Do gay men have low testosterone
Homosexuality, one of the many different sexual behaviors exhibited by humankind, has been rejected, persecuted, and denied. Are the studies that attempt to find causation moral? Is this find for the "why" of homosexuality a continuation of the heterosexist assumption that heterosexuality is normal and homosexuality abnormal? Are assumptions being made that homosexuality is a disease and should therefore be treated medically? Is the study currently being done heterosexist? Studies that are existence performed currently and those done in the recent past have shown that there are strong connections between male homosexuality and biology. By presenting the scientifically significant studies that I have come across, I intend to lower the ignorance surrounding homosexuality and the behaviors often found with it, and to show some of the correlations between biology and male homosexuality.
Throughout my research of homosexuality, I wavered back and forth, debating the morality of this search for a cause. It seemed that finding a lead to for homosexuality was somewhat akin to finding the cause for a disease. Unhappy with the association of homosexuality with abnormali
Brain responses differ in homosexual, straight men
The brains of homosexual men respond more like those of women when reacting to a chemical derived from the male sex hormone, recent evidence of physical differences related to sexual orientation.
The finding, published in Tuesday’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows differences in physiological reaction to sex hormones.
Researchers led by Ivanka Savic at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, exposed heterosexual men and women and homosexual men to chemicals derived from male and female sex hormones. These chemicals are thought to be pheromones, molecules known to set off responses such as defense and sex in many animals.
Whether humans respond to pheromones has been the subject of debate, although in 2000 American researchers reported finding a gene that they believe directs the human pheromone receptor in the nose.
Biological basis to sexual orientation?
In the Swedish study, when sniffing a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains committed in sexual activity were activated in gay men and straight women, but not in straight men, the researchers found.
When they sn
Coming Soon: Decade of Testosterone
Male hormone found to possess cardiovascular benefits
In abundance, the male sex hormone testosterone has become synonymous with virility, authority, and bulging pectorals. And in small supply, it is understood to result in sexual apathy and erectile dysfunction. What most men are unaware of, however, is the more dangerous link between low testosterone and early death from heart attack, vascular disease, and complications from diabetes.
Normal testosterone levels are vital to men’s well-being, in and out of the bedroom, says Abdulmaged Traish (GRS’78, GSM’94), a University of Medicine professor of biochemistry and urology and director of the Laboratory for Sexual Medicine Explore. A coauthor of a recent study implicating testosterone deficiency in cardiovascular disease, Traish, winner of the 2006 Metcalf Cup and Prize, the University’s top teaching honor, is on a mission to train primary care doctors about the prevalence and the dangers of low testosterone.
Known as androgen deficiency, or AD, low testosterone is a treatable condition believed to affect nearly a third of men between 35 and 60. In the study, published in the Septe
WHAT ARE SOME INDIVIDUALS Same-sex attracted WHILE OTHERS ARE NOT?
Since sexual orientation is a gendered trait, meaning that sexual orientation is a part of gender, current research on the progress of sexual orientation is primarily focused on prenatal sex hormones. Based on animal studies, it is likely that the critical period for sex hormones in humans is pre-birth. Prenatal sex hormones are found to influence gender and gendered traits, so it is safe to assume it also influences sexual orientation.
While such studies have been conducted in animals, it is unethical to inject sex hormones into human fetuses in the uterus. So how do we know that sex hormones influence gender and sexual orientation in humans? Researchers study conditions that mimic the studies in conducted in rats. One such condition, called Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) which is a disorder that causes the adrenal gland to secrete excess testosterone during prenatal growth in pregnant women. Children of these women with CAH are significantly more likely to be lgbtq+ compared to the children of women without this condition.
Since sexual orientation is one aspect of gender, it can be assumed that human sexu
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