New Theory On Why Some Men Are Born Gay Centres On Older Brothers

It’s been the subject of speculation since the beginning of modern medicine and psychiatry – what makes one man a homosexual while his male siblings remain attracted to women?

Now a professor at Brock University in St. Catharines has come up with a theory that he claims may  answer the question once and for all.

Dr. Anthony Bogaert suggests his research indicates that men who grew up with older brothers more often turn out to be gay than those who didn’t have elder male siblings in their family.

He studied 944 men, both straight and gay, including males who were adopted or had half brothers or step-siblings. His goal: solve the old ‘nature or nurture’ dilemma.

If homosexuality was derived from the way a man was brought up, it would theoretically show regardless of how the boy was related to his kin.

But the study revealed that only those who had the same biological mother as his brothers fit the pattern of the youngest being the most likely to be gay. And it even happened if the freres weren’t raised together. 

How does he explain the findings?

Bogaert believes the more males a mother turns out, the more her immune system may view the sex as ‘foreign’ in her body. By the time the last male child arrives, the mom’s system may be unwittingly contributing to changing the unborn fetus’ developing brain.

“If this immune theory were correct, then the link between the mother’s immune reaction and the child’s future sexual orientation would probably be some effect of maternal anti-male antibodies on the sexual differentiation of the brain,” he suggests.

“These results support a prenatal origin to sexual orientation development in men and indicate that the fraternal birth-order effect is probably the result of a maternal ‘memory’ for male gestations or births.”

And while the professor notes other research tends to back up his findings, there’s still no definitive proof about his conclusions.

Doctors and scientists have been hunting for years for the origins of what makes one person gay and another straight. But most gay men simply accept the fact they born that way and knew about their orientation from a very early age.