I just couldn’t resist this image from Aminopop reporting on an Economist story about a soon to be published paper finding twins with gay siblings report more partners of the opposite sex. The article suggests that more partners is a valid proxy for reproductive fitness, and therefore that there’s something about the gay gene(s) that make strait carriers more fit.
The Economist argues that whatever else the gay genes do they make males more behaviorally feminine and females more behaviorally masculine, and that this could have benefits. In other words the ladies love to marry the sensitive guys, and guys are more likely to marry a good strong masculine woman.
As with a lot of evolutionary psychology it sounds fishy to me. Since it is evolutionary psychology we can’t know any of that. Isn’t it quite possible that straight/bi twins of homosexuals are likely to have more partners simply because the plight of their twin has made them less accepting of conservative sexual mores?
Since homosexuality seems to have a reasonably large genetic component, and since gay sex is so common in the animal kingdom, you’d think there’d be a good strong evolutionary argument for why such a trait is so frequent. I’m not all that up on the gay animal literature, so I’m not sure if there’s just a lot of homosexual relations (ie. bianimals) or if there are really a lot of exclusively homosexual animals. Obviously there’s nothing evolutionarily limiting about a little gay sex if you’re still a breeder. Indeed, if it helps you make friends, a little gay sex could be quite the fitness enhancer.
Which brings me to the question: When is someone going to find a “gay mouse” mutant, and would we recognize one if we saw it? Do you remember the uproars caused by the first fat mouse mutants. Just imagine how many articles would be written about you if you could find the gay mouse. Hopefully someone will find one soon. I can’t wait to see the uproar over that.
Fabulous post!
My gay-dar is always on the fritz, so I doubt it’d function across the species barrier.
Some try to explain away gay sex in the animal kingdom with the phrase “social bonding.” Ha! as if this would disqualify an allele.
On another note, I distrust twin studies. On a third note, back in high school I remember taking joyous glee in the uproar caused by the mouse with a human ear growing out of it’s back like some kind of sail.