Re: What is this nonsense about the gay gene?
HARRY R. ERWIN (herwin@osf1.gmu.edu)
20 Nov 1995 17:32:37 GMT
dIGITS (digits@tribeca.ios.com) wrote:
: Angelique Skiman (ang42@sfsu.edu) wrote:
: : Can anyone tell me about the study recently conducted that has
: : supposedly found a gay gene on the X chromosome? This seems very unlikely
: : to me. There is such a wide variety of sexual behavior that I doubt a
: : single gene makes a person gay. If such a gene exists, wouldn't it make
: : sense that women would not be gay? If they have two X chromosomes, wouldn't
: : the "normal" X mask the effects of the gay gene? However, there obviously
: : are a lot of gay women out there.
: I agree that genetic research has a long way to go before such determination
: can be proven.
Since it's a scientific hypothesis, it ->can't<- be proven, only
disproven. The inheritance pattern is consistent with transmission on the
X chromosome. What is involved in maintaining the gene in the population
is unclear. Whether it is the primary such gene in the population is also
unclear. Note that most genes that affect behavior are not absolute and
can be expected to have differing effects in different cultures.
--
Harry Erwin
Internet: herwin@gmu.edu
Home Page: http://osf1.gmu.edu/~herwin (try a couple of times)
PhD student in comp neurosci: "Glitches happen" & "Meaning is emotional"
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