Gay rams get "ewe-turn" on hormones

[buckthesystem]

I didn't know that sheep could be gay. Has anyone had any experience with something like this? But

as for: "The research has angered gay-rights activists around the world, with lesbian tennis star Martina Navratilova calling for the "homophobic and cruel" (attitude)......????

It would be interesting to hear of others' opinions on that.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/3919632a11.html

Gay rams get ewe turn on hormones

An international outcry has greeted the news that an American university is trying to "cure" gay sheep of their homosexuality.

Researchers at Ohio State University found that 8 per cent of rams are gay and another 8 per cent are sexually ambivalent

[RustyAngeL]

These people have to much time on their hands. What a load of bologna.

[georgesbluegirl]

Actually it's not so rare - there are plenty of quantifiable examples of homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom, even if you just look at cases in zoos. Wasn't there some big to-do over "gay penguins" in New York a while back? More later.

[Guest emptypockets]

this story has gotten almost every detail wrong -- it's based on an attack PETA launched last August against the scientist and his family.

What's weird is that the Sunday Times knew it was all false when they ran the story.

It is true, though, that same-sex mating preference is a normal part of the biological world, in many species. Of course, in humans, everything that has to do with sex has a separate & really important cultural component too.

[MeCajunboy]

I didn't know that sheep could be gay. Has anyone had any experience with something like this? But

as for: "The research has angered gay-rights activists around the world, with lesbian tennis star Martina Navratilova calling for the "homophobic and cruel" (attitude)......????

It would be interesting to hear of others' opinions on that.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/3919632a11.html

Gay rams get ewe turn on hormones

An international outcry has greeted the news that an American university is trying to "cure" gay sheep of their homosexuality.

Researchers at Ohio State University found that 8 per cent of rams are gay and another 8 per cent are sexually ambivalent

[buckthesystem]

MeCajunboy I will not quote your post as it will take up too much room and I haven't worked how to quote part of something and not the whole thing (meaning the original post all over again as well), but I want to comment on what you said.

Firstly, is it really 9% of the US population who are homosexual? It seems like an awful lot of people.

Secondly, there is a theory about (have you read about it?) that says that fertilisers and industrial waste ending up in rivers and the water supply has a lot to do with the feminisation of males - and I presume the masculination of females too, although I haven't specifically read about that one.

Some time ago I read an article by a agricultural scientist who reckoned that farm wastes being washed into creeks was turning the aquatic life "gay".

In humans it seems that the food we eat has a lot to do with how we develop. If there is a higher proportion of the population who are gay than there was - say - 100 years ago, it might be due to the processed foods we eat and/or the chemicals they are subjected to in the processing. Or the prevalence of genetically modified foods - "gender-bender foods".

Then again it could be just social conditioning that is responsible for a "blurring" of gender roles. You know, you're not allowed to give little boys toy guns for presents or girls toy easy-bake ovens, and boys have to do their "share" of playing with dolls and girls have to do their "share" of playing with footballs or boys have to learn how to bath babies and girls have to learn how to change car tyres.

(Apparently - according to what I read - this is why there is a "gross shortage" of men in Washington DC and it is full of "bitter and twisted old maids all working for government departments, having bought into the "you are as good as any man and that means that you must work for the rest of your life" theory, and they are also victims of "positive discrimination" with government jobs, and who are now desperately looking for husbands" - not my words but words from an article I saw about it. So nobody can get mad at me (write to - I think it was - Time magazine).

Any other theories?

[georgesbluegirl]

A few quick thoughts: first, I think you were referring to endocrine disrupters...industrial waste and sewage has been known to cause hermaphroditic occurences in various species, such as frogs and fish. Actually, it's an interesting thing to examine - if I remember my Env Studies 101, a significant portion of the problem has to do with hormones left in sewage due to birth control pills (which artificially introduce hormones into the body to perform their function). Anyway, endocrine disruption is a big issue, but it's not related to homosexual behavior in normal, healthy animals (penguins, bighorn sheep, lizards, etc.).

Also, I was under the impression that the current estimate of the ratio between gay:straight people in America was between 1:8 and 1:10. Of course, the Kinsey number was much higher, but the way he examined his data projected a somewhat skewed result.