Subject:       HOMOSEXUAL MEN HAVE MORE OLDER BROTHERS/CBC NEWS
From           ambidge@ecf.toronto.edu (Chris Ambidge)
Date           Mon, 15 Jan 1996 23:34:00 GMT
   

this on the CBC Radio News Monday 1996 01 15
all errors attributable to my ears and poor transcription

=======

Psychiatrists working at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto
report that chances of a male child being homosexual increase with the
number of older brothers he has.  The findings are reported in an
article this month in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

It has been known for a while that birth order does have an effect on
homosexuality; homosexuals statistically have more older siblings than
heterosexuals.  The current study indicates that the number of older
sisters is not significant, it's only older brothers.

The leading explanation for this has been sociological -- childhood
sexual play having an effect on the young(est) boy.  Ray Blanchard, one
of the authors of the study, favours a biological explanation:  he says
that the mother's immune system changes with each male child, and that
these changes may well have an effect on subsequent fetuses.

[I'll keep an eye out for print versions of this tomorrow]

Chris
[third of three children, two older sisters, so there goes THAT
explanation]


--
Chris Ambidge / ambidge@ecf.toronto.edu / ambidge@ecf.utoronto.ca
   chemical engineering / university of toronto
   200 college st / toronto ON / M5S 3E5 // 416 978 3106