On Wed, 10 Apr 2002, Ray Evans Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Keith,
>
>This is a very interesting thought. Is it possible that there is a
>mutation that happens when the species feels itself under attack?
No, not a mutation - there is no alteration of the genome. It
is just as he has written, a change in the hormone balance which
alters the brain development of the foetus. I heard of this at least
twenty years ago, but as far as I know, it is not conclusively
demonstated as operating in humans. However, there does seem to be
an observable tendency towards a correlation between high-strung mothers
and homosexual male offspring, but I don't think it is so strong as
to account for anywhere near all, or even half (how female homosexuality
is supposed to be generated under this model I don't know - if it isn't
covered at all, that also suggests there can be other pathways).
>That it produces heterosexuals when things are safe and homosexuals
>when you need people who can be warriors or people who are without
>the family ties that normal work brings? That would explain the high
>number of Gays in the work where the society doesn't make it easy to have
families for example.
Ah, this is another speculation that has been proposed before. However,
Some of the ancilliary traits often associated with homosexuality in males
make them less than ideal candidates for warriors, so, unless it is
a mechanism which is held over from a truly ancient ancestor, say
40-50My ago, where those traits were not an issue, or were not expressed
for some reason, it appears this line of argument is weak. It may simply
be (if indeed it is true) an accident of the complexity of our
biological systems.
I didn't notice it mentioned here (may have missed it), but one of
the types of stress which affected the rats, if I recall, was
overpopulation. Some researchers then of course proposed that the
purpose of the whole mechanism was to limit population levels.
I believe the (darwinian) selectability of such a mechanism was then
hotly debated, and I don't recall the outcome.
-Pete Vincent
