Guest straycat Posted June 26, 2006 Posted June 26, 2006 According to the study released today Gay men usually have several older brothers. I guess I'm an exception -- WASHINGTON - Having several older brothers increases the likelihood of a man being gay, a finding researchers say adds weight to the idea that there is a biological basis for sexual orientation. "It's likely to be a prenatal effect," said Anthony F. Bogaert of Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada, "This and other studies suggest that there is probably a biological basis for" homosexuality. S. Marc Breedlove of Michigan State University said the finding "absolutely" confirms a physical basis. "Anybody's first guess would have been that the older brothers were having an effect socially, but this data doesn't support that," Breedlove said in a telephone interview. The only link between the brothers is the mother and so the effect has to be through the mother, especially since stepbrothers didn't have the effect, said Breedlove, who was not part of the research. Bogaert studied four groups of Canadian men, a total of 944 people, analyzing the number of brothers and sisters each had, whether or not they lived with those siblings and whether the siblings were related by blood or adopted. He reports in a paper appearing in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that having several biological older brothers increased the chance of a man being gay. It's an effect that can be detected with one older brother and becomes stronger with three or four or more, Bogaert said in a telephone interview. But, he added, this needs to be looked at in context of the overall rate of homosexuality in men, which he suggested is about 3 percent. With several older brothers the rate may increase from 3 percent to 5 percent, he said, but that still means 95 percent of men with several older brothers are heterosexual. The effect of birth order on male homosexuality has been reported previously but Bogaert's work is the first designed to rule out social or environmental effects. Bogaert said he concluded the effect was biological by comparing men with biological brothers to those with brothers to whom they were not biologically related. The increase in the likelihood of being gay was seen only in those whose brothers had the same mothers, whether they were raised together or not, he said. Men raised with several older step- or adopted brothers do not have an increased chance of being gay. "So what that means is that the environment a person is raised in really makes not much difference," he said. What makes a difference, he said, is having older brothers who shared the same womb and gestational experience, suggesting the difference is because of "some sort of prenatal factor." One possibility, he suggests, is a maternal immune response to succeeding male fetuses. The mother may react to a male fetus as foreign but not to a female fetus because the mother is also female. It might be like the maternal immune response that can occur when a mother has Rh-negative blood but her fetus has Rh-positive blood. Without treatment, the mother can develop antibodies that may attack the fetus during future pregnancies. Whether that's what is happening remains to be seen, but it is a provocative hypothesis, said a commentary by Breedlove, David A. Puts and Cynthia L. Jordan, all of Michigan State. The research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Quote
Guest jessedane Posted June 26, 2006 Posted June 26, 2006 I'm an exception too. I'm the oldest child and have no brothers at all. Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted June 26, 2006 Members Posted June 26, 2006 Interesting article. Thanks for bringiing it to our attention. I don't have a wealth of information on this. The one case I have personal knowedge of that stands out in my mind involves an escort I knew. He was the oldest of three brothers -- all gay, and he was a twin. His parents blamed him for all three being gay, as I recall, because as the oldes he presumably set the example. He was the oldest by five minutes! More of a statement on family experience that on roots of homosexuality. Interesting that all three turned out to be gay. Quote
BiBottomBoy Posted August 12, 2008 Posted August 12, 2008 Maybe this is only true if your older brothers are really hot? Quote
Guest mineallmine Posted August 13, 2008 Posted August 13, 2008 Interesting study but im not sure how valid it is. I am the oldest Son and my younger brother is straight and married to a woman. Quote
BiBottomBoy Posted August 13, 2008 Posted August 13, 2008 Interesting study but im not sure how valid it is. I am the oldest Son and my younger brother is straight and married to a woman. I think what this study really means is that the more children their are in a give family the higher the odds that one or more of them will be gay. It's just simply math. These motherfuckers are just using math to prove that you can skew date to prove anything. Quote
Guest CTDick Posted August 13, 2008 Posted August 13, 2008 I'm the oldest with two younger, married brothers. Dick Quote
BiBottomBoy Posted August 13, 2008 Posted August 13, 2008 I'm the oldest with two younger, married brothers.Dick I'm the oldest, but my brother is 10 years younger than me and only 19. I'm not sure if he has any clue if he's bi, straight or gay. I've never heard him talk about a girl or a guy. I think he's MasturbationSexual at this point. Quote
