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(New York City) The brains of lesbian women
respond to sexual hormones differently from heterosexual women, according to a
new analysis.
The lesbians' brains reacted somewhat like those of straight men, a team of
Swedish researchers reports in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.
It's a finding that adds weight to the idea that homosexuality has a physical
underpinning and is not learned behavior.
The researchers also found that the similarities between the response of
lesbians and straight men were not as strong as between homosexual men and
straight women.
"It shows sexual orientation may very well have a different basis between
men and women ... this is not just a mirror image situation," said Sandra
Witelson, an expert on brain anatomy and sexual orientation at the Michael G.
DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.
"The important thing is to be open to the likely situation that there are
biological factors that contribute to sexual orientation," added Witelson,
who was not part of the research team.
The research team led by Ivanka Savic at the Stockholm Brain Institute compared
the brain reactions of volunteers who sniffed chemicals derived from male and
female sex hormones. These chemicals are thought to be pheromones -- molecules
known to trigger responses such as defense and sex in many animals.
©365Gay.com 2006
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