Linda Fox <linda@f...> wrote:
Linda Fox <linda@f...> wrote:
> The _primary_ purpose of sex - biologically - is still procreation.
> ...
> Now, if you go along with this idea, that would make homosexual
> attraction biologically "incorrect
Just have to jump in here with a response to this (I was a geneticist
before I pursued music)
There can be a lot theories about homosexuality, and no one will ever
know for sure exactly why some people turn out gay. That said, the
popular notions of "survival of the fittest" are too simple to
understand why homosexuality exists at a steady percentage in many
species. One would think that gayness would eventually eliminate
itself in the gene pool - after all, gays would be less likely to
procreate if they are not as interested in straight sex.
Why are there always homosexuals? There is a delicate hormonal
balance that must be maintained in any population. Evolution wants
males to desire females and vice versa. You couldn't pump up one
hormonal profile for one sex and without affecting the other, since
females and males have all but one chromosome in common. You can't
have a population of uber-straight males and uber-straight-females
because girls and boys are just too genetically similar.
Even if all sexual orientation genes were located on the X and Y
chromosomes, all people will still have an X chromosome (though a Y
gene might inhibit genes on the X). That leaves precious little real
estate on the Y gene to define straight-manliness. Inevitably, you're
going to end up with boys who like boys and girls who like girls.
In a mostly monogomous species with mostly consensual sex, there will
develop an equilibrium where most boys want girls and most girls want
boys, and the number of straight boys will match the number of
straight girls. That optimizes the procreative ability of a
population. As a society, a 2.5 on the Kinsey scale ;-) The gay
individuals that turn up are just a testament to how little genetics
separate women from men.
I'm not even going to go into the potential evolutionary advantages
of bisexuality in non-monogamous social species...
Tako
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