Blog 1: Is Sexual Orientation Biologically Based?

Over the past few years, the LGBTQ community has made progress with people being more understanding of their sexuality, gay marriage and even adoption within gay couples. Now for many people there is the undying question of whether sexual orientation is biologically based. For this question there are two sides to this question. One side believes that sexual orientation is biologically based, while the other side believes otherwise.

In one study done by Anthony F. Bogeart, in which he conducted a research on brothers and whether the more older brothers there were, the more likely the younger brother would be gay. What Bogeart found was that sexual orientation is determined prenatally and the more males the mother has, the higher chance there is that the younger male will be homosexual. In another study, Dean Homer conducted a research in which he noted that some gay men had more gay relatives on their mother side of the family than on their father’s side. This then led him to examine the X chromosomes and see if there was any linkage between the X chromosome and sexual orientation. What he found was that in those relatives that were gay had a similar allele in the X chromosome.

On the other side of the argument, we have some scientist like, Dr. Neil Whitehead believes that sexual orientation is not biologically based. He states that in identical twin studies, it has been shown that these twins share 100% of their DNA. This means that if one twin is gay then the other one should be gay as well but that is not always the case. Then in 2002, Peter Bearman and Hannah Bruckner conducted a research in that demonstrated that there was an inconsistency in same sex attraction in twins of the opposite sex.

I agree with those that believe that sexual orientation is biological. Even though there may not be a lot of research (especially recently) on the contribute of biology to sexual orientation, there is plenty of research that demonstrates that there may be a link to support this idea. Also I firmly believe that someone is not going to simply choose to be homosexual or heterosexual.

 

References

Bearman, P.S, Bruckner, H. 2001. Opposite-sex twins and adolescent same-sex attraction. Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy: 01-04.

Bogaert, A.F. 2006. Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and men’s sexual orientation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States 103(28): 10771-10774.

Hamer D.H, Hu S, Magnuson V.L, Hu N, Pattatucci A.M.July 1993. A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science 261(5119): 321–7.

One thought on “Blog 1: Is Sexual Orientation Biologically Based?

  1. Two research articles included for Side A 5/5 pts

    Two research articles included for Side B 3/5 pts
    Make sure you are including two studies. It is okay to include expert opinion, but you need at least two examples of empirical research to support each side.

    Summary of Side A and Side B 16/20 pts
    Great job summarizing Side A. Side B could have used a little more detail about the research.

    Who you agree with and why? 7/15 pts
    (Include strengths and weaknesses)
    This section needs to include specific strengths and weaknesses about the research for each side to support why you feel the way you do.

    APA Formatting/ Grammar/ Length 4/5 pts
    Make sure to proofread blogs for spelling/grammar.

    Total 35/50 total

    Good job overall!

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