"What the Gay Brain Looks Like" Time mag

[nadine_mn]

I checked to see if anyone else has posted on this article and I did find a couple of posts regarding the study and its outcomes but not much else.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1815538,00.html


"What makes people gay? Biologists may never get a complete answer to that question, but researchers in Sweden have found one more sign that the answer lies in the structure of the brain.

Scientists at the Karolinska Institute studied brain scans of 90 gay and straight men and women, and found that the size of the two symmetrical halves of the brains of gay men more closely resembled those of straight women than they did straight men. In heterosexual women, the two halves of the brain are more or less the same size. In heterosexual men, the right hemisphere is slightly larger.

Scans of the brains of gay men in the study, however, showed that their hemispheres were relatively symmetrical, like those of straight women, while the brains of homosexual women were asymmetrical like those of straight men. The number of nerves connecting the two sides of the brains of gay men were also more like the number in heterosexual women than in straight men.


Maybe I am making a big deal out of nothing but the title of the article in Time upsets me.

First before knickers get in a wad - I believe that homosexuality, heterosexuality is not a choice but how you are born. And I don't think its a switch that is flicked of either you are gay or straight but a continuum. For the most part I would say I am hetero, I am married to a man, but I hesitate to say that I am straight (one because I hate labels) because I have been attracted to some women. Just like I am not attracted to all men, I am not un-attracted to all women.

I say this because I am not arguing that there is science and biology involved in sexual attraction. But the title "What the Gay Brain Looks Like" for whatever reason reminds me of "science" articles that said whites are smarter than blacks because of brain size and thereby a justification for discrimination. Same goes for studies that state men are smarter than women - and used deny women equal rights.

This article DOES NOT state that the 'gay brain' is less intelligent than the 'straight brain'.

I am not making sense and I am rambling so please DUers help me with this. When I read this article I picture FOX news pundits citing it to say see - "gay men are more feminine and are like women" and thus feeding into stereotypes. And I fear that hacks who think that being gay can be "cured" will now start trying a new type of lobotomy.

A older friend of mine has Tourette's and survived 2 frontal lobotomies when in the 50's that was seen as a cure for mental illness and any type of "deviant" behavior. I am not linking homosexuality to mental illness - just using the example of prejudice in the name of science.

I am already defensive in my post - waiting for the flamefest of someone misinterpreting my words so let me be clear - I believe all people are created equal and deserve love, respect, happiness and equal rights - no ifs, ands or buts. The hatred I have seen expressed toward the GLBT community at times keeps me awake at night. To hear my own mother say that gays should not marry because people will use it to take advantage of health benefits made me so pissed I pulled over (we were in the car) and I lectured her for a good half hour on the side of the interstate. To hear presidential candidates say that gays can have civil unions but not marriage because oooooh thats a straight right pisses me off. To know that there are gays willing to serve our country but are not allowed to pisses me off. To hear people talk of being "cured" of homosexuality like its a disease or "accused" of being gay like its a crime pisses me off...you get the point.

I have no idea why this article upsets me so - and maybe I will be the only one and then thats my problem. But to me it is obvious that brains are going to be different, and 90 scans hardly seems like a representative sample, and how do they know that some of the gays or straights aren't bisexual? What is the point of printing this article in Time?