Neurological Society, Sexual orientation is not a matter of choice, it is primarily neurobiological

[FreeState]

Nothing new, but nice to see it getting coverage from scientist.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/226963.php

"Sexual orientation is not a matter of choice, it is primarily neurobiological at birth", Dr. Jerome Goldstein, Director of the San Francisco Clinical Research Center (USA) stressed today at the 21st Meeting of the European Neurological Society (ENS) in Lisbon. "There are undeniable links. We want to make them visible to the eye". At the congress he showed how the brains of people of different sexual orientations - gay, straight, bisexual - work in different ways, applying volumetric Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), functional fMRI scanning, and PET scanning.

There have been several reports of twin studies indicating the probable genetic link of sexual orientation. Dr. Goldstein has begun accumulating a database of identical twins, whose sexual orientation will be further evaluated by MRI, fMRI scanning, and PET scanning.

Origin of sexual orientation: current data

"Using volumetric studies, there have been findings of significant cerebral amygdala size differences between homosexual and heterosexual subjects. Sex dimorphic connections were found among homosexual participants in these studies," Dr. Goldstein noted. He provided current data regarding homosexuality showing differences and/or similarities, between the brains of homosexuals and heterosexuals.

....

"Some of the most striking results were delivered recently by Dr. Ivanka Savic-Berglund and Dr. Per Lindström of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden", Dr. Goldstein reported. The Swedish experts performed volumetric studies, fMRI and PET measurements of cerebral blood flow. Using volumetric studies, they found significant cerebral and amygdala size differences between homosexual and heterosexual subjects. Thus the brains of homosexual men resemble those of heterosexual women and those of homosexual women resemble to heterosexual men. The plan for continued studies is to expand the number of subjects evaluated, thus verifying the validity of data already available.

[Lucinda]

1. Thanks for the link!

[murielm99]

2. The idiots will dismiss whatever he says, because

he is from the San Francisco Clinical Research Center.

Surely they are all gay there.:sarcasm:

[tavalon]

3. Remember way back when

gay people didn't want it to be genetic because we might discover a way to tell before they were born and it would be a gay genocide. Now, the pendulum has swung completely to the other side.

[xchrom]

4. Recommend

[marions ghost]

5. Interesting...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080617151845.htm

This link shows pictures of the comparable brains. It seems likely that homosexuality is genetically programmed.

[bowens43]

6. Oh come on.....

who you going to believe? A bunch intellectual know-it-alls or advocates of iron age goat herder mythology?

[originalpckelly]

7. This is nothing I haven't heard of before.

The groups I'm most interested in now are bisexual and transgendered individuals.

If I have a female brain, why is it that I do not feel uncomfortable in a male body, and why doesn't someone who is transgendered feel as though they are trapped in the wrong gender's body?

And what of bisexual individuals? Why are they attracted to members of the same sex and the opposite sex?

If homosexuality is correlated with differences in brain volume, then why is it that this happens? It would seem to be an either or proposition, would it not?

Maybe they have a mix of both markers for each volume?

It's fascinating.