Gay brains & straight brains

Two Swedish researchers have studied differences between brains of "straight people" and "gay people" and they argue the results showing that "lesbian women" have brains resembling those of "heterosexual males" and "homos" those of "straight women". The differences concern, among other things, "the amygdala, the region of the brain important for emotional learning" (source). According to Dagens Nyheter , the researchers claim their research being in support of the view that "homosexuality is not learned behavior". To get around certain methodological problems, their study accounts for traits of the brain that are set by birth.

- Det kan ge en förklaring till varför män och kvinnor reagerar olika på känslomässiga stimuli, som till exempel stress. En tolkning är att vi helt enkelt har olika förutsättningar, säger Ivanka Savic.

The researchers are affiliated with Stockholm Brain Institute vid Karolinska institutet.

I skimmed through an earlier essay by the same researchers but I found no discussion or interpretation of the results that were reported. An interesting thing was that the choice of gay and straight subjects was backed up by "self-identification" plus "the Kinsey scale" of gayness and straightness on a scale from 0-6.

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It is clear that this study is reported as a perfectly reasonable application of neurological data. But, god, how long will this last? In 200 years, will some of the present applications of neurological data be discussed in the same vein as the alchemical attempts of earlier times?