Review nº 13

Name: Cristina Soledad Guzmán
Source: www.economist.com
Date of publication: October 23rd 2008


Review nº 13: Article ‘Gender bending’

For many people homosexuality comes in the genes, but how could it be? A scientific research sustains that not only can this be true, but also that the genes which make some people gay make their brothers and sisters fecund. This investigation is presented in the article ‘Gender bending’ published in The Economist.
The evidence suggests that homosexual behaviour is partly genetic. Studies of identical twins suggested that relatives of those who are gay gain some advantage which allows genes predisposing people to homosexual behaviour to be passed on collaterally. Other idea based on evidence that male homosexuals are more likely to come from large families, is that genes for gainess bring reproductive advantage to those who have them but are not actually gay themselves. Australian scientists have come up with a twist on this idea, they suggest the advantage accrues not to relatives of the opposite sex, but those of the same one. They think that genes which cause men to be more feminine and women more masculine, confer reproductive advantages as long as they do not push the individual possessing them all the way to homosexuality. Other evidence show that homosexuals tend to be “gender atypical” in areas beside their choice of sexual partner. Data also suggests that having a more feminine personality might give a heterosexual male an advantage. The explanation is that machomen will provide the sperm needed to make sexy sons, but the more feminised phenotype makes a better carer and provider therefore, an ideal husband. Data referring to masculinised women suggest they tend to have more sexual partners than highly feminised women do. Scientists tested this idea by doing a twin study, they were asked to answer anonymous questionnaires about their sexual orientation, their gender self-identification and the number of opposite-sex partners they had had. The study showed that heterosexuals with a homosexual twin tend to have more sexual partners than heterosexuals with a heterosexual twin.
This article is about studies done to know if homosexuality comes in the genes. Very interesting data was recollected, such as that the possibility of having fecund relatives would sustain homosexuality and that the same gene which may make some people gay may make their siblings fecund. But as some of the investigations are based on anonymous questionnairs, I do not relay very much on that kind of information because many other factors may be involved.
In conclusion, scientific research claims that homosexuality might come in the genes. But personally though the article give reasons these are not very clear. I beleive that the choice of sexual orientation is very personal and depend on multiple other factors.