“Oh, he is such a sissy/ so feminine, not like other normal man. He should be wearing skirts not pants! She is such a tomboy. She must have been born with the wrong anatomy! He is attracted to men. She is attracted to women. Something is wrong with them. They must be abnormal. Or are they normal? He is different. She is not like other normal women. They are deviants. They are perverts. These kinds of people should not be allowed to mix with normal people. They will have bad influence on others. They are a shame and disgrace to their family and society. They are the worst kind of sinners”. How often have we heard these comments being passed to Gays, Lesbians and Transsexuals? How often have we wondered, “What really is wrong with them? Are they born this way? Or do they become the so called “deviants” by choice? Is it justified to treat them with ridicule and rejection? Do we know enough or do we at all know the truth to pass final judgments and discriminate them as people who “supposedly” discard the “normal way”?
A look at some facts of what experts (Barbara and Allan Pease: Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Cant Read Maps, 2001) have to say on this may help clear our misconceptions and confusions or confirm what we thought of.
Gays, Lesbians and Transsexuals
According to research the basic template for the body and brain of a human foetus is female in its structure. As a result men have some redundant female features such as nipples. Six to eight weeks after conception; a male foetus (XY) receives a massive dose of male hormones called androgens which first forms the testes, and then a second dose to alter the brain from a female format to a male configuration. If the male foetus does not receive enough male hormones at the appropriate time, one of two things may happen. Firstly, a baby may be born with a brain structure that is more feminine than masculine, in other words, a boy who will most likely be gay by puberty. Secondly, a genetic boy may be born with the fully functioning female brain ad a set of male genitals. This person will be transgender. This is a person who is biologically male born with a set of both male and female genitals. Geneticist Anne Moir in her ground-breaking book Brainsex documents the many cases of genetic boys being born looking like girls and being raised as girls, only suddenly to find that they have penis testicles that ‘appear’ at puberty.
This genetic oddity was discovered in the Dominican Republic and a study with the parents of these ‘girls’ shows that their parents typically raised them as girls and encouraged stereotypical such as feminine dress and playing with dolls. Many of these parents were then shocked to discover that they’d ended up with a fully fledged son at puberty when male hormones took over and their ‘daughters’ suddenly had a penis and reverted to male appearance and typical male behavior patterns. This change occurred despite all the social conditioning and social pressures for female behavior. The fact that most of these ‘girls’ successfully lived their lives as males highlights the point that their social environment and upbringing had a limited impact on their adult lives. Clearly, their biology was their key factor in creating their behavioral patterns.
Homosexuality is a part of history as history shows among the ancient Greeks, homosexuality was not only permitted, and it was highly respected. The slim, boyish, youthful figure was their ideal of beauty, and painting and statues were erected in its honor. Poems were written about the love that prominent older men had for young men but when Christianity frowned on same-sex relationships and God reportedly brought vengeance down on the city of Sodom, homosexuality was banned, disappeared into the closet and wasn’t seen in public again until recently but the reality is that it has been around for as long as male foetuses missed out on their sufficient share of male hormones.
Is it a Genetic or a Choice?
Moir (geneticist) and Pease (body language author) in their book ‘Brain Sex” revealed homosexuality is inborn, not a choice, the impact of male hormone (or lack of it) and the brain is the main culprit, most homosexuals are males. It is said that over 30% of teenage suicides are committed by gays and lesbians, and that one out of every three transgender commits suicide. It seems that the realization of being stuck in the ‘wrong body’ for the rest of their lives is too much for them. A study into the upbringing of these homosexual teenagers shown that most were raised in families or communities that taught hatred and rejection towards homosexuals, or in religions that had tried to save some of the ‘victims’ with prayer or therapy.
Can the ‘Choice’ be changed?
Gays and lesbians do not choose their sexual orientation any more than heterosexuals do. Scientists and most human sexuality experts agree that homosexuality is an orientation that is unchangeable. Researchers believe that most homosexual orientation develops in the womb, that homosexual patterns are firmly fixed by around age five and that it is outside the control of a person. For centuries, techniques have been used to suppress homosexual feelings in ‘sufferers’ which have included breast amputation, castration, drug therapy, uterus removal, frontal lobotomy, psychotherapy, electric shock therapy, prayer meetings, spiritual counseling and exorcism. No therapies have ever succeeded. The best they have been able to achieve is to make some bisexuals confine their sexual activities to members of the opposite sex or force some homosexuals to become celibate through guilt or fear, and to push many others to suicide. If it was a choice, as many proclaim, why would any intelligent person choose a way of life that exposes them to so much hostility, prejudice and discrimination? Hormones are responsible, not human choices.
Runs in the family
Another study of gay men by the National Cancer Institute has shown that homosexuality runs in families. Data collected on the genetic family members of 114 gay men shows there is a three times greater than average chance that gay men’s brothers, uncles, cousins or parents were also gay. Most of the gay male family members were on the mother’s side of the family and fewer were on the father’s side. This is caused genetically, and it indicates that there is a special gene somewhere on the X chromosome. This chromosome is the only one a mother can provide (she has two Xs), further demonstrating the genetic transferability of male homosexuality.
It’s what happens in the womb
If, during the early stages of pregnancy, testosterone is suppressed and the foetus is male, the chance of giving birth to a gay boy dramatically increase because female hormones become the hormones used to configure the brain. One German study in the 1970s showed that mothers who suffered severe stress during early pregnancy had six times the chance of giving birth to a gay son. Research by Professor Lee Ellis of the Department of Sociology at minor state University in North Dakota also showed that stressed pregnancies equal gay babies. If the foetus is a girl, a baby daughter may become super-feminine and would probably have poor spatial ability. In other words, she’s very mothering and nurturing but can’t reverse park or find North. Brian Gladue of North Dakota State University has shown that heterosexual men have better spatial skills than homosexual men, and lesbians have better skills than heterosexual women. Why? More male hormone was involved in the wiring of their brains. So what suppresses testosterone? The main factors are stress, sickness and medications.
Dangerous effects of alcohol and nicotine on the unborn baby have been known and of the positive effects of the right diet and stress-free living. New research by experts such as Dr Vivette Glover at London’s Chelsea. Hospital shows that pregnant women who suffer stress give birth to babies who are also unable to deal with stressful situations. Dr Glenn Wilson of the Institute of Psychiatry in London has also studied this area extensively. He concluded, ‘Certain chemical drugs can interfere with testosterone function and the result can be the birth of a gay baby’.
If the foetus is a genetic girl (XX) and the brain is dosed in male hormone, the result is a female body with male brain circuitry. As children, these girls are usually called ‘tomboys’ and they play rougher and harder than their female peers. They are likely to grow more body and facial hair than other girls at puberty; they are better at hand-eye and ball skills and as adults are sometimes described as ‘butch’. A high percentage becomes lesbians. Accidental dosing of male hormones can occur if the pregnant mother is taking certain medications that contain high levels of male hormones, like some contraceptive pills, diabetic drugs and other medications.
One study of diabetic women who were pregnant during the 1950s and ‘60s shows a high ratio of baby girls who became lesbians after adolescence because their brains received too much male hormone from the diabetic drug at the critical period of brain development of the foetus.
Similarly another study showed that women of the same era who received female hormones such as oestrogen in the belief that it would help pregnancy had a five to ten times greater chance of giving birth to a gay baby boy. It’s not until adolescence that the brain circuitry is switched on by the massive surge of hormones that race through a teenager’s body and the real sexuality of the teenager becomes apparent.
Echoing these findings, researchers at the Kinsey Institute in America found that mothers who had taken male hormones during pregnancy had daughters who were described as having high levels of self-reliance, self-assertiveness and were likely to be involved in aggressive sports such as kickboxing or football. As children, many were described as ‘tomboys’. Mothers who had taken female hormones had more daughters who were described as more ‘feminine’ and sons who were softer and gentler than their peers, were more dependent on others and were not physically active.
The Transsexual Brain
Transsexuals feel from early childhood that they were born in the wrong-sex body. The area in the brain essential for sexual behavior is called the hypothalamus and this area is markedly smaller in women than in men. Researcher Dick Swaab and his team from the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research were the first in 1995 to how that the hypothalamus in male transsexuals was female-seized or smaller. This further confirms research showing that gender identity stems from an interaction between the developing brain and sex hormones. This theory was first proposed by German Scientist Gunther Dornor who found that the hypothalamus of homosexual men responded in the exact same way as a female hypothalamus when injected with female hormone. Swaab reported, ‘Our study is the first to show a female brain structure in genetically male transsexuals.’ In other words, it’s a woman’s brain trapped in a man’s body.
The psychiatric label for a transgender person is that they are suffering Gender Identity Disorder and around 20% of these people undergo the sex-change operation. This involves removing the testicles and cutting the penis in half lengthways and removing the inside tissue. The penis skin remains attached, the urethral tube is realigned and the skin form the penis is then folded inside a surgically made cavity to line an artificial vagina. In some cases, the head of the penis becomes the clitoris and is capable of orgasm. Tragically, the suicide rate for transsexuals is five times that of the general population. One in five attempt suicide.
Are We Slaves to Our Biology?
Human intelligence has evolved to a point where we are more in control of our emotions than other animals and can think through our choices. So while we are more in control of ourselves than most other animals, we still can’t completely buck the system. The biggest obstacle facing most people in their rejection of the idea that we are just another animal with a smart brain. This refusal makes these people victim of their biology.
Why Gay Men Aren’t All Alike
In simple terms, there are two main centres associated with homosexual behavior, the ‘mating centre’ and the ‘behavior centre’. The ‘mating centre’ is located in the hypothalamus and decides which sex we will be attracted to. In males, it needs to be dosed in male hormones to convert it to male operational function, so that a man will be attracted to a woman. If it receives insufficient male hormones it will remain, to a greater or lesser extent, female in operation and so the man will be attracted to other men. The ‘behavior centre’ in the brain may not, however, receive enough male hormones to give a man masculine behavior, speech and body language. If it doesn’t receive enough for male reconfiguration, the man’s behavior will be significantly feminine. How the mating and behavior centres can receive different amounts of male hormone is still a mystery, but it certainly demonstrates why not all effeminate males are gay, and not all macho men are heterosexual.
Lesbian Differences
If the brain of a female foetus inadvertently receives additional male hormones, it can masculinise the mating centre. This means that a woman will be attracted to other women. If her behavior centre is also masculinised, she will take on masculine behavior, speech and body language, and may be described as ‘butch’. If her behavior centre is not converted by male hormones, on the other hand, she will feminine in her behavior but will still be attracted to other females. While ‘butch’ lesbians can be plainly seen to be the result of their biology, many people today still resist the idea that feminine lesbians are also prisoners of their make-up. They suggest that these women have actually chosen to be gay, because they most definitely do not look to be gay. These women, however, really are attracted to women.
Now that we have read what some experts (Barbara and Allan Pease and others) have to say on this whole complex and controversial issue, it will now depend on you and me, whether we accept or reject, agree or disagree. Whatever it is….All the best!
K.Ela, Prodigals’ Home
