Nature or Nurture? Both Ways Can Lead to Gay, Says London Times by Kilian Melloy EDGE Boston Contributor Monday Dec 10, 2007
Nature or nurture? The London Times, in two recent articles, reports that being gay can be the result either way. On Dec. 9, the Times ran an article ( www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3022254.ece <http://url/>) reporting on a new book by Desmond Morris, whose books, including The Naked Ape and The Human Zoo, interpret human behavior through the lens of zoology. Morris' newest work, The Naked Man, argues that gays are the result of men who hold on to an ability to stay in touch with their creative, playful, curious side, qualities abundant in children but less so, argues Morris, in heterosexual adults. The Times article quoted Morris as saying, "Gays have in general made a disproportionately greater contribution to life than nongays." Continued Morris, "The creative gay has very much advanced Planet Earth." Morris himself is also an artist, the Times article noted. Said Morris, "The playfulness of childhood is continued with certain people into adulthood. This is very much a positive." Continued Morris, "Adult playfulness means that certain people, often a fairly large proportion of them gay, are more inventive and curious than heterosexuals." The term used for the playful quality of ind in question, the Times said, is "neoteny." The idea was not welcomed by professor of genetics Steve Jones, according to the Times, whioch quoted Jones saying, "It's arts faculty science to say that gays are neotonous." Jones, a [professor at Univerity College in Lodon, continued, "It's a stupid idea. Where is the real evidence?" Asked Jones, "What of somebody lke Pablo Picasso, who was a hugely creative man, and yet was obviously decidedly heterosexual?" But the Times listed a catalogue of famous names of people who were gya, or who are now thought to have been gay, including Socrates, T. E. Lawrence, Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, and Cole Porter. London-based GLBT rights worker Peter Tatchell weighed in on the argument, saying that gays tend to be more aware of their own feelings and saying, "I would also think that being gay is very much a mix of genetic factors and hormonal influence in the womb. I don't really know about this playfulness idea being carried from childhood to gay adulthood." On Dec. 10, the Times published an article very much in keeping with Mr. Tatchell's theory. The second article (www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3025835.ece) noted that scientists in the United States had succeeded in pinpointing a mutated gene on fruit flies that, if activated, could turn the flies gay or bisexual. While this suggested a very strong connection between genetics and sexual preference, the researchers, who were from the University of Illinois, said that in itself gene manipulation was not sufficient and environmental factors also were needed to turn fruit flies homosexual in their courtship behavior, the Times reported. The Times story cautioned that human beings have much more sophisticated nervous systems than do fruit flies, making any suggestion that human sexuality could be as easily manipulated dubious. Even so, the principle investigator of the study, David Featherstone, said that the experiment "fundamentally changes how we think about [sexual] behavior." The fruit fly study appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor. -- www.gaybombay.in www.gaybombay.info
