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.
In response Stephen Black wrote: > [...] > 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. I don't see Michael as writing that there is a 20% *increase* in the chances of a male being gay if he has one older brother, etc. He writes: "So a guy with one older brother has a 20% chance [of being gay], two older brothers 40, and three older brothers 60% chance." That's not at all close to what Blanchard and Bogaert say. (Maybe that's not what Michael meant to write, but one can only comment on what he actually says.) --Allen E. -------------------------------------------------------- Wed, 15 Mar 2006 23:14:12 -0500 Author: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Womb memory and gay behavior > 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]
