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The Science of Gaydar

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Rain:

--- Quote from: "vanrozenheim" ---Statistically relevant experience [i.e. sample ~ 1,000 p.]?  :lol:
--- End quote ---


And we should infer?  

Oh my...someone never leaves home without his hood.

Feral:

--- Quote from: "Rain" ---File this one under "DUH!"...LOL

The top 100 dating websites with the largest portion of male visitors for the week ending February 10, 2007 were Gay online dating websites including ManHunt.com, Adam4Adam.com, and Gay.com.

We should start a section just for lobotomized research studies, factoids, non sequiturs, and just plain ole "you gotta be shittin me!"
--- End quote ---


Goodness gracious me oh my... men are visiting Gay online dating websites... MEN? Who'd have thunk it? I wonder why it is that more women don't go to Adam4Adam? Oh wait -- let me guess -- they anticipate an unacceptably high failure rate at getting a date? Yes. I'll go with "what is they acticipate an unacceptably high failure rate, Alex."

Most of the "lobotomized research" has a home in Studies, studies, and more studies, which is usually lurking on page two or three of the Open Forum (because thankfully, stupid studies don't come out every day... just every week or so). The 'you gotta be shittin' me" stuff can go just about anywhere, though highly polished turd-gems probably belong in with the Moran of the week.

berto:
Study of gay brothers may find clues about sexuality


--- Quote ---Mierow stumbled upon a chance to help prove that hunch at the Northalsted Market Days festival four years ago. Spotting a banner reading, “Wanted! Gay Men with a Gay Brother,” he stopped by the booth and volunteered for what he thought would be little more than a survey.

Instead, Mierow found himself part of the Molecular Genetic Study of Sexual Orientation—the most extensive study yet to search for a genetic basis for homosexuality—embarked upon by a team of Chicago researchers from local universities.

The scientists hope that by gathering DNA samples from 1,000 sets of gay brothers like the Mierows they will be able to find genetic linkages smaller studies failed to detect. They’ll be recruiting brothers again at the Halsted Street festival this weekend.

The results may ignite controversy, the researchers acknowledge, both by providing ammunition in the raging cultural war over homosexuality and by raising fears about ethically questionable applications like genetic profiling and prenatal testing.

But, they argue, the research is essential to our biological understanding of sexual behavior.

“If there are genetic contributions to sexual orientation, they will not remain hidden forever—the march of genetic science can’t be stopped,” said Timothy F. Murphy, bioethicist adviser to the study. “It’s not a question of whether we should or should not do this research, it’s that we make sure we’re prepared to protect people from insidious uses of this science.”

[...]

“In complex gene scenarios, people figured out that you need a larger sample size in order to get reasonable statistical power,” said Dr. Alan Sanders, a psychiatrist at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare and the leader of the current study.

To increase the chances of finding genetic areas associated with homosexuality, Sanders proposed assembling almost 10 times the sibling pairs of previous studies. The project received funding in 2001 and began recruiting subjects at gay pride festivals, through gay-oriented publications and on the Internet.

So far the Chicago researchers have obtained blood or saliva DNA samples and survey data from more than 600 brother sets, with several hundred other volunteers in the process of submitting one or the other. Sanders hopes to publish his findings from the first wave of DNA samples in a scientific journal sometime next year.

Sanders cautioned a linkage study can single out only regions of the genetic code, not individual genes.

“One of the advantages of linkage studies is that we don’t have to know those things ahead of time,” Sanders said. “It’s a big advantage here because we don’t know about the biology of sexual orientation yet, so we can find the genes first and then study the biology.”

At this point, the researchers do not know what types of genes they may find; they could be related to hormones, sexual development or a completely unexpected system.

[...]

Study volunteer Jason Palmer of Chicago said he hopes evidence of a biological source for homosexuality would change people’s opinions on sexual orientation. “Our strongest opponents are the religious right, many of whom feel that God does not make mistakes,” Palmer said. “So if it’s a genetic factor and proven, perhaps many of them will find an acceptance for homosexuals.”

But some outside observers worry about how proof of a genetic component to homosexuality might be used politically and even medically. “If you do research on any human behaviors that would allow us either to treat the behavior or to prevent it altogether by prenatal testing, you have got to ask yourself serious questions about societal context in which this type of research takes place,” said Udo Schuklenk, a professor of philosophy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Critics fear identifying a biological component will lead to prenatal testing and perhaps even treatments for homosexuality. While both Sanders and Bailey expressed doubt about the scientific feasibility or public demand for such applications, Schuklenk suggested they were not considering the worldwide implications.

“I understand why U.S. gays want to know why gay people are gay and understand where they are coming from—there are legal reasons, and the agenda is progressive within the context of the U.S.,” said Schuklenk. “What worries me is that they show a complete disregard of repercussions of research on the international scale, for gay people in societies where civil rights are not as well-protected.”
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Rain:
Very interesting.  But look at this from the NY Times some years back: Sniffing Out the Gay Gene.

Feral:
The pheromone study WAS an interesting one. One of the more interesting bits (to me) in studies like it is the rather conspicuous absence of evidence for anything resembling a "continuum" of orientations. Mind you, they were not looking for any, and it's rarely surprising when you fail to find something you aren't looking for. It's just kind of noticeable when evidence for something which is supposedly "common knowledge" fails to present itself no matter how many opportunities it has.

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