authors have certainly noted that male and female sexual orientations are different,
but most have simply hinted at different developmental pathways and said little
more. Thus, we have to accept that female sexual orientation is, for the time being,
poorly understood. It is plausible that human females evolved more open behavior
programs in ancestral environments, this resulting in greater plasticity in female
sexuality and making it difficult to observe linear neurodevelopmental. Q. Rahman,
G.D. Wilson / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 1337–1382 1371
pathways (Baumeister, 2000)
From a scientific viewpoint, the causes of homosexuality are irrelevant to whether it
should be considered as a psychopathology. Homosexuality does not inherently cause
personal distress (other than that due to society’s reaction to it) or prevent
individuals from being productive and fulfilled members of society (Gonsiorek &
Weinrich, 1991).
The Swedish study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences journal, compared the size of the brain's halves in 90 adults. Gay men and
straight women had halves of a similar size, while the right side was bigger in lesbian
women and straight men. A UK scientist said this was evidence sexual preference was
set in the womb. A group of 90 healthy gay and straight adults, men and women,
were scanned by the Karolinska Institute scientists to measure the volume of both
hemispheres of their brain. When these results were collected, it was found that
lesbian women and straight men shared a particular "asymmetry" in their hemisphere
size, while straight women and gay men had no difference between the size of the
different halves of their brain. In heterosexual men and lesbian women, there were
more nerve "connections" in the right side of the amygdala, compared with the left.
The reverse, with more neural connections in the left amygdala, was the case in
homosexual men and straight women. “As far as I'm concerned there is no argument
any more - if you are gay, you are born gay.”
Dr Qazi Rahman Queen Mary, University of London.
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BBC News, 2008/06/16
Professor Anthony Bogaert studied 944 heterosexual and homosexual men with
either "biological" brothers, in this case those who share the same mother, or "non-
biological" brothers, that is, adopted, step or half siblings. He found the link between
the number of older brothers and homosexuality only existed when the siblings
shared the same mother. The amount of time the individual spent being raised with
older brothers did not affect their sexual orientation. In an accompanying article,
scientists from Michigan State University said: "These data strengthen the notion that