LGB NewsStudy: Genetic patterns offer clues to evolution of homosexuality

submitted by Shales123 from nature.com

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[–]PatsyStoneMaverique 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I don't think they'll ever find a distinct genetic component to homosexuality, beyond maybe a gene that expresses as same-sex attraction. What you do with that attraction is still under your individual control, and it would likely be influenced by your environment.

I think the fundamental issue is that if a gene is found that denotes homosexuality, prenatal testing will be introduced to identify it. If social factors do turn out to influence sexual attraction later in life, therapy will be introduced to correct it.

[–]reluctant_commenter 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I don't think they'll ever find a distinct genetic component to homosexuality, beyond maybe a gene that expresses as same-sex attraction.

I thought studies have shown already that there is a sizeable genetic component to sexual orientation? (Not with a single gene.) u/GatitoMalo sorry to bother you, but I remember a few months back you posted a giant list of research studies on this topic.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

GWA studies ongoing, e.g.:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6456/eaat7693

It's way too early to call anything, but we do find genetic links. Now, what that gene(s) mechanically does, we don't know. Correlation, causation, and all that. You're probably going to find yourself in a situation where a gay person is more likely to have the gene than not, but not everyone who has the gene is a homosexual. Nor do all homosexuals have the gene(s.)

One thing to keep in mind is how they operationalize "sexual orientation." Often, they're looking at behavior in these sorts of studies: "Have you had a volitional same-sex encounter?" "Yes/no." (I hang orientation off desire, not behavior. Reductio ad absurdum: someone who has never had sex is asexual.)

This one in particular also talks about trait openness and sensation-seeking, so yes, you can very well have people who are heterosexual but will try anything once, and as far as the study goes, they're not heterosexual. sigh.

So, still a lot to be desired.

Keep in mind though, it's not just genetics: https://www.pnas.org/content/116/26/12787

It's likely more like this, if you're a visual person: https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fabulmajd.us%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2Fswiss-cheese-model-1024x532.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

I agree with /u/PatsyStone though, if we ever get our hands on ways to influence orientation, expect people to try and use them. Things that people have done recently notwithstanding: surrogate mothers to bypass the fraternal birth order effect, diethylstilbestrol for neonatal 46XX w/ CAH, etc.

People are doing things today, already. At least those two examples have efficacy. Parents do attempt to get their GNC children to "man up" in the case of boys, etc.

So, we're kinda already there.

[–]reluctant_commenter 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

(I hang orientation off desire, not behavior. Reductio ad absurdum: someone who has never had sex is asexual.)

Completely agree, and I think that's one reason why researchers may still be struggling to find answers in this area. I would be curious to see research comparing genetics to some sort of objective measure of sexual arousal, but... we still don't have great tools to measure that, particularly for women. It makes a lot of sense to me why some studies would find that "it's not all genetics" if it takes some combination of personality traits and values to actually live out your sexual desires and thus "count" as a subject who reported "Yes" to the volitional same-sex encounter question.

I agree with /u/PatsyStone though, if we ever get our hands on ways to influence orientation, expect people to try and use them. Things that people have done recently notwithstanding: surrogate mothers to bypass the fraternal birth order effect, diethylstilbestrol for neonatal 46XX w/ CAH, etc.

Also agree!

People are doing things today, already. At least those two examples have efficacy. Parents do attempt to get their GNC children to "man up" in the case of boys, etc.

So, we're kinda already there.

Yeahhh, that's true. But honestly, the child-transing wave that is heavily affecting the younger generation of LGB people is accomplishing the same end: trying to erase/hide/destroy LGB people. I'm still on the fence about many genetics-related topics, but I kind of wonder whether people would just keep trying it anyway; they're going to try to erase LGB people regardless, so why not study genetics?

Thank you for the info and links :)