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Re: OT: What? the clean-shaven outnumber the bearded? "Yer Ugly Mug," etc.

From:Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date:Tuesday, May 20, 2003, 12:23
En réponse à Andreas Johansson :


>I can't resist asking what sex were the homosexuals?
Male ;))) (I thought the context made it clear, although I've heard that there has also been a similar study comparing the brains of homosexual women with the brains of straight men and straight women, as well as a study comparing male and female brains without asking for sexual orientation). IIRC, the results of those studies would show that female brains, although slighter lighter than male brains, show a more important connection network between neurons, and more connections between the left and the right halves of the brain. Gay men's brains would tend to be similar to women's brains, while lesbians' brains would rather be similar to men's brains, i.e. less connections and a less good connection between both halves of the brain. But the study cannot conclude whether the fact is a cause or a consequence of the sexual orientation, just that there *would* be a possible correlation (the population sample wasn't representative enough to give a better conclusion).
>I don't think the people behind this hypothesis would deny their work is >pretty >speculative (hey, they're positing a cause-effect relationship without >offering >anything concrete as to the exact mechanism!),
Yep.
> but if the "big brother effect" >is true it presumably has a cause. Individual gays lacking elder brothers >isn't >really an argument against it - the data presentated in the New Scientist >article I read about this in already included plenty of such people.
It can be an argument against it if it proves statistically that whether you're the eldest brother or not, it doesn't significantly modifies the percentage of homosexual orientation. Also, Such a study forgets female homosexuality altogether, and I doubt a valid study can do so. Christophe Grandsire. http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr You need a straight mind to invent a twisted conlang.

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Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>