I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

[Odysseus]

Re: I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

well Siggie we both know a lot of theists are like this.
The mentality and beliefs are a packaged deal.

[ara87]

Re: I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

From Time Magazine

What the Gay Brain Looks Like
By ALICE PARK Tuesday, June 17, 2008



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 inthe 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.

Just what these brain differences mean is still not clear. Ever since 1991, when Simon LeVay first documented differences in the hypothalamus of gay and straight men, researchers have been struggling to understand what causes these differences to occur. Until now, the brain regions that scientists have come to believe play a role in sexual orientation have been related to either reproduction or sexuality. The Swedish study, however, is the first to find differences in parts of the brain not normally involved in reproduction — the denser network of nerve connections, for example, was found in the amygdala, known as the emotional center of the brain. "The big question has always been, if the brains of gay men are different, or feminized, as earlier research suggests," says Dr. Eric Vilain, professor of human genetics at University of California Los Angeles, "then is it just limited to sexual preference or are there other regions that are gender atypical in gay males? For the first time, in this study it looks like there are regions of the brain not directly involved in sexuality that seem to be feminized in gay males."

Vilain, who studies the genetic factors behind sexuality and sexual orientation, notes that it may turn out that the brains of gay men possess only some 'feminized' structures, while retaining some masculine ones, and this is reflected in how they act on their sexuality. "We know from studies that men, regardless of their sexual orientation, retain masculine characteristics when it comes to their sexual behavior," he says. Both gay and straight men, for example, tend to prefer younger partners, in contrast to women, who gravitate toward older partners. Most men are also more likely than women to engage in casual sex, and to be aroused by visual stimuli. "So I expect that some regions of the brain will remain masculine even in gay men," says Vilain. For something as complex as sexual orientation, it's no surprise that everything from genes to gender to environment may play a role in ultimately determining your perfect partner.

Source


Here is an excerpt from a National Geographic segement, explaining how people are most likely born gay

[Siggie]

Re: I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing this Ara!

This reminded me of the correlation they had noted about ring to index finger ratio or something. And how gay men's tended to look more like women's and gay women's more like men's.

[ara87]

Re: I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing this Ara!

This reminded me of the correlation they had noted about ring to index finger ratio or something. And how gay men's tended to look more like women's and gay women's more like men's.

The info on the finger ratio as well as other things such as hair patterns, voice pitch, etc can be found in this article"The Science of Gaydar."

I didn't post it though b/c while certain physical traits may have a higher statistical chance of occurring in gay men and women, it's still possible for many straight people to have some or all these traits as well, and the link between the physical traits and sexuality isn't fully understood yet.

The other findings on brain structure and the genome are more definite and concrete though.



Here's another article which supports the evidence behind the brain structures

"Sexy" Smells Different for Gay, Straight Men, Study Says
Stefan Lovgren
for National Geographic News
May 10, 2005


A new study shows that gay men respond differently from straight men when exposed to a suspected sexual stimulus found in male sweat. When homosexual men smelled the odor of male sweat—more specifically, a chemical in the male hormone testosterone—their brains responded similarly to those of women.

The findings suggest that brain activity and sexual orientation are linked. It also supports an opinion held by most scientists, that people are born—not bred—gay.

"This is one more line of evidence that there's a biological substring for sexual orientation," said Dean Hamer, a geneticist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Hamer is the author of The Science of Desire: The Gay Gene and the Biology of Behavior. He was not involved in the research, which was conducted by scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.

The study was published today in the research journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Reproductive Behavior

The scientists exposed heterosexual men and women and homosexual men to chemicals found in male and female sex hormones. One chemical is a testosterone derivative produced in men's sweat. The other chemical is an estrogen-like compound in women's urine.

These chemicals have long been suspected of being pheromones, molecules emitted by one individual that evoke some behavior in another of the same species. Pheromones trigger basic responses, such as sexual attraction, in many animals.

But scientists have long debated if humans respond to pheromones. The new study suggests that pheromones indeed play a part in making humans sexually attractive to one another.

In a previous study a few years ago, the Swedish researchers showed that the brain's hypothalamus region, which is involved in sexual behavior, becomes activated when men smell EST (the estrogen derivative) and women smell AND (the testosterone compound), but not vice versa.

For their new study, the scientists added a sexual-orientation element, which revealed a difference in the brain activity of gay and straight men.

The researchers found that the testosterone compound activated the hypothalamus in homosexual men and heterosexual women, but not heterosexual men. Conversely, the estrogen compound activated the hypothalamus only in heterosexual men.

"It shows a different physiological response to the same external stimulus," said Ivanka Savic, a neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute and the study's lead researcher. "This response [occurred] in the brain region involved in reproductive behavior."

When the study subjects sniffed scents such as cedar or lavender, all of their brains reacted only in the region that handles smells—not sexual behavior.

Biological Explanation

The results show that the human brain reacts differently to potential pheromones compared with common odors.

"It directly shows a link between brain activity and sexual orientation," said Hamer, the NIH geneticist.

Hamer cautions that the gay men's different brain activity could be either a cause of their sexual orientation or an effect of it. But, he said, "it certainly seems unlikely that somehow being interested in men would cause the brain to rewire itself in such a dramatic way."

Other studies have also found that gay and straight men respond differently to the body odors of others.

Scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, found that gay men preferred odors from other gay men, while odors from gay men were the least preferred by straight men and women.

The Monell Center's results were released yesterday and are to be published in the journal Psychological Science in September.

"There are many ongoing studies in the field, and I think that we soon will have better clarification," said Savic, the Karolinska Institute neuroscientist. "At the moment, there are no definite proofs."

However, the new studies boost the hypothesis that homosexuality has a genetic basis and is not simply the result of learned behavior.

"This, incidentally, is not in any way controversial for biologists," Hamer said. "It's completely expected from the basic tenets of biology. It's only controversial because of the social and political controversy over homosexuality.


Source

[Siggie]

Re: I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

The info on the finger ratio as well as other things such as hair patterns, voice pitch, etc can be found in this article"The Science of Gaydar."

I didn't post it though b/c while certain physical traits may have a higher statistical chance of occurring in gay men and women, it's still possible for many straight people to have some or all these traits as well, and the link between the physical traits and sexuality isn't fully understood yet.

The other findings on brain structure and the genome are more definite and concrete though.



Here's another article which supports the evidence behind the brain structures

I agree, that stuff is interesting, but I would never say you can use it to predict with good accuracy. I haven't looked to see what % would be misclassified that way.
It does suggest there's a biological cause though.

[Avalyan]

Re: I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

Poor guy! im really sorry for you...

[Serjik]

Re: I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

Until I came to NY to study I did not know there were gay Armos LOL

[Sip]

Re: I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

... the link between the physical traits and sexuality isn't fully understood yet.

I think I heard on the TV once that boys have a penis and girls have a vagina.

[Davo88]

Re: I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

Research: Armenian public mostly intolerant towards sexual minorities

Arus Harutyunyan (left) and Mamikon Hovsepyan
By Gayane Mkrtchyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

The Public Information and Need of Knowledge and Socioscope NGOs have conducted a research in Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor revealing complete intolerance towards sexual minorities, namely lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

The main fields of operation of the Public Information and Need of Knowledge (PINK Armenia) NGO are sexual health, gender issues and human rights. Head of the organization Mamikon Hovsepyan points out that the survey was held as part of the “Our Rights and Us” project. The project was launched in 2009 and aims at revealing the challenges sexual minorities face in different spheres of social life as well as violations of their rights. A legal analysis of the issue has been carried out as well.

“The goal of the second stage that has just been completed was to reveal the public perception of LGBTs, to collect information by studying public opinion about the state policy towards these sexual minority groups, as well as later, together with professionals in the field, develop a guidebook for protection of their rights,” says Hovsepyan.

Sociologist Arus Harutyunyan from the Socioscope Societal Research and Consultancy Center, says 1,156 people were surveyed for the research. Based on her observations Harutyunyan says the knowledge of the surveyed on LGBT is limited to what they know about homosexuals, which can be explained by dogmatic mentality. For 15 percent of them the source of information on the issue is the Internet. Their knowledge is dogmatic; they are unaware of the scientific side of the issue.

“The majority of the surveyed believes the sexual orientation of minorities is an ailment, 12.7 percent think it is influenced by foreign countries, 10.8 believe it is a result of upbringing, and 9.8 said it is because of internet communication. The majority uses bad language and negative attitude when speaking about them, 11.5 percent is tolerant, and only 2.5 percent is sympathetic. On the whole, we can conclude that the surveyed are intolerant,” says Harutyunyan.

The research has demonstrated that those most informed and most tolerant are young people aged between 18 and 20 and residing in Yerevan and women with higher education.

The research conducting organizations have developed a package of suggestions to the government of Armenia, the Ombudsman’s office, as well as local and international NGOs.

“The main indicator of democratic society is tolerance towards minority groups on the one hand, and perception of the state as the protector of their rights and freedoms, on the other,” reads the document in part.

The research authors believe that first of all the legislative field has to be improved in order to ensure the protection of rights of minority groups; to form an atmosphere of tolerance they suggest adopting anti-discrimination laws and organizing events that would raise public awareness.

http://armenianow.com/social/human_rights/32494/armenia_lesbian_gay_bisexual_transgender

[Siggie]

Re: I am Armenian and GAY. Not feminine, just masculine.

Thanks for sharing that Davo. Although the results demonstrate wide-spread intolerance, I'm pleased that it's something that's at least being by the government. That's an important first step. I hope these findings result in planning and ultimately action to improve tolerance and human rights in Armenia.