Do Brothers Make You Gay?

[RawHumor]

Has anyone heard anything about this?

http://www.discover.com/issues/sep-06/rd/gaybrothers/

Ten years ago, a study by Anthony Bogaert and Ray Blanchard outed a surprising relationship between siblings and sexuality: Boys with older brothers are more likely to grow up gay.

I just was curious what Lit's GLBT community thought of the study (forgive me if it's already been discussed - I just read the article in my Discover magazine that's a couple months old now).

 

[Raimondin]

Has anyone heard anything about this?

http://www.discover.com/issues/sep-06/rd/gaybrothers/



I just was curious what Lit's GLBT community thought of the study (forgive me if it's already been discussed - I just read the article in my Discover magazine that's a couple months old now).

I'll have to disagree with this study. Well, for one I'm the older brother in my family and I'm the one that is 100% gay. Quoting one line from the article,

"He found that having biological older brothers, not adopted brothers, was significantly linked to sexual orientation, regardless of whether a gay man was raised with them or not."

I suppose he's implying or stating that there's some sort of gene pecking order down the line of brothers. But at the same time he states that:

"there is still room for the nature/nurture debate, he notes that his results suggest homosexuality has a strong biological basis. But how that works remains unknown. "

If the cause then "remains unknown" then it's an inconclusive study. More research needed. Futhermore, do a research with having sisters and compare.

I don't buy it.

 

[RawHumor]

My take was that, maybe, having older brothers would lend one to having a more favorable view of men in general, and possibly sexually in particular.

I have two older brothers and I'm straight, but I wanted to get other people's views on this who are gay or bisexual. Thanks for your input.

 

[MyFriend27]

I have an older bro

And i am definately not gay

 

[RawHumor]

And i am definately not gay

According to a snippet in the article, he found a correlation between the number of older biological brothers a man has and the likelihood that he'll have some homosexual tendencies.

I believe he used a relative measure of homosexuality (e.g. 1 = strictly hetero, 7 being strictly homosexual).

 

[gaymm]

Well I am the youngest of two...but only an older sister and no brothers. And I am 100% gay.

Chris

 

[blklthrjkt]

I'm gay and I was an only child.

 

[RawHumor]

LOL

It appears that the small sample of men who replied to this go pretty opposite to his test sample then.

 

[blklthrjkt]

This is all part of that nature or nurture debate. Personally I think it's genetic, but probably has a component of environment as well. In the end it doesn't matter if you live a healthy out life.

 

[glamorilla]

it's all god's fault.

 

[RawHumor]

it's all god's fault.

God had brothers?

 

[Retrieval]

I have two younger brothers.
They're both straight and get laid more than me.

 

[bronntanas]

I have 4 older brothers and 4 older sisters, and I'm firmly bi. I wouldn't want to date exclusively in either sector of the population.

 

[boi6969]

I know my brothers didn't make me gay. There are 4 of us and we're all bi. They just showed me how much fun it was being bi and loving being so.

 

[Raimondin]

it's all god's fault.

I'm glad I survived Catholic school!

 

[RawHumor]

I know my brothers didn't make me gay. There are 4 of us and we're all bi. They just showed me how much fun it was being bi and loving being so.

You're taking the article title too literally. It's not inferring that they made you gay, but that there is a connection between your having older brothers and your bisexuality.

 

[Raimondin]

It's certainly an interesting study or approach in trying to determine if one is gay. I hope more research is done on it. I have many friends who have brothers and are not gay/bi. I also have one friend who was raised with four sisters and he's also not gay. At the same time another friend of mine who has three sisters and he did turn out to be gay. But the one that perplexes me is a family that had three brothers and all three turned out gay.

Sooo...Lot's of inconsistency and confusion whether genetical, and/or enviromental factors together played a part in it.

Hard to say...

 

[DarkAurora]

I think sexual orientation is determined by hormones you are exposed to in the womb. I think the reason a man with older brothers is more likely to be gay is because since his mother has already been pregnant with boys in the past, she has a higher chance of releasing female hormones to this baby.

 

[Tymeless]

god is a woman!

and then why would that explain me who is an older brother who recieved more estrogen in the womb to make me feel i'm a woman!