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from "Born that way" theory
Health Writer Says Study Shows
a Biological Cause for Homosexuality
Some Headlines Mischaracterize Study's Findings
by Roy Waller and Linda Nicolosi
October, 2003-- A British study just
published in the October issue of Behavioral
Neuroscience claims to find contributing
biological factors for homosexuality.
The study--which was conducted among only a
small number of subjects, and found modest
differences between groups--added some
evidence to a recent body of research that
suggests that for some people, biological
factors contribute to homosexual development.
The factors identified in this and other
studies seem to be factors that masculinize
females and feminize males, which results in
gender-atypical development.
Yet an October 6, 2003 article by reporter
Amanda Gardner in Health Day News, and
trumpeted on the internet by Yahoo,
mischaracterizes the study's scope and
findings with the headline, "Startling Study
Says People May Be Born Gay."
The first sentence of Gardner's article adds,
"The origins of sexual orientation may be
evident in the blink of an eye."
The Study's Method
The basis of the study, conducted by Qazi
Rahman of the University of East London, is a
technique known as "pre-pulse inhibition," or
PPI. The main premise of PPI is that when
people are startled by a loud noise they
involuntarily blink their eyes, but when the
test sound is preceded by a quieter noise,
this appears to inhibit the response to the
second, louder sound. PPI is used in tests
to gauge certain inborn human responses and
characteristics.
For purposes of the study, the 59 gay and
straight men and women participants were
subjected to both noises--first the louder
noise alone, followed by the softer and
louder sounds, and their responses were
compared. The goal was to determine the
differences, if any, between the responses of
homosexual and straight men and also gay and
straight women, as well as any possible
similarities between homosexual men and
heterosexual women and straight men and gay
women. The attempt was to use the data
collected from the PPI responses to
demonstrate a bridge between a genetic cause
of homosexuality and an automatic human
response.
The researcher sought to find an automatic
physiological response that was not developed
as a result of learning or social
interaction. He decided to employ startle
responses, which are involuntary and
instinctual.
In terms of statistics, Rahman's study
presents the following findings:
- Among lesbians, the PPI response rate was
33 percent--compared to 13% in heterosexual
women--thus leaning towards the heterosexual
male end of the spectrum.
- In gay males, the average for PPI was 32
percent, while it was 40 percent for
heterosexual men.
Among other conclusions drawn by Rachman and
his colleagues in the study is that it
appears that some 4 percent of men and 3
percent of women are homosexual-- figures
which do not agree with those of other,
well-known studies which suggest somewhat
lower figures.
The researchers appeared unaware on the
recent finding that homosexually oriented
individuals have been found to exhibit a
significantly higher level of psychiatric
problems than the general population. Nor
were they evidently aware that the reasons
for the high rate of problems have not been
identified.
"Although homosexuality per se is not related
to psychiatric problems," Rachman states, "on
those occasions that gays and lesbians do
present with psychiatric problems, they often
show disorders that are typical of the
opposite sex."
The recent study correlated with findings of
reorientation theorists, who generally agree
that biological factors lay the foundation
for gender-atypical feelings and behavior in
some people. This sets the stage for
feelings of differentness from their own
biological sex.
However, because other factors besides
biology are known to influence gender
identity, reorientation therapists do not
believe that inborn gender-atypical traits
mean that a person was "born gay."
Updated: 8 February 2008
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