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Younger Siblings

Discussion in 'Sexual Orientation' started by LilLady9, Jun 12, 2021.

  1. LilLady9

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    I've read in a few places that younger siblings are more likely to not be straight? I think I've also seen some people mention it here on EC.

    Is this true? If so, why?

    As the youngest sibling (me) who has several older brothers, I find this very interesting!
     
  2. Sommerfugl

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    I saw that same statistic in a Vox video. They said it was because gay dudes are, like, caring and a large, rowdy family needs someone to offset it? I dunno. I don't think they knew, in all honesty.
     
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  3. Lek

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    Are you thinking of the fraternal birth order correlation or "the older brother effect"?

    "The researchers found that the men in the study who had an older brother were 38 percent more likely to be gay than were those who did not have an older brother. They also found that the more older brothers a man had, the more likely he was to be gay—having three older brothers, for example, doubled a man's odds of being gay. But the same could not be said for females." 20 March 2020
    https://phys.org/news/2020-03-males-older-brother-gay.html
     
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  4. Braj

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    I have also come across the reference @Lek made above in a video. And it made me think about my younger brother having the possibility of being gay. I am the elder one and gay. I have this doubt about my younger brother being gay.
     
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  5. Bastion

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    It’s curious . But I haven’t any read any article or research about this topic. I don’t know but I don’t see how there could be a very specific correlation between any family members and being lgbtq+. Maybe you could be twins and still different. I come from a large family. All of them are straight except maybe me being the wild card or the black sheep.
     
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  6. LilLady9

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    As a cisgender male that has more than three older brothers, I find this very interesting! I'm bisexual, not gay though. Was there any mention of bisexuality?
     
  7. LilLady9

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    If you don't mind me asking, are you the youngest?
     
  8. Chip

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    There's limited study on it, but it's far from conclusive. Birth order may have an influence and slightly increase likelihood that someone is gay, but it's by no means a reliable determinant.
     
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  9. SimplyJay

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    I'm the oldest of 3 kids(one brother, one sister. both are straight.)
     
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  10. Bastion

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    No for sure I don’t mind. I’m the eldest.
     
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  11. LilLady9

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    Gotcha.
     
  12. MistyMorn

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    Just going to put this out there, but this would say that being gay is a conditioned response to the environment in which a person is raised versus being a biological part of the actual person. This could then lend itself to say that through proper reconditioning homosexuality can be "fixed" as I think much of mainstream society would feel it to be true. Personally I feel there is a definite genetic component to homosexuality. Unclear how that would corelate to their findings but studies have a way of being tweaked to serve those performing the study.
     
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  13. Chip

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    What seems pretty clear is there is something -- whether it is genetic, hormonal, brain development is not completely clear -- but something that is biological/neurochemical that appears to cause homosexuality. There may be factors in the environment that influence when and how it expresses, but aren't causal. This is similar to many diseases with a genetic origin: Some people get them, others do not, even though all have the genetic predisposition. So there are factors, either in the environment or epigenetic ones, that influence the development and expression of homosexuality. But what is clear, from 50+ years of research, is that it is not something that is switched on and off.

    One similar thing we can look at: The latest research on the development of substance use disorders, especially alcohol use disorder (alcoholism) is that there is strong evidence for a neurochemical 'switch' in the brain. If you have a predisposition to AUD, then you may be able to drink reasonably, even abusively, for some period of time, but never switch on the neurochemical switch that turns on the addictive behavior. However, once this switch is turned on, there does not appear to be any way to turn it off. Homosexuality may be somewhat similar. (This is conjecture that I've seen discussed, but I'm not aware of research on it.)
     
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  14. LilLady9

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    Thank you for your input, @Chip.