think the right says often? That homosexuality is wrong or inferior to heterosexual relationships. They also add that homosexuality is a choice... which congenital diseases are not. And yes, it is quite well known that Christian fundamentalists have camps for homosexual teens. So it's not not like these opinions are unheard of. Of course, there is opposition.. but what do you expect when one's way of life is attacked... especially when the individuals themselves may have had to struggle with this aspect of their lives for a long them.

 

[FoneBone]

And what perspective is that?

http://forums.gaming-age.com/showpost.php?p=1229946&postcount=142

Not to get into a huge discussion on this topic, but you seem to be assumming that homosexuality is a good thing. I simply cannot agree with that, the same way i see no-fault divorce as a bad thing, adultery as a bad thing, and anything else that is a sin against God as a bad thing.

 

[OpinionatedCyborg]

News linking smells to physical and mental makeup really don't surprise me as similar information has been available for years.

There's been research showing males find the scent of females, with a great diversity of genes than theirs, more attractive. I recall watching it on the discovery channel: 4 - 5 women slept in the same garments for 3 days straight. After the 3rd day, a male smelled each and told the experimenter which smell was most desirable. They then compared the male to the females genteically and found a direct correlation between the best smell and diveristy of genes. In other words, the female most unlike the male genetically had a more attractive scent than those who were closer to him genetically. This wasn't just one experiment, of course; the male shown on camera was actually the show's correspondant doing a story on the year or so of research that had already been taken place.

 

[OpinionatedCyborg]

WTF @ homosexuality still being a choice even if it's biologically determined in the womb. I mentioned in another thread that children born in the areas of Germany heavily firebombed by the allies were later homosexuals. Researchers have used that evidence, combined with other research from other areas of Europe to theorize that intense stress during pregnancy could result in biological changes, which could determine the child's sexuality.

Now, suppose these changes, and others, do occur during pregnancy, altering what would otherwise have been a straight child. How does this child have a decision in the process? At what point did they ask theier mother to be in a sitatuion where changes in her hormonal output could influence their sexuality?

Thing is, no one choose to be gay. When did you choose to be straight? I never made the choice. It just happened as nature intended.

 

[Warm Machine]

I still recommend reading or look at the book "As Nature Made Him." Its about a little boy who got his penis cut off in a botched circumcision and who was then told by his parents that he was a girl. No matter how many dresses they put on him and hormones injected he was simply a male who liked male things including sexualizing girls.

A choice was thrust upon him from an extremely young age and it simply didn't stick.

Poor bastard commited suicide about 2 or 3 years ago.

 

[FoneBone]

I don't really see what that has to do with homosexuality... I seem to be missing your point.

 

[OpinionatedCyborg]

I don't really see what that has to do with homosexuality... I seem to be missing your point.

He's laying more evidence on the table showing sexual preference is in the hands of nature, not controllable factors. Even with hormonal treatment and lack of male genetails, the subject still reverted to its natural state.

 

[MIMIC]

Good thing I read the story. :lol

 

[FoneBone]

He's laying more evidence on the table showing sexual preference is in the hands of nature, not controllable factors. Even with hormonal treatment and lack of male genetails, the subject still reverted to its natural state.

OK, me = stupid.

 

[OpinionatedCyborg]

OK, me = stupid.

Maybe not...I thought you were referring to the poster above you...and part I wrote in italics is my own interpretation of what he said, not a quote from the article in the original post. So... haha, OK, I have no fucking clue what's going on right now. ah well.