On 15 Mar 2006 at 13:12, michael sylvester wrote: > According to recent research,a person's chances of being gay is a > function of the amount of older brothers one has.So a guy with one > older brother has a 20% chance,two older brothers 40%, and three older > brothers 60% chance.Apparently after the conception of the first > boy,the womb maintains a memory.And is directed towards producing a > female,but if another male is born, feminizing factors interact to > produce gay behavior.
I don't understand what all the fuss is about. The fraternal birth order effect is a solid, well-established finding. As I mentioned in one of my recent posts (and as Dennis Goff also pointed out), the reseach was discussed on that _60 Minutes_ programme. However, while Dennis cited the work of Anthony Bogaert, I mentioned Ray Blanchard. Actually both should be credited as co-authors. Michael's figures don't seem too far off. Blanchard and Bogaert (1996) say that each additional older brother increases the odds of homosexuality by 33%. And "womb memory", as I understand it, is pretty much what B & B are arguing, although what is remembered, they hypothesize, is an immune reaction against male antigens. Also, while Blanchard was at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry when first reporting on this, as I said in my previous post, it seems it's now called the CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) after some complicated mergers of institutions. It's affiliated with the University of Toronto. I'm just disappointed we haven't heard from Paul Okami on the topic, as he's undoubtedly the most qualified on the subject on this list. Stephen Blanchard R, Bogaert AF (1996). Homosexuality in men and number of older brothers. Am J Psychiatry, 153(1):27-31. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Department of Psychology Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
