Evolution partially explained
Scientists have posed an intriguing question--Why are there gay men? The online journal LiveScience explains:
“[C]onsidering that the trait [of being gay] discourages the type of sex that leads to procreation—that is, sex with women—and would therefore seem to thwart its own chances of being genetically passed on to the next generation, why are there gay men at all?” (Wolchover, 2012)
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New research is beginning to resolve this difficult conundrum. Click for an easy-to-read article about the “balancing selection hypothesis,” which holds that mothers and maternal aunts of gay men tend to have more offspring than maternal relatives of straight men.
While recent studies suggest that lesbianism is at least 25% genetic, no study has yet been able to provide an explanation for how genes that promote lesbianism might propagate from one generation to the other. Click for an easy-to-read article about ongoing research into the development of same-sex attraction in women.
References:
Wolchover, N. (2012, June 11). Why are there gay men? Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/33987-gay-men.html
Wolchover, N. (2012, June 12). Why are there gay women? Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/33992-gay-women.html
