Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why

Neuroscientist Simon LeVay (pictured at right) has written a new book entitled Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why which looks at the determinants of sexual orientation and yet again lays the foundation for sexual orientation being something largely determined be fore birth. The primary cause found to date - hormonal levels in the mid-point of fetal development - discussed in the book are consistent with a research scientist I once spoke with once in respect to my exposure to DES (diethylstilbestrol) while my mother was pregnant with me. DES exposure has been alleged by some to impact sexual orientation and/or other aspects of male children of mothers taking the drug. I have no symptoms of effects from such exposure, but it was something I wanted to learn more about. The researcher said point blank that while her research had found no proof that DES might cause homosexuality, it had convinced her that hormonal levels in the womb prior to birth did have a clear casual effect. Thus, no amount of praying or exorcisms can ever change one's sexual orientation regardless of the claims of fraudulent "ex-gay" ministries, reparative therapy advocates, and Christianists. The Globe and Mail has a review of Levay's new book and here are some highlights:
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Neuroscientist Simon LeVay has written an absolutely superb book, aimed at the general reader, discussing in detail what we now know. Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why should be on everyone’s reading list. Clearly the environment, culture, can be significant. Think of the Greeks and of the behaviours of people in prisons.
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More basically, however, it turns out that biology is the key. It is a matter of hormones, more specifically, of hormonal levels in the mid-point of fetal development and how they affect that part of the brain called the hypothalamus. To produce heterosexuals, distinctively different hormonal cocktails are needed for men and women. Homosexual orientation seems to be a matter of (in the case of males) the cocktails being more typical of those that produce heterosexual females. Conversely for women.
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Why exactly these atypical combinations should happen – and given that we are looking at around 5 per cent of the population, they are not rare – is still a matter of some debate. Gay orientations run in families. The genes are involved, but not that simply or inevitably.
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One thing LeVay stresses is that, although in some respects we can treat gay men and women as mirror images for causal factors, one should not assume that this is always the case. Indeed, we should not assume that all gay people of one sex are the same. For instance, there may well be significant differences in the factors making for rather dominant “butch” lesbians, as opposed to “femmes.”
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Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why is a very good book. It is clear and comprehensive, looking at the widest range of research, and very balanced. Read it, and then pass on its message to others.